Chapter 100 I Love You My Wolf
The heavy mahogany door of the master suite clicked shut, the latch sliding home with a finality that felt less like closing a room and more like sealing an airlock. That single sound severed the connection to the rest of the house; it locked out the shattered glass in the hearth, the political maneuvering of the Elders, and the looming shadow of the High Council.
In the dim, amber light of the bedside lamps, the war didn't exist. Here, the only reality that mattered was the four of them—soon to be five.
Without a word, moving in a silence born of years of partnership, Leela and Fennigan began to dismantle the day. They stripped off the clothes that smelled of ozone, woodsmoke, and adrenaline, shucking them like heavy armor that was no longer needed. They changed into soft, worn cotton pajamas—the kind that had been washed a hundred times and felt like a second skin.
They moved with a synchronized exhaustion, a dance they knew by heart. Fennigan pulled back the heavy down duvet of the massive King-sized bed, while Leela gathered the sleeping children from where they had been resting on the chaise.
Together, they laid Caspian and Briar smack in the middle of the mattress.
The twins, utterly spent from their biscuit-fueled rampage and the emotional static of the evening, didn't even stir as they hit the cool sheets. Almost instantly, gravity seemed to pull them together. They rolled toward one another, limbs interlocking in their usual sleeping position—a chaotic, comfortable tangle of knees, elbows, and chubby cheeks. They ceased to be two separate children and became a single, multi-limbed organism of slumbering pup.
Fennigan climbed in on the left, the mattress dipping under his weight, and Leela slid in on the right. They pulled the duvet up, bracketing their children in a fortress of parental warmth, their bodies acting as the walls that kept the nightmares out.
For a long time, the only sound in the room was the rhythmic, synchronized breathing of the toddlers. Fennigan stared at the shadows dancing on the ceiling, his large hand resting heavily on the mattress near Caspian’s head, feeling the heat radiating from his son.
"They want to send you back," Fennigan whispered finally. His voice was low, a deep subterranean rumble that vibrated through the bedframe, lulling the babies deeper into sleep even as he spoke the nightmare aloud. He turned his head on the pillow, his golden eyes dark with a mixture of rage and terror. "To Whisper Wind. They think... they think because you hold the Stone, because you are the earth now... that you can make the land testify against Vane."
Leela turned to face him, her cheek pressing into the pillow, her eyes adjusting to the dark. She saw the rage from the study had evaporated, leaving behind something far more vulnerable: genuine, naked fear.
"I won't let them," Fennigan swore, the words catching in his throat like a jagged stone. "I won't risk it. Not for a law. Not for a war."
He reached out, his hand trembling slightly as he touched her cheek.
"You didn't even go there last time," Fennigan whispered, the memory haunting him. "You were supposed to be safe. You were miles away. But I felt it. I was out there on the perimeter, and suddenly... I felt the drain hit you through our bond."
His eyes squeezed shut, reliving the moment.
"I felt your life force just... snap," he choked out. "Vane's trap didn't care about distance. It used the earth to find you. I ran back to you—I ran until my lungs burned—but by the time I got there..."
He shuddered, his hand sliding down to rest protectively over the twins.
"It had triggered the labor," he said, his voice barely audible. "It wasn't natural, Leela. It was violent. The magic was trying to rip them out of you. I held you while you screamed, and I felt your heart stopping. I felt you fading. I almost lost you, and I almost lost them."
He looked at her, his eyes wet.
"I am not doing that again. I am not letting you connect to that poison again."
He reached across the tangle of sleeping twins, his arm forming a bridge over his children. His large hand found her hip under the duvet, his fingers splaying out to cover the curve of her bone. He traced the line of her body, his touch reverent, possessive, and desperate to confirm she was solid and real.
"I won't let anyone hurt you, Sparky," he promised, his voice thick with emotion. "If I have to burn the High Council down myself... I will. If I can, I’ll tame this whole damn world for you. For our babies."
His hand moved slightly, sliding from her hip to rest warm and heavy over her stomach, cupping the place where their newest addition was quietly growing.
"For these babies," he whispered, his gaze dropping to the twins sleeping between them, then lifting back to burn into her eyes. "And for as many more as you want. Just... stay with me. Stay safe."
Leela felt a hard lump form in her throat, tears pricking her eyes at the raw intensity of his love. She reached out, covering his large hand with hers, pressing it firmer against her skin.
"I love you, my wolf," she whispered back, her voice steady and sure in the darkness, an anchor for his drifting anxiety. "We aren't going anywhere. We’re right here. You don't have to carry the sky alone tonight."
Fennigan let out a long, shuddering breath. He shifted slightly, needing one more point of contact. He laid his heavy hand gently on Caspian’s diapered rump, grounding himself in the solid, mundane reality of his son. Leela mirrored him, reaching out to wrap one of Briar’s soft, spiraling curls around her index finger, tethering herself to her daughter.
Connected by the children between them, surrounded by the scent of lavender, milk, and safety, the Alpha and the Elemental finally let go. The war would wait for morning. Tonight, the family fell asleep together.