Balance

by Leia Stone

  Brett looked at me in confusion.

  “You did as I asked. If you didn’t, she would be dead. I am the Alpha and I gave an order. You saved her life.”

  Poor thing, she would never forgive me for this; for the responsibility of taking Sadie’s memory. There wasn’t any other way. Brett put his hand out to shake hers. “Thank you for saving her.”

  “Don’t touch me,” Karissa cried and began shifting to her wolf.

  “What’s going on?” Kai roared picking up on the unusual situation. It was so weird not to be able to communicate with Kai in my head, even though he was right beside me. He felt so far.

  I cleared my throat and held my head high. I would not let Karissa feel bad for this. She did the right thing. I would rather be alive with no memories of my past than dead. “Karissa has a unique gift. When in human form, she wipes a person’s entire memories if she touches them.”

  I braced myself for the bitchfest from Brett. He stared off into the woods for a long moment and then at Karissa’s wolf. “We will make new memories. We can do that, because of you. Thank you,” he said.

  Karissa wined and rolled over to show her belly as Brett looked at me.

  “She can’t use her gift in wolf form,” I told him.

  Brett smiled and rubbed her belly. Just like that, in a wolf’s way all was forgiven.

  I turned to survey the damage. RAIDOS had left. The building was completely engulfed in flames. Vampires’ ashes littered the ground. Sylvia was dead. My hands were shaking and suddenly Kai got in my line of sight.

  “Layla’s dead,” he said. “You did it.”

  He cradled my face in his strong hands and I whimpered. I had so much shame. I went rogue. I left him, my mate, my husband. How selfish.

  “I’m sorry,” I said looking down, being submissive.

  Then he kissed me passionately. “I know, and you’re on house arrest for the rest of your existence,” he told me.

  I laughed as I leaned into him, smelling his unique scent. Home. The scent spell must have broken when Sylvia … No.

  Suddenly, Sadie’s eyes flew open as she coughed deeply. Brett knelt and grabbed her face bringing it closer to his. “Thank God!” he shouted.

  She looked at him confused but smiled. “Hey, you’re cute.”

  We all laughed. The laugh turned into a sharp pain in my chest. Ahh. I massaged it as my female wolves crept towards me in wolf form. Alpha.

  Kai frowned. “You okay?”

  I felt the Devi slither inside of me. ‘Goodbye, Aurora. Thank you.’ Her voice echoed in my head. No!

  I gasped as a pain shot up from my groin into my head and forced me to my knees, panting.

  “Aurora!” Kai knelt with me. My wolves crept closer, whining.

  “It’s happening. The Devi,” I whispered to him as my head began to throb. Wincing, I grabbed my temples.

  Kai went pale. That was hard for an Indian to do.

  “No. No. No. No,” he said frantically. As if saying it would make it so.

  I had no more energy to fight, so I collapsed into his open arms as he slowly sat down with me draped in his lap.

  As he leaned over me, shock marred his face and I reached up and felt his scruffy beard. “Do you know how much I love you? You are everything to me. My favorite part about this life,” I told him, breathlessly. It was getting hard to breathe, to think.

  Kai looked defeated. He leaned over and pressed his full lips to my forehead. “I wish I had met you three hundred years ago. Infinity wouldn’t be enough time with you.”

  I smiled as tears rolled down my cheeks and cried out as a sharp pain stabbed my heart. Kai stroked my face. “But you’re not going anywhere.” Alpha power oozed from his voice and saturated my body. He stared into my eyes. Challenge. My wolf stirred as he locked on my gaze, growling.

  “Do you know why I assess pack rank with a staring contest?” Kai asked.

  I couldn’t see anymore. A bright light had taken over my vision and called to me. I reached out to touch it. But Kai’s voice held me earthbound.

  “Because being dominant isn’t always about physical strength. It’s about mental and spiritual strength as well. You have it! More than Max, more than me! You are strong and you can fight the Devi! Stay with me and fight!” he screamed, shaking my shoulders. But the light was warm and so inviting, I felt myself floating away.

  Suddenly, a slice on my arm made me falter. I stopped floating and looked back at my body lying on Kai’s lap. My female wolves lay around me, whining as Kai touched his bleeding arm to mine. “Blood of my blood, Alpha,” he said and all of a sudden a rush of energy assaulted my body. I felt them, the entire pack. Portland, Mount Hood, and my girls. Emma, Trent, Diya, Max, Sadie, Kai, Isabelle, Karissa, little Avery. Over a hundred of them. All chanting Alpha, Alpha, giving me their strength.

  I looked down my glowing light body, my soul, hovering just above my earthly body. Suddenly, the Devi stepped out of my soul body and floated towards the bright light. Our hands were stuck holding each other’s and as she floated higher, she took me with her. She frowned as she looked back at our hands, fingers interlaced, I tried but couldn’t shake them free. The warm and loving light was so inviting. I pulled my arm but she winced in pain. We were stuck, she was trying her best to detach but we were stuck.

  “You’re having twins.” The Devi let her words float on the wind. That realization knocked into me. I was pregnant! I had a purpose, an earthly purpose. I needed to stay. Suddenly, walking out of the bright light, was Nahuel. His glowing light body radiated orange and yellow. He nodded at the Devi who nodded back and took his hand. Nahuel pulled the Devi hard and I cried out in pain.

  “I need you,” Kai whispered to my earthly body. I saw all of the thin wisps of energy, which was my pack, floating in the air all around me, tying me to them. Grabbing them until my hand was full of pulsing energy, I pulled them taut. I felt the pack giving me their strength, calling me back to my body. Alpha, Alpha, Alpha. Grabbing the pack bonds in my right hand, I yanked hard and all of a sudden, a ripping sensation flared in my left hand and I was free of the Devi and falling back into my body. My last visual was of Nahuel smiling down on me.

  My two halves slammed together as my eyes flew open and I sat up quickly gasping for air. Holy shit. Kai’s face was inches from mine. Yellow eyes glaring at me. I looked down at my legs, my belly, my hands. My body. Me. Just me. No Devi.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” Kai roared.

  I coughed. “Deal.” That was the most intense experience of my life.

  “You’re tough as nails, sweetheart,” Max told me as he came into view.

  I turned to him and saw Tara was in his arms. Then I turned to look at Sadie smiling shyly with Brett. We were going to be okay, we were all going to be okay.

  Turning to Kai, his warm chestnut eyes roamed over me.

  “We’re having twins,” I exclaimed. I should have known that I would give birth to the next Matefinder and her male protector. His eyes widened and a huge, sexy grin lit up his face.

  “I love you,” he said and pulled me in for a deep, passionate kiss. His lips pressed on mine with a hunger that I matched after being without him for the last twenty-four hours. I let my hands roam over his biceps and down his back. Breathing in again, letting his scent wash over me. Mate.

  ‘I love you, too,’ I replied, happy to have our mate bond and pack bond repaired. I sighed. We did it. Against all odds, Kai and I got our happy ending.

  But then the limp, maroon-haired figure lumped in the grass caught my attention. Sylvia. Oh God. Chelsea. Safe Haven. Sadie’s memory. This happiness of mine came with a cost and I would never forget it.

  Kai took my chin in his hands and tilted my face up to his as I met his yellow eyes.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said with certainty and touched my bangs, pulling them in front of my face. Blonde. They were blonde again.

  I nodded. I would make sure that all of the sacrifices were not in
vain. I had rid the world of Layla and her sick plans. Avery and these twins I was carrying would live in a better world. I would make sure of it.

  Epilogue

  Two years later

  “Where are my black heels?” I asked Kai while Jaxon and Anya tore through the house chasing each other and just managing to not trip over things or break stuff. I couldn’t believe the twins were a year old already. It had all been a blur of sleep deprivation, only showering once every three days and lots of poopy diapers. Having twins was no joke, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. But it was getting easier now that they slept through the night and God, they were cute. Light caramel skin, unruly mops of golden brown hair, and my blue eyes. A perfect mix of Kai and I. Jaxon was such a goofball with a dominating personality already. He would shift into his wolf pup form and bite his sister’s tail. Anya, she was a spitfire; we were in trouble when she was older. She was a ball of personality and sass. Constantly competing for attention and pushing Jax’s buttons. But at the end of the day, they were best friends. Shared the same crib, ate from the same spoon, and ended every argument with a hug.

  Today was a happy day. Jai and Maxine, his mate, were having their mating ceremony. I was still having visions and finding mates but my magic side was different. My power had been cut in half and I no longer had the affinity for healing although some of the magic still lingered. A small scrape or cut could be healed but nothing major. It seemed that when the Devi had left, she had taken her powers with her, which was fine by me. I rubbed my hands along my arms, it felt nice to be in my own skin. Just me. I hadn’t seen Nahuel since that day but a part of me knew he was still around if I needed him.

  Kai slipped out of the closet, holding my black heels.

  I smiled as I saw him looking at the twins. Jax was yanking on Anya’s pigtail as she shook her head to rid herself of her brother. Kai slowly walked over to me, dropping the black high heels at my feet and taking my face gently in his hands.

  “You sure you want to do this with the witches after? We can wait, you might change your mind. We could have one more,” Kai pleaded.

  I tried not to growl. Gretchen and the witches were coming to the ceremony and after they were doing the spell to make me permanently infertile. That way, none of Layla’s followers could get any ideas of coming after me. Most of the evil vampires had either been wiped out by the militia or turned to more gentle ways. Sure there were still pockets of evil but for the most part, it had shut down when Layla died. The government was now funding a voluntary blood feeding program. Any human willing to donate blood would be financially compensated and vampires enrolled in the program got blood delivered to their door in an effort to keep the peace. I wasn’t giving anyone a reason to come after me again and to be honest, two kids was enough for me. What was the saying? Two kids is like ten and three kids is like a hundred. No thank you.

  Kai knew all of this. I kissed his soft lips gently and pulled back to meet his eyes.

  “I’m done having children. I’m doing this with the witches,” I told him and let the finality run through our mate bond. I felt his disappointment but then acceptance. He was grateful for the two children we had and if he had it his way we would have fifty kids. Hell no. Tara and Max had their mating ceremony and were now pregnant. There would be more than enough little pups running around this mountain. It would be hard to see the witches today and not have Sylvia there but her presence was still with me. She visited me in my dreams often and I was finally at peace with her sacrifice and not seeing her around.

  Kai reached out and brushed a chunk of blonde hair behind my ear, then he looked at the twins again. They were jumping on our bed, laughing and falling at the same time. Three jumps and a fall. I had a feeling they could communicate telepathically, like a twin mate bond. They were always doing things in synch without talking.

  Kai squeezed my hand and smiled. Anya would be the next Matefinder and Jaxon her protector. The lineage of my gift would live on to give the werewolves a fighting chance in the future. Life was good and although I felt the weight of sadness at losing Sylvia, Chelsea and Devon, it was a happy ending. The human government was pleased with the outcome. We had built my mom a guesthouse in the backyard and had given her house to Alek, his wife, and Jeremy. Emma and Avery switched houses with Diya and Trent and life on our little mountain was damn near perfect.

  Jaxon and Anya were both in wolf form. Jax had Anya’s tail in his mouth and she was growling viciously. Kai walked over to the bed and stood over both of them, giving them both the Alpha stare down. Suddenly, they looked up at him and Jaxon dropped her tail and they both went belly up, submissive. I chuckled and took a pillow from the reading chair. Grasping it, I chucked it at Kai’s head causing the twins to roll back over on all fours and yip in the equivalent of werewolf laughter. Kai turned and scooped me up, throwing me over his shoulder and dropping me on the bed as the twins jumped on top of me and I squealed in laughter. Kai lay next to me and looked down at all three of us. His pride and love surged through the mate bond and I smiled. This was it, this moment right here. I wanted to freeze it in time and keep it forever. It was perfect.

  THE END

  Thank you all so much for your support and for loving these characters as much as I do. I don’t think this series is truly over, I’m kind of curious what Jaxon and Anya will be up to in twenty years… =) Stay tuned.

  Acknowledgments

  A big thank you to all of my readers, I love you guys so much! Thank you to Rachel Winn for being my wonderful Beta. Patti Geesey, as always you are a wonderful editor and person. To Mike Witherill, LeAnn Goff and everyone at MJW films for believing in the Matefinder series and optioning it for film. To my family for watching my kids so I could hide in my writer cave and produce this series. Peace and love y'all.