Tatum and Henry

I smile back at Tatum as I listen to the small gasps of shock coming from Captain Carlton and Alexa.

“Thank you, Captain Sullivan, you may leave the stand,” Elder Johannes states, giving Major Boyes a disgusted look. Tatum nods and sits back down next to Kane. I want to wrap my arms round her waist and pull her onto my lap, she’s mine, all mine.

“Now to address the false accusations against Captain Sullivan. Major Boyes, for failing to comply with legislation regarding court martialling military personal with family, and for failing to cross-examine evidence resulting in a false arrest, I hereby strip you of your title as Major and sentence you to one year at Silverlock prison,” Elder Johannes states.

“Excuse me!” the Major sitting next to Major Boyes exclaims.

“Major Clemton, you are here as a support figure only. Major Boyes not only put a high-blood family at risk, he put General Erstad’s mate on trial for dereliction of duty which if he had done his job properly, would not have happened!” Elder Johannes growls. The Major looks over at me and I can see the guilt in his face.

“Captain Lyndon Carlton, for falsely accusing a fellow Captain of desertion and dereliction of duty, you are to be stripped of your title as Captain and you will also spend one year at Silverlock prison. After which you will return to your pack and a high-ranking delta and your Alpha will find a position in your pack worthy of your deception and treason against General Erstad’s mate. I will write a letter to your Alpha regarding possible career choices for you.

As for your team, Alexa Brown, Selena Hampton and DeAnna Halcyon, Mara Constance, Ewen MacIntosh and Sheldon Murry, you are to be sentenced to eight months imprisonment at Silverlock for your contribution to these false allegations. I will also be sending your Alpha’s the relevant paperwork noting your involvement in treason against General Erstad’s mate, with a recommending letter regarding possible career choices once you leave incarceration,” Elder Johannes growls, looking at Captain Carlton’s team.

I smirk and watch as they all cower. The doors to the building then open behind us and several large soldiers walk in and collect Major Boyes and Captain Carlton and his team. Tatum walks up to me from her seat and I smile as I pull her into my lap and bury my head into the crook of her neck, enjoying her raspberry and vanilla scent.

“What are we going to do now?” Tatum murmurs.

“Let’s go home,” I say, smiling into my mark on her neck.

//\\//\\//\\

Thea and Kane stay with us for a few more days before they finally leave to go back home, and we quickly slip back into a happy home routine.

“How was school today?” I ask Tatum one evening as we prepare food for dinner together. She rolls her eyes.

“I had to speak to the Dean today. They want me to go part-time because I’ve missed so many classes. It means it could take me another two years or more before I graduate,” Tatum complains. I wrap my arms around her. I know she’s always wanted to explore the field of physiotherapy, but meeting me, having a baby and then this whole war has set her back a few years. She skipped her final year of high school to raise Jed, and then after I had re-enrolled her, she had to leave to have our baby.

“Well I’m here now, and I will always support you,” I say, kissing her temple. She sighs.

“I know, but I’ll be twenty-five when I finish. I already feel older than everyone else at school,” she whinges.

“Do you regret it? If you had to do it again, knowing everything you know now in hindsight, would you repeat it?” I ask.

Tatum looks at me, her eyes narrowed.

“Yup, I would change everything, then I would never have had met you and…” she squeals as I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder.

“Really? Should we tell that to Jed? To Rhiannon?” I ask, walking out of the kitchen to the living room.

“No! Henry! No! Put me down!” she giggles, hitting my back.

“Not until you stop lying and tell the truth!” I laugh, holding her legs down as she kicks me.

“Daddy!” Rhiannon giggles, running up to us when she sees me holding her mum over her shoulder.

“Careful Tate, you don’t want to kick Rhiannon, do you?” I ask. Tatum immediately stops kicking her legs.

“Now take it back!” I order with a laugh.

“I take it back! I take it back! Now let me down!” she laughs. I drop her down, making her slide down my body.

“I would not change a thing,” she admits, pressing her lips against mine. I smile and enter her mouth with my tongue, my hands moving behind her neck as I deepen our kiss.

“I love you Henry Erstad,” she smiles as she moves away from me.

“I love you too Tatum Erstad,” I reply, whacking her butt as she leaves for the kitchen.

“Come on Princess, come help daddy in the kitchen,” I say to me little one as I pick her up and put her on my hip.

“Yay!” Rhiannon cries, giggling.

Two months later…

“Our numbers are on the fridge, but you should be able to link Henry, and there’s money on the bench…” Tatum repeats herself before we get ready to leave. Gabby laughs.

“We’ll be fine Tate, we’re just gonna watch something on Netflix and then I’ll order pizza for dinner,” Gabby assures her. I smile. It’s not like we’ve not left Rhiannon with Gabby before, but this is the first time we’ll be away overnight with Gabby babysitting.

“Come on babe, the bags are in the car,” I say, grabbing my beautiful mates hand. She looks at me and I smile at her. It had been two months since the court martial and we’d quickly settled back into an easy routine. Tatum decided to drop a few classes and go part-time like her university had suggested, giving her more quality time to spend with our daughter.

Tonight was the first time we were going on a date. We were staying the night in South Sefton and going to the pub to watch our friends perform.

I pull the truck out of the driveway and honk the horn twice as we drive away, Gabby and Rhiannon waving us goodbye before walking back into the house. It wasn’t a long trip from the pack to the hotel, and we sat there listening to Billy Eilish.

“I don’t know why you like her, she sounds so depressing,” I tease as we drive. Tatum whacks my arm making me chuckle.

“Shame on you, she has a singing voice of an angel,” Tatum replies. I shake my head.

After checking into the hotel and putting our bags in the room, we drive out to South Sefton to do a little bit of shopping. I notice that there are a lot of werewolves around and Tatum explains that a lot of wolves from Waning Moon work in South Sefton, and that the high school Jed attended was located in South Sefton.

We walk into different shops and Tatum introduces me proudly to the other wolves as her mate. It filled me with joy that she would do that after all that we’ve been through.

By five-o’clock we had filled the truck with bags of shopping and we began to head for the ‘Wolf’s Den.’ We walk into the building and I walk through the ‘staff only’ door to go to Adrian’s office.

“Henry!” Adrian calls out happily as I walk in. He gets up from his seat and we fist bump and hug each other in greeting.

“How have you both been?” Adrian asks. I smile back at him. Adrian and his mate Vas live on Iunae Lumen territory most of the time, coming down to at regular intervals to see Vas’s family and to keep an eye on the Wolf Den and Coffee Den business his pack own and run in South Sefton.

“We’re good,” I smile.

“Vas will be here soon. She’s just dropping the kids off at Saxon’s. I just have some paperwork to do but if you grab yourself a drink, we’ll meet you both there shortly,” Adrian explains.

“Thanks man,” I reply.

“Thanks Adrian,” Tatum says, giving him a hug. We walk back to the bar and order our drinks, finding a booth to sit at while we wait for Vas and Adrian to get to us.

The atmosphere is pleasant, the pub is currently filled with wolves and humans who have come in after work for happy hour, and families who have come in for an early dinner. I notice Adrian come out with one of his staff members as they set up a stage with an amp, microphone and stool.

“Adrian is singing tonight,” Tatum smiles at me as I watch him.

“Really?” I smile. I remember Adrian from Alpha training and he would sing and play his guitar sometimes, but he was too shy to perform in front of others back then. Since I’ve been living in Waning Moon, I haven’t had the pleasure of hearing him sing yet.

“Sorry I’m late! I dropped the kids off at Margot’s and high-tailed it here. I saw Jed and Will playing on the PlayStation, they seemed happy,” Vas smiles, touching my shoulder in greeting before kissing Tatum’s cheek before sitting down next to her.

I listen as Tatum and Vas catch up and talk about our girls and let out a sigh of relief when Adrian finally joins us at the table. Adrian grins when he sits down and asks us how everything is going.

“I’m hungry,” Vas states, making Adrian chuckle. The girls tell us what they want and Aidge and I walk up to the bar to order our food.

//\\//\\//\\

When dinner was over Adrian cleared the table and brought back some drinks and as the night went on, we sat there enjoying each other’s company.

“Aidge, it’s time,” a staff member said, coming over to our table.

“Thanks Carlos, I’ll be right there,” Adrian says. Carlos nods and leaves and Aidge gets up from his seat and bends over to give Vas a chaste kiss.

“I love you Adrian,” Vas says, smiling as he moves away.

“He’s performing tonight,” Vas tells us, giving us a wink.

“Are you too?” Tatum asks.

“Maybe,” she says slyly, getting up from her seat and dragging Tatum with her. I follow them and we walk over to the stage where Adrian is sitting, his guitar on his lap.

“Hi everyone, and welcome to the Wolf’s Den. As you know Apollo is playing tonight,” Adrian introduces, making the girls around us cry out in cheers, “and as always, you’re stuck with me at the moment,” Adrian continues. He starts playing his guitar, his fingers strumming each string as he plays the intro to ‘Bad Liar,’ by Imagine Dragons.

Adrian plays another three songs before he stops and smiles at the people gathered round the stage.

“For my next song, I’d like to ask my wife and best friend to come join me on the stage,” he smiles. I watch as Vas leaves us and walks through the crowd, grabbing a guitar from the back of the make-shift stage and slinging the strap over her shoulder.

Tatum squeezes my hand as I watch Vas and Aidge both play the introduction to a song with their guitars. They play another two songs together and then Vas begins the introduction to her third song solo. She begins to sing, Adrian joining in with his guitar.

“You were everything, everything that I wanted

We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it-And all of the memories, so close to me, just fade away,

All this time you were pretending, So much for my happy ending,” Vas sings.

I turn and look at Tatum, her sadness coming off her.

“Babe are you okay?” I ask, wrapping my arms round her.

“Yeah. This song just stings a little, that’s all,” Tatum admits.

“Hey, I’m here now, I love you,” I say, wiping the lone tear off her face. She gives me a smile and wraps her arms round my shoulders, burying her head into my chest.

“I thought I lost you four years ago, I lost my happy ending. You’re my happy ending Bambi,” she says in my chest. I kiss the top of her head.

“You are my happy ending,” I tell her. Tatum looks up at me and I bend down and kiss her lips.