“Oh, sweetie, you are doing so well,” Estelle tries to soothe me, but it really doesn’t work as another contraction slams into me, and I can’t focus on anything but pushing this baby out of me.
“You got this!” Raine tells me, rubbing my back. I can’t have the guys in here. I just needed Raine and Estelle because this is a women’s thing, and I don’t want my guys to be scared of having sex with me after this. Also, I know Alex would freak out, Liam would try to help too much, and I’m not sure Mason wouldn’t go pale and pass out. No, I need the strong women in my life, and they are right here with me. But the dads are right outside, and the second our little one is here, they can meet him or her.
“Push one more time, and we will have a little baby in the room!” Estelle commands, holding my eyes, and I nod once. Pushing past the pain, I only think of meeting my baby as the next contraction comes. I scream, pushing with everything I have, and I feel my baby come into the world. The cry, a baby’s loud cry, rings in the room, and I breathlessly lie back, so exhausted. The guys rush into the room just as Estelle hands me a little baby, and I see their reactions. Shock and love. My little baby. Tears fall silently down my cheeks as I hold my baby to my chest.
“Congratulations. You have a little boy,” Estelle tells us as my guys gather around me. I can’t stop looking at my little boy, the little bits of hair on his head that look like spun gold and his little button nose. “Would any of you like to cut the cord?”
“I would if that’s alright?” Liam asks, and I look up with a huge smile.
“That would be perfect, just like our son,” I admit. He grins, and I watch in the corner of my eye as he cuts the cord with Estelle’s guidance. I stay fixed on my baby as Estelle asks the guys to get blankets while she deals with the afterbirth.
“Can I hold him? Maybe clean him up a little bit?” Mason quietly asks me. “Only if you want me to.”
“Of course,” I whisper, even when I don’t want to let him go even for one second. Mason softly smiles at me as he takes our son into his big arms. Alex kisses the side of my head, staying with me as Mason and Liam take our son to the baby unit we now have in our bedroom right next to the white crib and Moses basket.
“I’m so proud of you. Thank you,” Alex whispers to me. Raine squeezes my hand before leaving the room. The next half an hour, Estelle helps me clean up and gets me settled in bed so I can hold the baby. Before she leaves, she lets me know she will be doing hourly checks. Mason and Liam sit on the bed, watching our boy in my arms, and Alex rests in the chair next to us, his finger stroking our baby’s little hand hanging out of the blanket.
“Thank you,” Liam nearly whispers, his eyes full of tears. “Thank you so much.”
“No, our life is because of us all. Our child is proof that we love each other, and he will always be that. I’m excited for our life now,” I tell them all. “I love each of the men in this room, including our son.”
“And we love you,” Mason softly says, reaching closer and placing his hand on my leg.
“What should we name him?” Alex asks.
“How about Greyson Noble?” I ask. My guys all smile at me and nod once. I grin and stroke my little boy’s cheek. “Greyson, I can’t wait to show you the wonderful world of familiars.”
“Ana...,” Liam whispers, and I follow his eyes to the door. Shadow sits in the frame, and at his feet is a little grey wolf, only a baby really. I know right away who that is before I undo my baby’s blanket to see Greyson’s other hand.
On his hand is a marking of a grey wolf, and it glows purple, the same as mine.
He’s a familiar.
And our future.
Epilogue
Anastasia
10 years later…
Three babies later…
“Is everything finally ready?” Skye practically shouts, standing at my side, her arms crossed tightly with a frown on her beautiful face. Phoebe runs up to us, the stark opposite of her best friend, with a big grin as her blonde locks fall around her face. Looking at my sisters, I almost forget they are adults who have boyfriends and jobs now. I still remember the looks on the poor guys’ faces when they came to take Skye or Phoebe out for the first time and met my husbands. I was certain they would both cry when they left our house, but nope, they stuck around, much to the annoyance of my husbands.
“Of course! What did you expect?” she asks, placing her hands on her hips and trying to act bossy. It never works for Phoebe, she is just too sweet and kind. Skye sighs and hugs Phoebe tightly, giving into her.
“I don’t know, disaster to strike like it usually does when you’re involved?” Skye replies, but her voice is too playful to be taken seriously. Phoebe’s familiar, Otter the giant turtle, finally gets to her side, nudging Phoebe’s legs with her shell. Phoebe got her familiar on her eighteenth birthday when she fell off a boat she was on at a party near the island. For hours we thought the worst, searching the sea as best we could and all the beaches, and then we found her on the back of Otter with a big grin on her face.
Her familiar saved her life. He may be
