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Elias clicked his tongue and his pen, scribbling something down. “No, Kian and his ladies got us the monogrammed blanket and beanie, so I think it was Patricia. Alright, that just leaves…”

A bolt of power jolted through me and I tried to sit up, failing miserably and just flopping like a fish.

“Damn, baby, you good?” Cam asked. “Wait—is it time?”

The rest of the pack perked up, their bodies tensing and looking at me expectantly. Julian’s fingers flickered at his side, ready to grab my hospital bag.

“What? No, it’s still too early. Ezra’s here.”

They grunted their disappointment and sat back down, while Cam helped me get up off the couch. I shuffled towards the back door, where my brother now stood, flanked by two shifter guards.

They were wearing clothes, thank the Moon, and I gave a mocking bow. At least as well as I could.

“Your Majesty…”

“Rise, bitch,” he replied, his face breaking out into a shit-eating grin. He leaned down, framing my cheeks in his large hands and planting a big kiss on my forehead.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and breathed him in. “You missed the party, jerk.”

He laughed, giving me a little pat on the head.

Things werealmostback to normal for us. I still wasn’t sure if I could ever fully forgive him for what he’d done to our parents and to me. But as more time passed since I’d defeated Alaroth, Ezra’s mind cleared even further, and I could see how the reality of his actions were affecting him.

Ezra had been vulnerable when the king had found him, and he’d used his magic like a poison to make him easier to manipulate. Sure, his feelings of resentment had already been there, but without the king pulling his strings, my brother would never have even thought about killing Mom and Dad.

As he’d promised, he started crossing over once every two weeks to join me with a family therapist in Eau Claire. Archer had suggested her to us, since she was a shifter acquaintance of his.

We were making progress, but the pressure of suddenly becoming a monarch, as well as coming to terms with how he’d gotten there, weighed on him heavily, and righting his own wrongs were more emotionally challenging than he’d anticipated. I couldn’t count howmany times he’d shown up here in the middle of the night, stressed out and crying, asking me to help talk him through his trauma.

“Sorry,” Ezra replied. “We couldn’t shift and carry your present at the same time, so it took longer to get here than I’d anticipated.”

I let go of him and clapped my hands. “Yay, present! Gimme gimme!”

One of the guards went behind a tree and brought out a large, intricately carved wooden cradle. Twisting vines and curling leaves intertwined along the rails, while the phases of the moon and a howling wolf adorned the headboard. Cam whistled in appreciation, knocking gently on its side.

“Damn, that’s beautiful. What is this, maple?”

My pack had not been as keen to work towards forgiveness with Ezra, even after he’d helped us in the end. But they had come to a tacit understanding after a few more rounds of all-out brawls in the backyard. How males could go from mortal enemies to best friends after punching each other senseless, I’d never know.

Ezra smiled. “No, it’s Liunrin, a type of tree in Vespera. I worked with a fae midwife to spell the wood, so whenever your pup cries, it will start rocking them back to sleep automatically.”

Damnit, these pregnancy hormones had me fucked. I started to tear up, grabbing my brother again to give him a giant hug. “It’s perfect, thank you.”

He hugged me back, gently swaying us side to side. “It’s no problem. Not going to lie, though, Canna helped out a lot.”

I laughed into his chest.

Canna, as I’d predicted, had become quite the powerhouse as the new queen. And Ezra, for all his “alpha of alpha” bullshit, loved having a female tell him what to do, which worked out perfectly because Canna was amazing. She was smart, funny, and my brother absolutely adored her. She called him out on his shit regularly, but was also compassionate and understanding, and had been instrumental in his healing. She was the perfect counterpart for the crown, and together, I knew they could bring a whole new era of peace and prosperity to Vespera.

“Is Canna here? I haven’t seen her in ages.”

“No,” he sighed. “She was going to come, but the pup’s been rough on her, too.”

Canna was a few months behind me in her pregnancy, and to say I was thrilled would be an understatement.

Ezra and I had always had each other growing up, but I’d envied my friends who had large, extended families. Including Ivy’s four boys, this pup was going to have more cousins than they’d know what to do with.

“Aw, that sucks. Want me to send you back with some ginger tea? It helped me a lot.”