Chapter 143 Bonfire and Family
By the time the sun dipped below the tree line, painting the sky in deep shades of bruised orange and twilight purple, the massive courtyard fire pit had been built and lit in record time.
The Blackwood pack cooks, thrilled by the sudden excuse to celebrate, had worked absolute magic in the kitchens. They hauled out wooden tables and quickly loaded them with a feast fit for their Alpha and Luna. The rich, mouth-watering scent of slow-roasted meats, fresh-baked bread, and sweet, charred vegetables mingled beautifully with the crisp woodsmoke drifting up into the evening air.
The news of Leela’s pregnancy had spread through the pack like wildfire. All evening, warriors, omegas, and elders alike formed a joyful, steady line to approach Fennigan and Leela, offering warm hugs and heartfelt congratulations on the impending arrival of the twins' new baby brother. For the first time in weeks, the crushing weight of the High Council felt like a distant, irrelevant nightmare.
Across the courtyard, Jax emerged from the heavy glass doors of the pack house with Ginny securely cradled in his arms.
"You know, little bird," Jax teased, a low, rumbling chuckle vibrating in his broad chest as he carried his mate across the grass. He shifted her weight playfully, giving a dramatic, entirely fake grunt of exertion. "With Iggy growing this fast, you are getting way too big for me to carry around like this. I'm going to throw my back out."
Ginny gasped, swatting him playfully on the shoulder with a bright, ringing laugh. "If you drop me, Jax, I will have Magda curse you so you sprout a tail. Put me in the hammock before I tell the Alpha you're bullying a pregnant woman."
Still grinning, Jax carried her over to the beautiful, emerald-green vine hammock Leela had coaxed from the earth. He set her down with absolute, infinite care. The moment Ginny’s weight settled into the magical construct, the thick, broad leaves shifted and adjusted, molding perfectly to support her back and her growing belly. She let out a long, blissful sigh, instantly comfortable.
As the night deepened, the tension of the past few days seemed to completely melt out of the very soil of Blackwood.
Someone brought out a pair of acoustic guitars, and soon, the courtyard was filled with the rhythmic, stomping beat of pack members dancing wildly around the roaring fire. They ate until they couldn't move, they drank sweet cider, and they laughed until their sides ached. It was a perfect, unblemished night of fierce friendship and unbreakable family.
By the end of the evening, as the fire slowly began to burn down into a bed of glowing, cherry-red embers and the pack started to quietly disperse to their beds, Jax stood beside the hammock, preparing to carry Ginny back inside to their downstairs room.
But Ginny reached out, catching his rough hand in hers.
The fresh, cool night air and the lingering elemental magic of the vines had worked wonders on her. For the first time since the horrific battle in the study, the pale, exhausted shadow was gone from her features. She had a beautiful, healthy, rosy glow to her cheeks, and her eyes were bright and clear under the starlight.
"Don't take me inside, Jax," Ginny murmured softly, lacing her fingers through his. She looked up at him, her expression turning incredibly soft and pleading. "It feels so amazing out here. The air is so clean. Go inside, get all of our heavy blankets and pillows, and let's just stay out here. Please?"
Jax looked down at her glowing face, feeling the last of his own dark, late-night anxieties completely wash away. He couldn't say no to her if his life depended on it.
He leaned down, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to her forehead. "I'll be right back with the bedding."
Upstairs in the Alpha suite, the atmosphere was a far cry from the peaceful bonfire below. Fennigan and Leela were locked in what felt like a high-stakes wrestling match with two toddlers who were clearly overtired but were refusing to surrender to sleep with everything they had.
Every time Fennigan managed to get Caspian’s legs into his pajama pants, Briar would seize the opportunity to wiggle out of her shirt and bolt toward the other side of the bed. It was a chaotic cycle of tiny limbs, giggles, and sheer stubbornness.
"That’s it, Fenn, I’m done. I give up," Leela laughed breathlessly, flopping back against the pillows as she watched Caspian successfully evade his father's reach for the third time. "Diapers are perfectly acceptable pajamas. It's a heatwave in their world anyway."
Fennigan held up his large hands in a gesture of mock surrender, his own hair disheveled from the fray. "You won't hear a complaint from me, Luna. They’re stronger than they look."
As Fennigan stripped down to his boxers, finally relaxing, he watched Leela reach for one of his old, worn-out patrol t-shirts. Even with the beautiful silk pajamas she owned, that thin, faded cotton was always her first choice. It smelled of him—woodsmoke, cedar, and the sharp, clean scent of the forest—and it made her feel closer to him than anything else could.
The battle wasn't fully won, however, until Leela pulled the twins into the center of the bed. She began to sing a soft, ancient melody—a low, humming lullaby that seemed to vibrate with a touch of her earth magic. Fennigan joined in the effort, his large hands gently patting their diapered bottoms in a steady, hypnotic rhythm.
Slowly, the wiggles subsided. The twins' heavy eyelids finally won the war, and they instinctively sought each other out, weaving their limbs back into their signature "baby knot" until their breathing synced into one single, peaceful pulse.
Fennigan leaned over, pressing a quiet kiss to the top of Leela’s head before settling in beside her. "We survived another day," he whispered.
Leela smiled, her own eyes growing heavy as the silence of the room finally took hold. Just as she was beginning to drift across the threshold of sleep, a soft, unmistakable "butterfly" sensation fluttered across her lower stomach. It was gentle, almost a greeting, as if little Zephyr was reaching out through the tether of their bond to tell his momma that he was okay, safe and sound within her.
She rested her hand over the spot, a sleepy, radiant smile curving her lips as she drifted off, anchored by the love of the three hearts beating beside her and the one growing within