“Shh, shh,” I shushed him. “You cannot think like that.”
“I can’t stop.”
“If we hadn’t done what we did, Theo wouldn’t be alive. There wouldn’t be a pack for him to become Alpha of. There wouldn’t be a world for him to exist in.”
“I know, you’re right.” His eyebrows raised. “I just.”
“You just wonder what it would have been,” I finished. I felt his head nod next to me. I placed my hand on the side of his cheek and turned his head back towards me. “You are the most amazing man I have ever met in my entire life.”
He smiled bashfully and kissed my nose. “Nothing compared to you, little wolf.” Theo started crying on the baby monitor again, and Rush reluctantly got up. “It’s my turn.”
I couldn’t help the smile that grew on my face as I heard Rush pick up Theo and rock him, singing to him softly. He probably thought I couldn’t hear him as he sang, but the light song flowed through the walls.
The door opened softly; Rush stood in the doorway, holding a crying Theo.
“He wants Mommy.” Rush’s bottom lip stuck out. I laughed and held out my arms for my boy.
“Hey, little guy,” I greeted. Rush sat next to me on the bed, leaning his shoulder against mine. “Someone’s hungry, huh?”
I lifted my shirt and unfastened my bra, with help from Rush, before I fed Theo. The only thing that calmed him at nighttime was breastfeeding, no matter who was over or what time it was.
He stopped crying as soon as he began feeding. Rush gently stroked his soft brown hair. Theo fell asleep as soon as he was full, lazily drooling on my chest.
“Jonah just mind-linked me,” Rush said sadly. “There’s something at the border.”
“Go.” I smiled. He kissed my bare shoulder and then kissed Theo’s head. “We’ll be fine here.”
“Okay,” Rush said reluctantly, glancing at us before he ran out of the room.
“That’ll be your job one day,” I said softly, stroking Theo’s cheek. I placed him in the bassinet beside our bed, knowing he would wake up in an hour crying.
I drifted off as I watched over Theo, trying to fall asleep but failing. It wasn’t until Rush returned and crawled into bed behind me that I was able to get any sleep. Between my boys, I dreamt of a day when Theo could play with his siblings, running around the house while Rush and I watched from the porch.
Rush pulled me closer to him and kissed his mark on my neck. I stretched and snuggled back into the sheets. Rush continued to kiss my neck.
“Stop,” I whispered.
“No,” he teased, pulling at my waist.
“Rush, stop,” I said a little louder. “I’m tired.”
“Too bad.” He laughed.
“Rush.” I smiled as he threw a pillow on the ground. “Be quiet, you’re going to wake-”
Theo burst into a wail of new tears as he woke up, cranky, and hungry.
“Theo.”
EPILOGUE
“You’re going to do this one day!” Rush shouted at me. I sat on a log with Theo in my arms, his small hands resting on the new baby bump growing from my stomach.
“Are you talking to me or Theo?” I laughed loudly.
“Both of you!”
“You’re crazy,” I called back. “Daddy’s crazy.”
“Crazy,” Theo babbled back to me. “Daddy!”
“Hold on, boy!”
“Why are you even doing this?” I asked, watching him push the giant boulder into the clearing.
“I told you,” he panted, leaning against the humongous rock. “I’m only giving my title over to Theo if he can get a bigger boulder up here. That’s how I’ll know he’s ready.”
“That is the most ridiculous test I have ever heard.” I shook my head and picked Theo up.
Rush grabbed him from my arms and kissed his head. “My father only handed me my title when I could beat him in a wrestling match,” Rush pointed out.
“That’s less crazy than a freaking boulder.”
“Tomato, tomahto.” He shrugged. “This is more fun.” He looked down at Theo. “You better get big and strong, little guy, because this was tough work. Ow. I think I pulled a muscle.”
“Yeah, because you’re being stupid.”
“Stupid,” Theo said softly. “Stupid, stupid!”
Rush glared at me. “Really? You know how impressionable he is. Stupid is a bad word, we don’t say it.”
“Momma.” He pointed towards me.
“I know, Momma is a naughty girl, I’ll punish her later.” He winked at me. I rolled my eyes and rubbed the kicking baby in my stomach.
I took Theo from Rush’s arms as his eyes glazed over, mind-linking someone. When his eyes came back to us, I snorted.
“What is so important?” I asked. “You could have dropped him, he could have hit his head.”
Instead of becoming angry at my scolding, Rush’s smile grew tenfold.
“What?” I asked, stepping closer to him.
“Beckett’s awake.”
My smile mirrored his as I kissed Theo’s cheek.
“You ready to go meet your Uncle Beckett?”
