The Alpha's Cursed Mate

Epilogue

The service has already put the children to bed some hours ago, but I peer into each of their dark bedchambers and look over them as they sleep. Three boys ages eight, six, and three, and one girl of only a year. All are sound asleep except for my eldest boy who dashes to his bed from the terrace at the sound of his bedchamber door. He slips under his blankets and hides his guilt by pulling the edge of the blanket to the bottom of his eyes.

"Tell me you didn't leave the keep this time, Calam," I say and go towards him.

He shakes his head. "I was just on the terrace."

"Looking at the stars?"

He nods.

I sit next to him on the edge of the mattress, and he lowers his blanket. "I know you four don't like sleeping, but you're still growing. Once you have your first shift, we can discuss some changes. One day you'll miss your need to sleep; I do."

"Why? It only wastes time."

"What are you so busy doing that you need both the day and night to do it?"

Calam shrugs. "I could learn more."

"You hardly sit still during your lessons, and now you want more of them? Lay down. On your pillow."

"I'm not tired," he says while doing as directed.

"I know," I say, tucking him in, "but if you close your eyes and relax, you'll fall asleep, and before you know it, it will be morning. We have to make sure your wolf is big and strong. One day your father will need you to be Alpha, right?"

"Right. I know. And I will be strong. He tells me all the time."

I smile. "Do you want a story to fall asleep? Maybe another about Tabitha the witch?"

"No, I think I'll just lie here and think about being Alpha."

"Okay. That's a good idea," I tell him and rise from his bed. "Goodnight, Calam. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Mama," his small voice says back, and I bend to kiss his forehead and smooth his hair.

I close his bedchamber door softly and exit his apartment only to find Alexei walking along the hallway. "All the children are down. Don't wake them."

"Blythe is drunk; I had to escape the festivities for a moment," he says.

I open the glass doors to the terrace off the hallway that extends along this side of the temple. Alexei follows me onto it, and we go to the ornate stone rail, gazing out at our vast territory ahead of us. I glance at him. "It's a lovely anniversary celebration, but next year perhaps we should celebrate with only the family. We could take the children to the West for some weeks."

Alexei envelopes me from behind. "Our last trip to the West was filled with complaints. The sailing makes Ivan seasick, Calam nearly went overboard, and when we took them into the Western forests, both were nearly lost; I couldn't imagine it with Jem and my little sunflower. The four of them will burn the city to the ground."

"Well, your little sunflower is coming with me next week to the mountains. Edith has a new proposition concerning the keep renovations, and I don't want to get lonely."

"While you're gone, I'll take the boys to training," Alexei suggests.

I turn to look at him. "Training? Jem is three. Ivan six. They're much too young."

"I started when I was Calam's age," he reasons. "He can be a force, my love. I can make him into the greatest, deadliest man that's ever lived. Nothing and no one will compare to him except his brothers. They'll be brilliant."

I touch Alexei's chest where the gash that nearly took his life once was. "If Calam wants to train, fine. Goddess knows he has the energy for it."

Alexei caresses my cheek and lifts my chin. His eyes advert to the moon above and then return to me. "I haven't seen the moon so beautiful since the night we were mated. Look."

He turns me around and wraps his arms under mine while I stargaze, lowering his head next to mine. He leaves a kiss on my neck, and I raise my arm to touch his, right where my name has been inked.

"I pray our children are loved as greatly and unconditionally as we love each other," I murmur. "One day they will all be mated, even our little girl."

"Well, we'll see."

"Alexei. When she's of age you promise me you'll let her live. She doesn't need you guarding her every hour of the day."

He says, "Once she's eighteen, I will try my best, but I'm still her father."

"I was eighteen when we were mated."

"That doesn't mean she'll be mated then. I spoke to the Goddess when she was born, and I made it clear I don't want her mated until she's at least a hundred."

My expression twists. "The Goddess isn't going to listen to your nonsense."

Alexei kisses my neck again, and I squirm. He mutters against my skin, "How do you feel about a fifth baby?"

"I feel that you're going to have to start carrying them."

He smiles and comes around me to kiss me on my mouth. I soften and lean into him, gliding my hands up his arms and over his shoulders. He pauses just to say, "Happy anniversary, my love. May there be a thousand more."

I search his eyes, finding the heavens in them. "So mote it be."