Page 28

Xochil

-Two years later-

“S top fidgeting, Little Witch. She’s only been gone for a month, and the plane is on schedule,” I told my squirmy mate.

“That’s not why I’m fidgeting,” Aline grumbled from the side.

“Then w—Oh, because of tonight?” I asked.

“Yeah. What if it didn’t work?”

“Then we try again,” I assured her. “It will happen when it’s meant to, Love. We can’t fight destiny.”

“I know, but I did everything they said, Xochil. I’m scared there’s something wrong with me.”

“Ogum, Mom and the doctor said you were in perfect health, my love.”

“I know,” she sighed. “It’s just… I keep dreaming of that little boy in my arms, and Ogum insists that it’s not a dream, and it just makes me anxious. I want our baby in my arms.”

I took her hand and brought it to my lips, understanding her frustration. I hadn’t mentioned anything, so I wouldn’t add to her stress, but I was also having the same dream she was having. But in my dream, it wasn’t just her holding our baby boy in her arms. I was standing behind her, holding a little girl in mine.

We did in-vitro two and a half weeks ago. We used some of my eggs and an anonymous wolf’s sperm after Ogum, Mom and Dr. Roswell stated Aline was healthy enough to carry a werewolf pup safely. Mom volunteered to check to see if the implantation of the embryos took, but Aline wanted her grandmother to be there, so we were all a ball of nerves and anxiety as we waited for her return.

Right now, it was a waiting game of what happened first. Her scent could change any day now if she was pregnant, Mom could sneak a hand to check, Aline could get her period letting us know it failed, or Renata could have a vision and call to tell us if it was happening. So far, none of them had happened yet, and the suspense was killing all of us. I even caught Miguel and Jacob trying to get near Aline to see if they could hear a heartbeat.

But Renata was landing in less than twenty minutes, and this evening, Mom was finally going to check. Mrs. Roswell was ready to book us for an ultrasound if Mom could confirm Aline was pregnant. We were all finally going to get the answers we wanted.

We parked to the side of the hangar, where the plane would be pulling into, and sat there in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts and dreams for tonight. I could hear our heartbeats racing as we watched the private jet approaching, mine speeding up the longer we sat there.

The jet’s door opened, and Miguel helped Renata down the stairs. He’d left yesterday to go pick her up, per Renata’s standing request. I doubted he’d slept at all in the last thirty-six hours. He timed everything so that he would have the shortest turnaround. Basically, he gave them time to refuel the plane while he picked up Renata, and wanted to be in the air the moment he returned with the precious cargo. He would have asked for someone else to go in his place, but he loved Renata and didn’t want to disappoint her, so he’d committed to going as he’d promised her. If he had his way, he would never leave the pack again. He didn’t like being away from the pack lately. It was going to be funny to see how grumpy he got the next time we had a mission that took us away for a few days.

“Avó!” Aline called out as we exited the car. She ran to her grandmother and gave her a huge hug, and I almost winced as Renata grunted.

“Your workouts are working, neta. Don’t show off by almost crushing your poor grandmother,” she chided when Aline released her.

They started walking my way, and I smiled at Renata when she winked at me.

“How was your flight?” I asked, giving her a hug.

“Lovely. I can’t thank you and Helios enough for humoring an old woman, and letting me go check on my place,” she smirked over at Miguel, and then turned back to me. “We’ll have to see who else is available for escorting me. He’s not as fun as he used to be, though he does have some interesting new stories to tell.”

“I’m still fun!” Miguel defended with a pout. “I asked you for a dance, and you said no.”

“Young man, a woman of my age can’t be trying to salsa dance while the plane is lifting off. Do you want to break an old woman’s bones? Because that’s how you break an old woman’s bones.”

Miguel had the decency to blush, and at the reproaching look on Aline’s face, he argued, “It wasn’t moving when I asked! I thought we still had a couple of minutes.”

“Never change, Miguel,” Aline laughed.

“Couldn’t if I wanted to, Luna,” Miguel replied, smiling widely at the compliment.

We got into the car, and Miguel rode shotgun with me so Renata and Aline could catch up on the drive home, even though they talked almost every other day while Renata was away.

I was concerned Aline wouldn’t be happy when she first stepped away from the restaurant. I thought she would miss it and get bored around the pack.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. I had known my mate was overworked, but she admitted to how burned out she was after we moved here.

Since we’d moved back to the pack, she’d learned to relax and enjoy life. She’s grown close to Mom and other women in the pack as she learned our way of life and assimilated. She gathered a really tight-knit group around her after we finally took over the pack almost a year ago. Aline was amazing as Luna, and her training and gifts were blossoming.

Renata was now alternating between spending a few months here and a few months in Brazil. The convenience of flying without the hassle of a crowd was doing a lot to help her feel comfortable traveling. Both packs loved both women, especially when they decided they were bored and cooked giant quantities of Brazilian food for everyone. Even Aunt Celeste and Mom joined in the food preparations. Cory tried to sometimes, but as alpha and father, it was harder for him to step away for whole afternoons at a time, so Renata spent a night a week going over to Crescent Moon to teach him new recipes.

They had everyone wrapped around their fingers, especially me.

The restaurant was still doing great, and Rosie and Guillermo had added a few recipes to the menu that were being well received. They still mostly served Brazilian food, but having a few picky-eater-friendly options was drawing in the crowds with children.

‘Are you nervous?’ Miguel opened a mind-link, so Aline could continue her conversation with her grandmother.

‘No. You and I both know things will happen when and how they need to. There’s no point in fighting destiny.’

‘I know that, but still… not even a little bit?’ he asked again.

I flickered my eyes to him for a moment before returning them to the road and saw the suspicion on his face.

‘Maybe a little bit, but there’s no use worrying about something out of our control.’

Miguel didn’t say anything in response, but he kept the mind-link open. After another few minutes of silence, I peeked at him again and saw he was still looking at me in the same manner.

‘What’s the look for?’ I asked.

‘I call bullshit. You know something.’

‘How the fuck would I know something,’ I demanded, but I knew my racing heart would betray me.

‘I can hear your heart beating quickly, cousin.’

‘Don’t say anything. Don’t fucking react,’ I warned him. ‘But I think I heard an additional heartbeat while we were waiting for the plane to land.’

Miguel started to squeal, and I sent him a warning glare, but the damage was done.

“Are you alright, Miguel?” Aline asked.

Thankfully, Miguel thought fast and lowered the passenger window, making some shooing squealing noises.

“There was a bee,” he explained a minute later.

I chuckled a little awkwardly at the movie reference. Thankfully, Aline went back to her conversation with Renata, and I sighed with relief.

‘That was fucking close. What part of ‘don’t react’ didn’t you understand?’ I asked.

‘Sorry! I’m excited,’ he answered sheepishly.

‘She’s refused to check, so everyone we love could find out at the same time. I think she feels like, if there’s an audience, it’s less likely that the test will be negative.’

‘I don’t think that’s how it works, cuz.’

‘I swear by all that is holy, if you mention that, and make my probably pregnant mate cry, I will purple nurple you so hard, my child will ask you: Uncle, why are your nipples grape flavored?’ I warned.

‘I think my nipples just became innies. So violent,’ he replied, and I saw him covering his nipples and shifting them subtly away from me. ‘ Are you excited?’

‘If I really did hear it, of course I’m fucking excited. It was only for a moment, though. Then the plane landed, and she was running toward her grandmother.’

We drove quietly, and I knew we were both trying to listen for it, but the engine was too loud to hear much over it.

‘I guess I’ll just have to find out with the rest of the peasants,’ he sighed.

‘My mate is not a peasant.’

‘You know what I mean! I’ve told everyone I would know before them!’

‘Well, you can’t tell them I knew. If it gets back to Aline, she will put me in the doghouse!’

‘Wouldn’t that be the wolfhouse?’

‘You know what I mean! This is a big deal for her not to know before you do.’

‘I can just say I heard it on the drive.’

‘Or you could be a good beta and not say anything.’

He grumbled in response, and I took that to mean he would keep it to himself. We arrived at the pack house an hour later, and to nobody’s surprise, everyone was waiting for us out front.

“What a welcoming surprise! I feel so loved,” Renata teased.

“You most definitely are, jovem bruxa,” Dad said with a chuckle.

“Don’t flirt with me in front of your mate, Huitzilopochtli. It’s rude,” Renata teased. “Besides, my heart belongs to another. I actually don’t see him. Does anyone know wh—ah. There he is. I thought you forgot about me, Tomás.”

“Never! I just got off patrol and was showering, so I didn’t do this all sweaty!” One of our older pack members said as he rushed down the steps and lifted Renata into a fierce hug. The warrior had been with us since Dad and my uncles rescued them, and it turned out his maternal side was Brazilian, so he took to Aline and Renata quickly, going as far as volunteering to guard Renata when she left the pack to shop with Aline, despite being semi-retired now.

“And just like that, I no longer exist,” Aline said as she came to stand next to me.

I wrapped my arm around her waist and followed everyone inside. We didn’t get too far in, though, as everyone was idling around the entrance.

“What’s wrong?” Aline asked, but I could already guess what was going on and started chuckling.

“Well... we just thought that since everyone is already here, we could... ahem... check to see if you are pregnant,” Dad explained with a blush.

“What a great idea you just thought of, Dad,” I replied with as much sarcasm as I could inject into my voice, making a few people chuckle.

“Why don’t you guys wait here, and we’ll go into a conference room to check? Just immediate family to start?” Mom suggested, making the rest groan and whine.

“Why don’t we just all go into the dining room?” I suggested making everyone begin to filter into the private dining room.

‘But if she’s not pregnant, don’t you want some privacy, mija?’ Dad asked in a private mind-link.

‘Aline wanted it like this, Dad.’

‘And what your mate wants, she gets,’ he added, taking Mom’s hand and guiding her inside. By the knowing tone of his voice, I knew the change of plans had been her idea, but he was willing to take the heat for it.

Once everyone was inside, Jacob closed the door to give us some privacy, and I squeezed Aline’s hand as I felt her nerves blasting down the bond.

‘Whatever happens, I love you,’ she mind-linked.

‘Not as much as this wolfie loves her witch,’ I assured her.

Mom began approaching, and Aline held up a panicked hand.

“Wait,” she said, then turned to Miguel. “Can one of you record this and, if it’s good news, post it to the chat?”

“You got it,” Miguel replied, pulling out his phone.

I loved the fact that she wanted to share this with everyone in the cousin chat. I added her on there soon after I marked her, and they’d embraced her as part of the family, immediately.

“Are you ready?” Mom asked, and the room held its breath.

“Yes, please,” my mate answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

Mom smiled to soothe her nerves as she placed a hand on Aline’s stomach and closed her eyes. I wasn’t sure if I was breathing. I was sure I heard additional heartbeats in the car, but it could have just been wishful thinking. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Mom’s smile deepen, and squeezed my mate’s hand when I felt her breathing hitch.

Mom finally opened her eyes, and I wanted to fist pump at the happy tears gathered there.

“You’re expecting, Aline,” Mom began, and quickly shushed the ones wanting to start jumping. “And you’re expecting twins.”

The room was quiet as Aline’s jaw dropped to the floor, then Cory’s chuckle broke the shocked silence of the room.

“Looks like Areli is the one who’s going to make or break the pattern. We’re three for three on alpha twins,” he told the room before cheers, howls and hugs ensued.

After a few moments, Aline made everyone quiet down and with a nervous chuckle asked, “Can we keep the news to just the family for now? Until we’re safely past the first tr—” she didn’t get to finish, as people started bursting into the room to offer congratulations and howls could be heard all around the pack grounds.

“You should have started with that, Little Witch. You know nothing is faster than gossip around the pack. Not even Uncle Lalo,” I teased as I looked at the bright red faces of the guilty members of my family.

“Yeah, that one is on me. I should have known better,” Aline agreed with a laugh, allowing herself to be whisked away for hugs.

As I watched everyone, I felt my phone vibrate and pulled it out to check. I opened the cousin chat, and my heart filled with so much warmth and appreciation as Miguel’s video posted, and the ones not here started sending us their congratulations, questions and voice messages.

Life really couldn’t get any better than this, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it would be even better in less than five months.