Epilogue 3

EPILOGUE 3: HARPER'S POV (TEN YEARS LATER)

It was three years ago when Mason was first teased by a classmate about the unusual arrangement of his parents. I had always known that as he was growing up, he became especially attuned to the fact that the way his family lived wasn't exactly normal by usual standards. There were so many unusual factors that they were bound to seem different to him and I wasn't exactly prepared for how Mason was coping with how different his family seemed to be from any other family in the pack. 

As the future alpha, it was essential to be a part of the pack because other people were often intimidated by the power you had and by the power you would have in the future. My father always taught me to be a part of the pack but always remember that you could never essentially be a part of the pack. And this is exactly what I had taught Mason to do; I had asked him to play with all the other wolf kids but always remember that in the future, he will be responsible and accountable for the same people. 

It was a human kid that tried to make fun of Mason. Even now I can remember the exact words the kid said in childhood spite. The human kids didn't exactly understand why they felt overwhelmed by Mason, like the pups from the pack, so they tried to do everything they could to get a semblance of power back, even if it meant throwing hurtful comments around. This one kid had the gall to shove Mason on the football field and it must have been a surprise because I saw him stumble but he regained his ground quickly. The kid had screamed how there was something wrong with Mason because his parents didn't live together, but lived with separate people. 

I had watched as Mason stood his ground and dusted the dirt off his clothes calmly. His calm demeanor had irritated the hell out of the human kid and he had carelessly replied to him, "I can't help it if I was gifted with two more moms than you." 

I had stood stock still as I had heard my son say these words because they meant so much to me. Things had been hard when the war with the rogues finally ended and Zara ascended as the luna. We were all so fresh from having fought our battles that all of us felt like ragged ends of a jigsaw puzzle, who didn't know how to fit together, how to work together. Everything started to smooth out when Zara became pregnant five years ago and gave birth to two beautiful baby girls, who we named Kate and Martha. 

I watched as Mason teased his sisters by pulling their pigtails. They screeched at the top of their lungs and I winced at the shrillness of their voices. Goddess knew they had learned that they could get their way by shrieking at unsuspecting strangers. Mason who was much nearer to the source of the shrieks, winced and immediately let go of them. 

The goddess had explicitly told us that I would be the last white wolf. We perceived that information as me and Zara not being able to have kids at all. It was simple really; the first male child between me and I would have been a white wolf and served as the white alpha for the pack. To solve the whole predicament, the goddess had gifted us with twin girls who would soon be learning how to shift into their wolf forms. I was a proud father. 

Our girls, mine, and Zara's girls had brought a tidal change in everyone's relationships as if they were sent us to be a catalyst for smoothening out our relationships. I and Zara had not hoped to get pregnant at all. We had gone as far as to discuss other options available to us, like maybe adoption. Werewolves didn't exactly believe in the concept of marriage. We believed in the concept of mates and none of us felt the need to marry to validate the bond between us. I was 21 years old when I finally realized that even if I idolized marriage as a way to solidify the bond between me and Zara, maybe, being a human, she wanted to get married the old-fashioned way and there was no way I could just outright ask her about it. So, I went with the flow and proposed marriage to her on her 21st birthday and boy am I glad that I did that! That night was one of the best nights of my life. We got married six months after that and have been married for almost eight years now. Eight blissful years of married life where I was a little crazier about my wife than she was about me!

I'm snapped out of my reminisces when I feel a soft kiss being placed on my neck. Tingles immediately break over my skin and I shiver at the pleasant sensation. I look up from my seat in the living room to watch as Zara places her hand on my shoulders and settles herself onto my lap. I immediately cradle her closer to me and breathe in her amazing scent of chocolate and pines. I curve my arm around her pregnant belly and she snuggles contently against me. "I'm glad that you are here." 

I feel her smile against my skin and I caress her belly with my hand and her whole body quivers in my hands. "Those girls know how to scream," Zara chuckles against my skin and I agree with her. 

"I wonder if this guy would be a screamer," I nudge her belly lovingly and she giggles. When Zara got pregnant with the girls, I was so terrified of something happening to her that I rushed her to the doctor to know what would be the best course of action. The doctor had assured me that there was nothing wrong with the girls and my mate but me and my wolf were pretty stressed for those nine months. I had even propositioned Zara to have an abortion but she outright refused to say that even though she understood the risks, she wanted her girls more than anything else in the world. In short, it had been up to me to make sure Zara didn't hemorrhage or die in those months and now I was going to do everything all over again. When Zara told me that she was again carrying, I had driven her to the hospital again and everyone was pretty surprised that she was carrying a boy. After further testing, it was found that that the necessary genes to turn into a werewolf, so essentially, this boy was going to be a human with enhanced hearing and motor skills. I didn't care about him not being able to shift into a werewolf, I just couldn't stop imagining holding my son in my arms and I was sure neither could Zara. 

"God, I sure hope not," Zara whispered in my ear, I caressed her knee and she squealed and tried to get off me but I stopped her by holding her tightly against me. She makes a show of it but settles again beside me. "When are Nat and Addison coming back?" 

Natalie and Addison had left three days ago with Natale's family for a vacation. They had left Mason and Emily, their four-year-old little girl, with us. Addison had given birth to Emily after thoroughly going through scores of sperm donors. Zara had patched up with Natalie through the years and I couldn't have been prouder of the progress of their relationship because, at one point in time, I had thought that there was no scope for reconciliation. They had come together slowly and built their relationship back step by step. Zara being friends with Addison and me and Addison accepting each other as siblings had helped.  

Even though many of us had worked on our relationships, some issues were still unresolved. One of them being between my parents. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them because they were so full of regrets at this point that sometimes I couldn't bear to look at them. My father's wolf had died so rejection didn't exactly kill him but what surprised me most was when I found my mother rejected my dad but refused to try a relationship with anyone else. Zara had told me that she had wanted to get back together with one of her lovers before I was born. My mate told me that my mother had gone and gotten rid of that man's contact number and never spoke of him again, and chose to raise her daughter by herself. 

I had at least expected Addison and my father to patch some things up and was quite surprised when even after years, they couldn't be left alone in a room together. I had hoped those two would form a father-daughter bond and my father would recognize Addison as the lovely girl she is. "It's not your father's fault, you know. Addison has lived the majority of her life hating her father because he abandoned her and her brothers. If she doesn't want to accept Sebastian as a father, she is not going to do it, no matter how many times you try to throw them together." Zara spoke against my neck and I jerked at the sound of her voice. 

Ever since we had completed the mating process, mine, and Zara's minds had gotten linked together, and pretty often our thoughts seeped into each other's minds. "I just want them to be civil to each other," I sighed because even though it had been ten years, it was hard for either of them to look at each other's faces.

Zara leaned back and looked me in the eyes. "I know and I love you for it but you have to leave them alone. If they want to talk to each other, they will do it on their terms."

I palmed her face and she leaned into it. "Is that the only reason why you love me?" I murmured and caressed her cheek with my thumb and watched as she shivered because of my touch after all these years. 

"Maybe," Zara whispered and I placed my lips on hers as her eyelashes fluttered closed. Her lips moved softly against mine and I pressed her pregnant body closer to mine, keeping extra care of the gentle swell in her swollen belly. I palmed her breast and she moaned in my mouth. It was the one thing I loved most about her pregnancy, her breasts grew extra tender and heavy, making me want to touch them all the time. Her breathing grew ragged as I played with her breast and teased her by moving my hand up her dress and stopping tantalizingly at the junction of her thighs, all the while kissing her and swallowing her moans. Her nails grabbed my shoulders in a possessive grip making my wolf run wild, while I pressed at her clit through the thin cotton of her panties, while she moaned and arched her back, giving me unrestricted access to her wonderful breasts. 

I slide her panties aside and sink two of my fingers inside her, making her jerk on my lap. I released her breast and used it to hold Zara on my lap, while I moved my fingers inside her, hitting that spot again and again, and watched as she unraveled in my arms, all sweaty and breathless. When she recovered from her drawn-out orgasm, her cheeks flushed, her dress askew and her eyes still glazed, I couldn't help but draw her closer to me and kiss her. When I finally parted my lips away from her, she looked rattled and dazed. "I love you, Zara, with everything in me." That declaration brought her out of her reverie and she palmed my erection through my jeans and I groaned against the soft skin of her neck. 

"Mommaaaaaaa", I groaned in frustration as Matha's shrill voice raised my ears and Zara laughed in reaction. She hastily stood up from my lap and adjusted her dress as Kate and Matha bolted into the room with a grumbling Mason at their heels. "Papa, look at what we made," Kate said in her sweet voice which I found hard to resist. It was the same voice she used to manipulate me into giving her sweets before dinner and letting her stay awake after her sleeping time. 

"What did you make?" Zara moved towards the children and they gestured towards the yard of our house. Five years ago, I had moved my family out of the packhouse and into my grandparent's cabin (after heavy renovation, of course) for some privacy. I and my mate enjoyed the privacy as much as possible and so did the children because they had access to their rooms and a very big yard. 

This is so not fair, I mind-linked Zara to show her my frustration at being stopped this way.

I can pay you back later, she replied and closed the door to the backyard behind her after giving me a wink.  

I adjusted my pants before getting up from the comfortable chair and without giving a second glance at the reports I was studying went to join my family outdoors. Oh, you're going to pay me back. Over and over again, I replied to her. She laughed at my response, making me eager for the night to come.