It’s been three months now since we killed Alpha Cal. My father is about to return to the Dark Moon pack as Alpha. We accompany him to the car. He has gained his weight back and is no longer extremely thin. He trained with Alpha Maximus daily with the rest of the pack, which helped him gain muscle. You would never know it’s the same man we saved three months earlier. I cling onto his arm as we walk toward the car.
‘Papa, make sure to be back here in four months. You know I’ll be due to give birth then,’ I remind him.
‘Of course! I don’t want to miss the moment my grand-pup comes into this world,’ my father smiles.
He tries to hug me goodbye, but my stomach is already huge at five months pregnant. He laughs and hugs me from the side instead.
Alpha Maximus and I wave goodbye and watch the car drive into the distance.
‘Time for lunch,’ I say.
‘We just had lunch,’ he replies.
‘Well, I’m still hungry,’ I laugh.
He smiles, takes my hand, and we walk inside and go to the kitchen to eat.
Four Months Later
I’m due to give birth any day now. My father has just arrived back, ’Hope, look at you! You look like you’re going to explode!’ he laughs.
I laugh too, but then I feel a tight pain in my stomach. I hunch forward in pain. My father grabs my arm, and Alpha Maximus my other.
‘Come sit, my love,’ Alpha Maximus says.
They guide me to the couch.
My father tells us about all the changes he made at Dark Moon Pack and how the pack admires and respects him. I’m so happy my father is loved and respected and to see him happy and thriving. I bid him goodnight, and Alpha Maximus has to help me up the stairs. It’s so exhausting with all this weight in my stomach.
It’s now midnight. I can’t sleep. My stomach and back hurt. I hop out of bed to get myself a glass of water and then pace around the room until Alpha Maximus wakes up. It’s two in the morning.
‘Hope, what are you doing?’ he asks.
‘I think I’m about to go into labour.
‘Do you want me to send for the doctor now?’ he asks.
Suddenly my water breaks, ‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ he says.
I cry in pain, waking up everyone in the pack house.
Alpha Maximus
Alex, Nathan, Sally, Kayla, Alpha Levi, and Bella pace the corridor outside our chambers as Hope delivers the baby.
‘Luna, Alpha Maximus, congratulations! It’s a baby boy,’ Doctor Matlin says as he lays the baby in Hope’s arms.
‘Maximus, he’s perfect,’ Hope says to me.
She suddenly flinches and leans forward.
‘Hope, what is it?’ I ask.
‘I feel like I need to push again,’ she says.
‘A second baby is coming!’ Doctor Matlin says.
‘Twins!’ Hope says, ‘No wonder my belly was so big,’ she says.
I take our son from her so she can push the second baby out. I peer down at my little boy. He has a head of dark hair the same colour as mine. He looks a lot like me.
The second baby is delivered within seconds.
‘It’s another boy! Congratulations,’ Doctor Matlin says and passes the baby to hope.
‘They look so much alike!’ Hope says.
I look down at my second son and back to the son I hold, ‘They are identical twins,’ I smile, ‘I’m so proud of you, Hope,’ I say to her.
Everyone outside the room can hear the cries. I don’t keep them waiting any longer. I step out of the room to announce the birth of our twin boys. Hopes father begins to cry with joy. Nathan and Alex pat him on the back and congratulate him on being a grandfather.
I return to the room to be by Hope’s side. I sit next to her in the bed. We hold a baby each and look up at each other, smiling in disbelief at our perfect little twin boys.
‘I never thought I’d ever have the chance to be a father. Being a Lycan wolf, she-wolves didn’t want to be near me,’ I say to Hope, ‘I thought I would be the last Lycan to exist, but now thanks to you, my love, there are three Lycans that now exist. It gives us a good chance for our species to continue,’ I smile.
‘Don’t give me all the credit, Maximus. It takes two to create a baby,’ Hope smiles, ‘So, what are we going to name our sons?’ she asks.
‘Well, I thought we could name one after your father?’ Hope suggests.
‘Theodore?’ I say.
‘We will call him Theo for short,’ she smiles.
‘What about our other son’s name?’ I ask her.
‘Well, I was thinking Leonardo, but Leo for short, so it rhymes with his brother Theo, and I like how Leo the Lycan sounds too,’ she smiles.
‘I like that too! So, Theo and Leo, it is!’ I say proudly.
A few hours later, Hope and I carry our babies downstairs to a living room where everyone in the packhouse is waiting to meet the little Lycans.
Sally and Kayla jump for joy. Alpha Levi is sitting in a lounge chair. I pass Theo to him to hold first.
Bella holds Leo as Billy sits next to her. Billy leans over and holds Leo’s hand, ‘Awe. How cute. They are best friends already,’ Bella says.
Billy only turned one a few weeks ago.
‘They look identical!’ Sally says.
‘They are identical in every way except for their eye colour. Theo has my brown eyes, and Leo has Hope’s blue eyes.
Over the following week, Alpha Levi has become very protective of his grand-pups, telling everyone to keep back and not maul the babies. He would even time how long everyone held them, then boss them to hand the babies back to Hope and me. We all thought it was sweet how protective he was of Theo and Leo.
Three years later
Hope
It’s the night of a blood moon, and I’ve just gone into labour with my second pregnancy. The labour is much harder and more painful than when I had my twin boys. I deliver the baby right at midnight as the clock chimes.
‘It’s a girl!’ Doctor Matlin says and passes her to me.
‘What will we call her?’ Alpha Maximus asks.
‘Lylah,’ I say and kiss her cheek.
‘She is so beautiful, Hope. She has platinum blonde hair and blue eyes like you. Lylah is perfect. A beautiful name,’ he smiles.
Eight weeks later, Sally gives birth to a baby girl with red hair, just like Nathan.
It’s also my father’s birthday. So we have invited him to our packhouse to celebrate with him, and so he can also meet baby Lylah.
I put Lylah to sleep in her cot for the night and then tuck Theo and Leo into their beds before returning downstairs to the celebration.
As I reach the bottom of the stairs, Alex approaches me.
‘Luna, there’s someone here looking for you. She’s a witch,’ he says.
‘A witch?’ I repeat.
‘She said her name is Lea,’
As I enter the living room, I see a woman sitting on the sofa. She has straight black hair, with hints of grey hair, because of old age. When she sees me walking toward her, she stands up and covers her mouth with shock.
‘You look so much like Anna,’ she says.
‘So I’m told often,’ I smile, ‘What may I help you with?’ I ask her.
‘My name is Lea, the head witch from the seer coven. I’ve travelled from the other side of the world to see you. I’m the witch who insisted that your parents participate in a sacred ritual,’ she explains.
‘My father told me about the ritual,’ I say to her.
‘Hope, I need to speak with your father. It’s about the ritual he took part in. There’s something he needs to know,’ she says with a guilty look.
‘Well, my father arrived here yesterday so we could celebrate his birthday today. So, you’ve arrived at the right time for wanting to see him. ‘Please follow me. I will take you to him,’ I smile.
‘Papa, you have a visitor,’ I say to him.
His face immediately lights up with surprise. He is happy to see her. They smile and hug each other.
‘I never thought I’d ever see you again, Lea. It’s so good to see you,’ he says, embracing her.
‘I was too afraid to return because I had helped Anna escape this castle. I thought I would be sentenced to death if I returned. But then I discovered that Alpha Cal had been killed a few years ago, and the laws had changed, so I travelled back here straight away to make things right again, Alpha Levi,’ Lea explains.
‘What do you mean?’ he asks her.
‘I’ve returned for Anna,’
‘Lea, Hope is dead. Alpha Cal burned her at the stake twenty-one years ago,’ he says sadly.
‘That’s why I am here, Alpha Levi. There’s something I need to tell you. Anna was never completely gone. She has always been here,’ Lea says.
My father and I glance at each other with confusion.
‘What are you talking about?’ my father says
‘The necklace, the one created at the sacred ritual. Do you still have it?’ Lea asks.
He looks at me as I lift it out from the top of the neckline of my dress.
‘This necklace?’ I ask.
‘Yes! That’s it. Will you please let me have it?’ Lea asks.
I step back, gripping the heart. ‘No, you can’t have it. This was my mother’s,’ I say to her.
‘That’s what I’m trying to tell you! Your mother’s soul, her essence, is inside. With this pendant, I can bring her back to life in the flesh!’ Lea says.
My heart beats faster.
‘Are you saying you can bring Anna back from the dead right now?’ my father asks.
‘When she was burned at the stake, she never died. The rest of her soul and essence went into this heart to be whole again. I know the spell to set her free, to bring her back,’ Lea says.
I place the necklace in her hands. ‘I want to see her. I want my mother back,’ I say, my eyes well up.
Lea nods, ‘Come!’ she says.
As we leave the room, I grab Alpha Maximus’s hand and pull him beside us.
I tell him who Lea is and how she says she will bring my mother back.
It’s dark outside, and the moon is full. My father, Lea, Alpha Maximus, and I trudge our way to the woods near the packhouse. Lea picks a spot, draws a circle on the ground using a stick, and places the necklace inside the ring.
‘Lea begins to chant,’
Suddenly the heart begins to crack. A large pillar of red mist flies into the sky as soon as it opens. The red mist makes us cough, but a figure can be seen standing in the circle as it fades.
‘Anna!?’ my father yells, pulling her into his chest and crying.
‘Levi, my love, is that really you?’ my mother asks him, now crying into his chest.
‘Yes, yes, it’s me. I love you so much. I never stopped thinking about you!’ my father cries.
‘I know, I have missed you so much too, Levi,’ she says, cupping his face.
‘There’s someone I would like you to meet,’ he says and slowly turns her around to see me.
I fall to my knees on the ground, crying, and look up at her, ‘Mother,’ I cry.
‘My daughter, my precious daughter! I’m so happy you’re alive! I’m sorry I had to leave you. It was the only way to save you,’ she cries. She falls to her knees and embraces me.
‘It’s okay, mother. I understand. I love you so much,’ I say to her.
My mother looks up at Alpha Maximus and smiles at him, ‘Are you going to introduce me to this handsome man, my child?’ she says, wiping my tears away.
‘Mother, this is my mate, Alpha Maximus,’ I say to her.
‘Not little Maximus? Not my best friend’s little boy? Luna Mirabelle and Alpha Theodores son?’ she asks in amazement.
Maximus smiles, ‘Yes, the one and only,’ he smiles.
My mother stands and hugs him, ‘I couldn’t ask the Moon Goddess for a better mate for my daughter,’ she says to him.
‘Mother,’ I say, ‘I want you to come and meet your three grand-pups,’ I smile.
‘I’m a grandma?’ she asks, her eyes well up with tears again.
My father picks my mother up and nuzzles her neck. They follow us up the stairs in the packhouse. My mother peers down at her three-year-old twin grand sons sound asleep and caresses their faces gently. Then I take her into the next room, where she places a kiss on Lylah’s cheek.
My father extends his stay with us, so my mother can spend a few weeks with me and her grand-pups before returning to the Dark Moon pack as Luna by my father’s side.
