Feel me

"Apollo! I'm home!" I called out as the front door of our home shut behind me. After a month away on a mission, I was more than excited to see my mate again. The time away was difficult, although crucial in ensuring the last remnants of the organization that made me were wiped out.

"Callie!" His excited growl caused a shiver to race down my spine. It pulled every fiber of my being toward him. The mate-bond strengthened with every inch of the gap between us that closed. I heard his footsteps on the floor coming down the hallway, and my entire body tingled like I was electrified.

My mate stopped dead in his tracks when he rounded the corner. His eyes were glowing gold with the stirring excitement of his inner wolf. However, when he saw the bundle in my arms, they faded. Apollo's head tilted to the side and his jaw dropped.

"Sometimes you come home from your missions with surprises, but I think this one has thrown me off more than the others." He took a tentative step towards me, nostrils flaring as he scented the air.

"I know. The dragon bone dagger was a favorite of mine. It made me really happy when you displayed it in your office," I chuckled. The bundle in my arms cooed, and I looked down. My feet moved on their own and I met Apollo halfway in the front foyer of our home, back in California.

The past two years together were more wonderful than any dream I could have had. Apollo showed me I was worthy of love and happiness. His pack welcomed me as their Luna, even though I was a hybrid. Any time I got wind of the group that made me, Apollo didn't stop me from going to take them down.

In the time since we took down the New York compound, I'd taken down two more across the world. While Alannah was busy with her own life complications, I had the support of all the races in taking down the underground organization. Humans that knew about the paranormal world and took advantage of their DNA to make dormant hybrids couldn't be left alone. Vampires, witches, wolves and everything under the sun and stars were doing their part to help my mission.

Although now it appeared I had a new mission to tackle.

"The dragon bone dagger was a lovely gift. But something tells me we can't display this one." He stopped in front of me, breathing slowly as he stared, dumbfounded. "Care to elaborate on your last mission, then?"

I nodded, smiling weakly. Each heavy drum of my heart flooding my cells with nerves. Swallowing hard, I hugged her tighter to my chest and sighed.

"Well, you know I can't have children," I started.

"Callie..."

"No, listen, please." Apollo knew the organization sterilized me. It was a fact he'd come to terms with a long time ago. Yet I knew someday it would be important for the Alpha to have an heir.

Perhaps there was a small part of me that wanted that life with him. Something akin to a normal family. The life I never had as a child. A loving home full of warmth and endless possibilities.

"On this last mission, my squad was taking down a base in Morocco. The scientists were there, and they were making more..." my words faltered at the memory of the embryo tanks and the children. "When they saw us, those fuckers terminated them."

"Oh, shit, Calypso." His voice was warm and helped to pull me out of the darkness in my mind.

"She was the only one I could save." Carefully, I pulled away the swaddle blanket, revealing the bright brown eyes of the baby girl in my arms. "Number Eighty-Eight. She's... she's like me."

"A hybrid?" Apollo asked, smiling at the infant in my arms. His eyes were bright, and I didn't need to ask to know that he was enamored already.

"A wolf hybrid, although her genes are still dormant. They might never awaken unless she meets her mate as I did." Apollo finally looked up from the baby, meeting my intense stare. "I know she's not full wolf, maybe not the ideal heir for the pack, but I thought maybe we could..."

I didn't know how to say it. How to pose the question burning on the tip of my tongue. Could we be a family?

"You want to raise her?" Apollo offered. His knowing smile and warm eyes made me want to melt into a puddle. He was always so gentle with me when I needed it, even if I didn't know when that was sometimes.

I was a being that came with knives in her eyes and agony in her blood. Everything about me was sharp and dangerous. Despite getting my happy ending with Apollo, sometimes I still had my doubts.

"Maybe. I mean, I think I do." My words tumbled from my mouth in a rush. "Now I don't know how to raise a child, or really how to interact with children at all. I don't know how to be a parent. That's not something I ever had."

"Callie." Apollo wrapped an arm over my shoulder, looking from my eyes down to the child in my arms. The baby watched us intently, not making a sound. "If you want to raise her, you know I'll be right by your side the entire time. I've never been a parent either. This is something we'd have to figure out, but we would do it together."

How could I have ever doubted him? Apollo was the sun in the sky and just as warm. Though deadly when he needed to be.

"So, you're okay with this?" I released the breath I'd been holding. Staring at the side of his face, I knew he could feel me looking at him.