Hope Springs

It had been a year and a half since we had reclaimed our territory, and the pack was now thriving. We had fenced off the fifty acres of forest that belonged to the pack and had since installed a gate and a security system. We weren’t taking any chances with the pack’s safety. We had only lost seven wolves in the battle and so five children had been made orphans, but they had since been adopted.

The pack now had about one-hundred members but more were soon to be joining us. After hearing of our prowess Rogues who had unwillingly parted from their packs had requested to join ours and Max was reviewing applications and making sure that they wouldn’t pose a risk. Additionally Raven and Rhea were both pregnant.

Since Raven wasn’t a wolf, she was only having one baby. But Rhea, who was a wolf, was having quadruplets. She was in her ninth month of pregnancy and was very antsy and mean. I had learned to stay out of her way pretty quickly and to just let Finley deal with her when she was in a mood.

Hadley and Alex had taken to travelling. They hadn’t left the pack, but the two of them wanted to get away from Hope Springs for awhile. Hadley had insisted that they had been talking about this before all of the drama and I wanted to believe her, but I wasn’t sure if she was being completely honest.

Josh and Anya had gone to Russia, to visit Anya’s family and had yet to let us know if they were going to return or not. I thought that they might. After the battle Anya and I had actually become quite close, although Anya would always be closer to Raven.

“What are you thinking about?” Max asked, wrapping his arms around my waist and I turned in his embrace, resting my hands on his chest.

“Shouldn’t you be reviewing applications?” I asked instead of answering his question and he frowned at me.

“I missed you,” He said petulantly,sounding like a child.

He had been holed up in his office for over three hours and so I guess him taking a break wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Besides I had also missed.

“I missed you too,” I said, smiling at him and he grinned.

“Aren’t you supposed to be looking at bridal magazines?” He asked and I wrapped my arms around his neck, tilting my head up to stare at him.

“Do I really want to go over a lot of details with a hormonal Rhea?” I asked, “And when one of my bridesmaids isn’t here?”

“Point taken,” He murmured, pressing a kiss to the tip of my nose.

We stood there in silence and I rested my head on his chest. Things had finally started to settle down for the pack. Everything was developing into a routine and we weren’t being having any surprises thrown at us. Everything was completely and utterly normal and peaceful. I was glad that everything had settled down and that we weren’t having any issues with the neighboring packs like Summer Falls and Autumn Grove.

Max’s arms tightened around my waist and I leaned even further into him. I closed my eyes, nuzzling closer to him. Everything was just fine.

“Are you okay?” Max asked and I nodded.

“I’m fine,” I answered, “I’m just relieved that it’s all over. That there are no issues and that everything is peaceful.”

It was the truth. Loup Chasseur hadn’t bothered us once and my family had returned to living on pack lands and rented out our old home. We had bounced back from the blow that they had dealt to us and had returned even stronger.

“You sure?” He asked quietly.

I nodded. I was perfectly fine. I tilted my head up and he leaned down. Just before we kissed though the front door burst open and Finley came in.

“Rhea had her babies!” He shouted excitedly, his eyes gleaming with happiness.

“And you left her,” I said dryly, “When did she got into labour?”

“Last night but well no one knew,” He said sheepishly, “She didn’t want a lot of people hovering but now that they are all out she wanted the Alpha couple to see them first.”

I smiled and agreed, I was excited to see Rhea’s babies and I couldn’t be happier for her. This was the life that I had craved for so long (even if I hadn’t realized it). I wouldn’t trade this for the world.

This life was perfect.