IZZY POV
The jelly was cold on my abdomen, and it tickled when the doctor moved the wand across my belly. We were at the hospital for our first ultrasound.
“Yes, definitely three,” the doctor said, pointing to three little blobs on the screen. If I squinted, I could make out features.
“How long until they’re born?” Ethan asked. His excitement was contagious, and we were all grinning like idiots.
“Four and a half months,” the doctor said, handing me a wad of Kleenex to wipe off my belly.
“March,” breathed Caleb. The doctor nodded, giving me a hand and helping me sit up.
“Triplets may be early. No shifting from here on out to be safe. Healthy foods, but also give in to a few cravings. Your body knows what it wants.”
I glared at the triplets. “You hear that? Cravings are okay. I don’t want
IZZY POVI hurried through the town, not looking at anyone. Troi was right beside me, making her angry cat glare at anyone who crossed paths with me. I kept going. I didn’t sense that my mates were behind me and I was glad. I just wanted to be alone.I was so stupid in thinking that things could change. I’ve ignored the signs for so long, but the fact is that the responsibility of the pack’s behavior rests on my mates’ shoulders. Their ignorance was something taught long ago, I’m sure, but they have the power to change it.Even my mom experienced the pack’s bigotry. There is such a stigma attached to rejected wolves that she couldn’t shake it. She had to literally join the human world to get away from it. It was so wrong, and I didn’t understand why no one realized it.I walked into the woods, kicking up the loose leaves. Troi pranced happily beside
IZZY POVThe evening was perfect. Destiny took hold of me and led me over to a crowd. She began pushing through it. “Excuse me, excuse me! Coming through with the Luna!”Laughing, I protested her methods until I realized that the center of this group was Molly. She turned to see me and let out a little laugh, running over and embracing me. “This is the first time in a long time I’ve felt free,” she said. “I am so happy! Everyone is so nice!”Drogo pushed through the crowd, and then stood in front of me, stoic. He awkwardly put out his hand to shake mine, but I laughingly shoved it away and gave him a hug. “Me an Molly are gonna be married,” he whispered to me in his funny lilt. “We’ve wanted to for centuries, but the old man forbade it.”I giggled. “Congratulations are in order I see. Let me know where
CALEB POVI closed my laptop with a snap. I was working on the budget for the following year’s training. I wanted to add an addition to the stadium to have a larger free weights room and I was trying to figure out how to make the numbers work.“Got it done?” Ethan asked. He was laying on the couch with his arm over his eyes doing absolutely nothing, as per usual.“No,” I grunted. “I’m hungry. I’m going to see what Molly and Joanna have come up with.” It had been two weeks since the welcome party and Christmas was two weeks away from today. The two women were busy teaching each other their holiday traditional treats. We all benefitted and I was pretty sure I was already ten pounds heavier than I was at the beginning of the month.I walked into the foyer to see Izzy standing with her back to me. She was busy directing some of our workers on where to h
IZZY POVI watched my mates come racing to the foyer to rescue me. Griz looked sheepish. “Sorry,” he mumbled.“No problem,” I said soothingly, watching my mates exchange glances. Something was going on here. I needed to talk to them, but not now. Right now I was so excited that Kat and Griz had accepted my invitation.“You guys ready to dance?” I asked, doing a little bump and grind with my hips and baby belly and giggling. Griz looked over my head at Caleb.“Welcome!” Caleb said, a strange note in his voice. I turned to look at him and then saw the look on Reese and Ethan’s face.“Let’s go to my office,” I said firmly. “I think we have some things to talk about.”Griz looked at my mates in concertation. Kat slapped him on the arm, hard. “Quit being like that,” she scolded.&nb
IZZY POVThe five of us looked at each other in confusion. A shriek from one of the offices propelled me into movement and I was first out the door, racing after Griz.It wasn’t hard to figure out where he was going. He was a big guy, even in human form, and he left a path of destruction. It started with my broken door. Outside my door I had a little table that held a snacks for anyone visiting my office. The table was across the hall, on its side and the cookies were scattered on the ground. I turned to see that one of my bookcases had been crashed in to, and was now sitting lopsided with the little nick knacks on the ground and the books skewed sideways in the shelves. A huge vase in the foyer that I had filled holiday ornaments was now on its side, broken, half of the ornaments smashed under his huge feet, making it look like confetti strewn about. The door to the dining room was broken, the half that was still a
IZZY POVThe rest of the day was mundane in comparison to the first half. Before lunch, we obtained two new pack members, a new member of our extended family and a mate match that no one saw coming. After lunch seemed kind of like a letdown.We quickly realized Destiny was no longer interested in helping with the Ball so Lucy recruited Sami to finish helping us. To be fair, things were happening quite quickly for Destiny. She was so sure that she would never be mated that she didn’t bother even thinking about it and now that it had happened, she was overwhelmed. I reminded her to show up for the ball and sent both her and Griz off to check out their new home and to figure out what their relationship was going to look like. I was very happy for them.That night, I stepped into the shower utterly exhausted. Ethan was sitting on the vanity stool, watching me while I showered.“The Packhouse is compl
IZZY POV“It’s about time,” I heard a deep, familiar voice say. I looked over to see Cornelius sitting in a huge chair, much like a throne.“Is this a vision?” I asked. I was pleased to see that my voice didn’t shake.Cornelius looked amused. “Of sorts,” he said, the corners of his mouth twisting up.I looked around me. I was in a dark room, lit only by the fireplace. The stone walls and stone floor were drafty, and I could feel the cold seeping up into me from my bare feet. I moved to the left where a fur had been thrown on the floor, seeking the insulation for my feet.“How’s Vanessa?” I asked, continuing to look around. A bed was set in the corner of the room and a pair of chairs, one of which Cornelius was relaxing in, was around the fireplace. Other than that, there were no more furnishings in the room. It was a cold, forbidd
IZZY POVReese rolled into me and gathered me into his arms. I stiffened, not sure what was real and what was part of the vision. He immediately sensed that something was wrong and woke.“What’s up Izzy girl?” he asked, opening his eyes. I looked over at him, my sweet mate. Kat had told me in confidence that Troi told her that she was stealing Reese’s socks as a way to show endearment. She loved Reese the most because she sensed that I did. I denied it, of course, but deep down I knew that this was true. I connected with Reese more than I did the other two triplets. I was glad he was the one that woke up for me now.“Something weird happened,” I whispered. He looked at me with concern, so I quickly outlined the vision I had.“Are you sure it wasn’t just a really vivid dream?” he asked. He stroked back my hair, and I was immediately soothed.