Alpha Benjamin's pack joining Alpha Jerome's doesn't bode well for the future. But I love these private moments between Clint and Lily. I hope you do too.
Several years go by. Life with Clint is everything he promised and everything I knew it would be when I fell in love with him. On the first anniversary of our mating, he took me back to Maine. This time, we were able to do a full-on white water rafting trip, just like he promised me. I didn’t know that he had planned to take me there, so I had gotten him a picture of us in Maine. I had it blown up so we could hang it on our wall. It was a picture of the two of us in front of the ocean. He was behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist. His eyes were watching me intently as I laughed. My hair was blowing in the wind and my head was turned toward him, listening to what he said in my ear. He remembered the moment, remembered that he was telling me he'd never love anyone the way he loves me, which made it that much more special. On our second anniversary, he took me to the Rocky Mountains. He made sure that where we were going still had snow. He got us a cabin removed from everyone a
Lily and I are finally ready to start a family. And while I’m excited, it also makes me nervous that Alpha Jerome is now very desperate. He no longer has a mate or an heir. He replaced his Beta, but we heard it was someone from Alpha Benjamin’s pack that joined theirs. That didn’t make any of us feel better. We were hoping that Calista would give birth to their son before Lily went into heat, but apparently everything with Guardians is faster. Three and a half months after stopping her birth control, one month before Calista’s due date, she went into heat. Anders and I are discussing some concerning patrol reports that had come in when the scent of orange and ginger hits my nose. The scent is so strong I can’t help the feral snarl that erupts from my lips as I leap to my feet. Anders takes one look at me and orders every unmated male out of the packhouse. He opens his mind link to me and Lily. “Lily, where are you?” All we get in return is a whimpering, wailing sound from Lily. “G
I was so excited to find out that I was carrying Clint’s child. We have waited until the time was right, or as right as it could be. We spent our time together, enjoying each other and doing the things in life that we wanted to do. While we may have wanted it to happen after Anders and Cali’s son’s birth, it didn’t. But we’ll make it work. My heat was intense but finding out that I’m pregnant was the second best day of my life. The first was when Andra smelled Clint and Donovan on my birthday and recognized them as our mates. Donovan might actually be cuter about us having a pup than Clint. Every night, he wants to sniff my stomach and he rumbles against me, telling me that he wants our pup to know he’s here. “I know we won’t know for another couple of weeks, but your scent is stronger than before. If I had to guess, I’d say we’re having a girl.” He tells me. “Would you be happy with that, Donovan?” “I’d be happy with a healthy pup, regardless of gender.” He tells me. I kiss Clin
We decided to run in wolf form to Alpha Jerome’s pack. From Canyon Ridge, it’s about four hours over rocky terrain. We leave early, Lily riding on Donovan’s back. Our plan is to stop in about three hours to regroup and send out scouts before walking to the Silver Dawn borders to make our stand. When we stop, I make sure Lily eats. Now that she’ pregnant, she eats small meals all day long. She hasn’t had any morning sickness, unlike Calista who doesn’t emerge from her bedroom until after 10am when her nausea finally settles. I have to assume it’s a Guardian thing. If anything, Lily looks even more beautiful pregnant. Her skin glows, her hair seems thicker, and her body moves with more grace than before. Or maybe it’s just me loving my mate being pregnant with our child. When the scouts return, we decide to run halfway in our human form, then move more slowly to Silver Dawn’s borders. Our pack is the largest in the country, so while we left a full contingent of warriors at home to pro
Two weeks after we went to the Silver Dawn pack, Alpha Jerome attacked Shadow Falls. Anders received the call for help. He immediately sent out a mind link to the entire pack, ordering half the warriors to assemble in the back immediately and the other half to surround the packhouse. All pack members unable to fight were ordered into the safe rooms within the packhouse. I was in our room when the mind link went out. Clint rushes into our room, finding me quickly. He goes into our closet grabbing an overnight bag before taking my hand and pulling me to Anders and Calista’s room. When he opens the door, she is waiting, wide-eyed. “Anders said you would come for me.” She says. Clint rushes to their closet and pulls another overnight bag before corralling us down the stairs and to a safe room. I know I can’t go with them, but I don’t want him to leave me. “Clint!” I’m not sure what I want to say, but he pulls me into his arms and kisses me like there’s no tomorrow. “Take care of my gi
A week after we laid Luna Estella to rest, Calista gave birth to their son, Rik. Anders and Calista allowed Lily and I to be there immediately after the birth. Lily went straight to Calista, hugging her while she laid on the bed, holding her child. I gave Anders a slap in the shoulder and hugged my dearest friend. I know this is one of the proudest days of his life. It’s made even more precious knowing what happened in Shadow Falls a week ago. I was worried that Lily would suffer after hearing the news that her friend had passed. She took it hard, but thankfully she’s early enough in her pregnancy that it didn’t affect our little girl. Yep, that’s right. We’re having a girl. Lily and I are already thinking of names. I think Lily was worried at first, that I wanted a boy, but honestly, I’m thrilled. I know she’ll be daddy’s little girl in no time. Donovan is just as taken with our little girl as I am. All he talks about is how he’s going to take her for runs in the forest and show her
As easy as my pregnancy was, adjusting to having a baby has been difficult for me. It’s supposed to be easy, right? Everyone says it comes naturally. Well, I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t always come naturally. Like latching on to my breast. Cara is supposed to have some instinct to latch on and my body is supposed to be what she needs, but we struggled. It took weeks for us to figure it out and countless tears on my part. ‘Don’t get frustrated, she’ll feel it.' 'Don’t give up, you can do this.' 'Don’t do this, don’t do that, try it this way, try it that way.’ Everyone has a damn opinion about how I should nurse my child or what I’m doing wrong. All it did was make me feel more like a failure that it wasn’t working. After another bout of crying about being a worthless mother who can’t do the one thing my body is inherently meant to do, feed my child, Clint comes and takes her from me. He heats up a bottle, balancing our little girl while managing to heat up the bottle and test i
My girls are the highlight of my life. There is nothing better than having the two of them in my arms together. Some nights, like tonight, I come into our room and my mate and my daughter are on the floor playing together. They are playing with blocks and building what looks like a packhouse and pack lands. “There’s my girls.” I say as I walk in. “Daddy!” My baby girl gets up and runs over. I scoop her up and throw her in the air, listening to her squeal. I catch her and pull her against me, kissing her face and neck while Donovan purrs against her. “Daddy, stop!” She says in a fit of giggles. Lily comes over and wraps her arms around me, hugging me. “Welcome home, love.” I hold Cara in one arm while Donovan continues to purr at her and take my mate in the other, kissing her until I hear her moaning softly. “I missed you.” I tell her, finally letting her come up for air. She looks up at me, her eyes filled with love. “I missed you, too.” I lean in, nuzzling her ear. “Maybe you c