Dark Side of the Moon (30 page)

BOOK: Dark Side of the Moon
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“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

He gave me a gentle kiss before pulling me into him.  I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, desperately needing us to be okay.  I couldn’t go through this alone, couldn’t bear to think about it.

London softly stroked my hair.  “I’m sorry I yelled at you, Selina.  I was angry that you were thinking about leaving me.”

“It’s not like I was going to ask for a divorce, London.”

“No, but it would have felt like it.  Things will get better, Selina.  I promise.”

I could only hope he was right, for the sake of our relationship and our baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epilogue

 

 

A year and a half later….

 

After a few more strokes of my brush, my painting was complete.  I was happy with it, and kind of wished that I could keep it for myself.  I tended to have that problem with all of my paintings.

Last year, London had taken it upon himself to take pictures of my artwork and upload them to his website.  I was a little apprehensive about people wanting me to paint or draw them something until my first request came in.  It was strange working under a deadline, and I had been worried that I wouldn’t do my best work because of it.  But then I kept receiving requests from London’s buyers for paintings.  Now, I sent out three to four paintings a week.

As I set my paintbrush down, the door I had left ajar opened.  High pitched laughter was music to my ears.  Turning with a smile on my face, I found my baby crawling into the room.  I quickly removed my paint splattered apron, and made my way over to him.

“I guess nap time ended early, huh, Ajax?” I asked, scooping him up.

Ajax laughed from the movement.  At three months, his brown hair was coming in nice and thick.  His blue eyes sparkled.  He was a smaller and chubbier version of his father.

It had taken London and I a while to get over our fight about me going to college.  There was some tension between us for a few weeks, up until our first doctor’s appointment.  When I saw our baby on the ultrasound screen, almost all of my worries went away.  London and I had created a child, and we both had some straightening up to do by the time it was born if we wanted it to grow up as normally as possible in a happy home.

Everything had gone well during my pregnancy.  While London’s mother and the pack were excited that we were increasing our numbers and showing we were strong alphas, his dad and my parents thought that we were too young to be having kids.  Dan had been a little indifferent, but I think that’ because he was expecting a pregnancy announcement since my first full moon as a wolf.

The door opening wider brought me out of my thoughts.  London came in with a smile and a sleepy copy of Ajax; Zale.  At my second doctor’s appointment, I found out that I was carrying twins.  One baby would have been enough and a handful, but two would surely completely drain me of my energy.  Thankfully, London was there to help me every step of the way.  Though they were small now, I knew that Zale and Ajax would be chaotic storms when they were older.

“They were anxious to see their mama, so much so that they didn’t want me to have a moment by myself with you,” London said, coming over to me.

I gave him a kiss before kissing the tope of Zale’s head.  “We can’t have that, can we?” I asked my little boy.  “No brothers or sisters for you for a while.”

London rolled his eyes, but his smile didn’t falter.  “We didn’t disturb you, did we?”

I shook my head.  “I just finished, actually.  What do you think?”

“A field of flowers really isn’t my taste, but it looks amazing, Selina.”

I gave him a playful glare.  “There’s going to be a lot of testosterone here in a few years.  I’ll need something feminine, London.”

“How about we have a girl next time.  And if we have another boy, at least we had fun trying.”

“True, but I’m not having three kids before I’m twenty-one.  These two are plenty enough.”

He gave me another kiss.  “Whatever you want, Selina.”

“Now that I’m done for the day, do you want to go visit Artemis, Channing, and Karla?”

Karla was born three months after the twins, and was almost as adorable as my boys.  “Sure,” London responded, heading for the door.  “I wonder if she and Ajax or Zale will be mates when they’re older.”

I mentally groaned, not wanting to think about my babies growing older.  “When would we find out?” I asked, following him.

“Puberty, probably after their first shift.  So quite some time.”

Once we were downstairs, London carefully secured Zale in his car seat.  He was a wonderful father, taking care of and playing with the boys almost every second of the day.  He gets up with us when they cry in the middle of the night, and was a quick study on learning how to make a bottle and change diapers.  I think it also helps that we both work from home, and neither of us will miss any of our sons’ firsts because of it.

When the boys were safely in their seats, we carried them out to London’s car.  The drive to our betas’ was short and uneventful.  Artemis and Channing still appeared to be exhausted when we arrived, but I knew that they were happy to have their daughter.  London and I had been like them until recently, when Zale and Ajax finally slept through the night.

For a while, we watched the boys play while passing our babies around.  Artemis and I exchanged stories about our experiences with our kids while Channing and London spoke about something pack related.  Then, Artemis asked if I could watch Karla so she and Channing could have a night to themselves.  I was happy to watch her, and could probably ask her to do the same.  The last time she had asked if I wanted her to watch the twins was around the time of my wedding anniversary.  It was the day before the full moon, and I had just asked my parents to watch Zale and Ajax because Artemis wouldn’t be able to look after them while we were wolves.  She had to hire a baby sitter to watch Karla during full moons because all of her family members were wolves.  Our kids wouldn’t shift until they hit puberty.  And so I was able to convince my parents to watch the boys every full moon under the guise of London and I having date night.

When it was close to dinner time, we bid our betas good-bye, and went to find something to eat.  The boys behaved themselves while we ate, which I knew wouldn’t last long.  We needed to find a way to keep them small forever.

Afterwards, we returned home to give the boys a bath and put them to bed.  Though they were identical, they acted differently at bedtime.  Zale always drifted off instantly while Ajax tried to fight it.  After they were finally asleep, London and I quietly crept out of their room, and ventured to ours.

Lying on the bed with his arms around me and my head on his chest, I contently sighed.  Though I was just now recovering from exhaustion from the first few months with the twins, I couldn’t be happier.  With my loving mate by my side and my children happy and healthy and my art improving with every commission I completed, there wasn’t much more I could ask for.

London kissed the top of my head.  “I love you, Selina.”

“I love you, too, London.”  I trailed a hand across his chest.  “And…maybe we could think about having another baby.  After the twins are at least a year old.”

He softly laughed.  “Just one more?  You don’t want to have a pack.”

“Only if you give birth to half of them.”

“I’ll pass on that.”

I gave him a smile before looking up to give him a kiss.  Zale and Ajax were a handful, but I wouldn’t mind having more children when they were older.  The only thing I was worried about was if Zale or Ajax or both of them had dominant personalities and would become alphas of their own packs.  It was hard work being an alpha, but I’m sure with London’s guidance, they’d be able to make it work.

BOOK: Dark Side of the Moon
9.56Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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