Final Chapter-That's All Folks

Final Chapter-That's All Folks
Raven
Neutral territory bars were always a mistake.
Not because of the alcohol.
Because these old she-wolves treated public intoxication like a competitive sport.
“HE WAS LOOKING AT ME AGGRESSIVELY,” Rhonda yelled from the backseat.
“The bartender asked you to stop standing on the pool table,” I snapped.
Beside her, Jill was crying-laughing hard enough she could barely breathe while Marla attempted to smuggle an entire basket of fried mozzarella sticks and pickles into the van like guards were actively pursuing us over appetizers.
Honestly, they might have been.
Suki sat cross-legged on the floorboard beside Princess Murderbean’s travel carrier while Meatball snored loudly inside a floral tote bag wearing somebody’s sunglasses.
I didn’t ask.
I genuinely did not want to know.
Rain hammered against the windshield while I drove Rhonda’s minivan, aka the booze cruiser, through the mountains toward home, fingers drumming impatiently against the steering wheel.
The van smelled like: tequila, wet fur, onion rings, and poor decision-making.
Which felt accurate.
Rhonda leaned forward between the seats suddenly.
“You should’ve punched that bartender.”
“He was old.”
“HE WAS FLIRTING WITH ME,” she yelled. “He lacked romance.”
“He asked you not to lick the salt tray.”
Beside her, Marla was calmly eating stolen mozzarella sticks out of a napkin while Suki attempted to convince Princess Murderbean the ferret not to commit violence inside the carrier.
“You need to regulate your emotions,” Suki told the ferret seriously.
The ferret hissed directly in her face.
“See? That’s healthy communication.”
Jill sat ramrod straight in the third row, looking like she regretted every life choice that led her here.
“You’re speeding,” She said nervously.
“You notice that, but didn’t notice Rhonda was stealing bar stools?”
“She said she ‘found’ them.”
“She found them inside the building, Jill.”
My phone connected to the van speakers automatically.
Then started ringing through the entire vehicle.
Ayla.
Everybody ignored it.
Then it rang again.
And again. Huh.
I frowned and hit the steering wheel button. “What?”
Heavy breathing immediately filled the van.
Every woman inside went still.
“Raven—” Amani sounded panicked.
Everybody in the van straightened instantly.
“What happened?”
“We’re in labor.”
Jill screamed. Rhonda slapped the back of my seat.
“WHY ARE YOU STILL DRIVING NORMAL?”
“I WASN’T AWARE WE’D REACHED THE FERAL PORTION OF THE EVENING.”
“YOU’RE DRIVING LIKE AN ELDERLY PERSON!”
“I’M DOING NINETY!”
“DO BETTER!”
Ayla swore loudly in the background.
Okay. Definitely real.
Amani groaned through the speakers. “I still don’t understand how this happened.”
Rhonda looked offended. “You’re pregnant, sweetheart. I can explain the mechanics later.”
“No, I mean BOTH OF US.”
Ayla sounded equally horrified. “She sat down because her back hurt!”
“It was one contraction,” Amani argued weakly.
“You literally folded onto a log.”
“Because my spine is collapsing! My water broke!”
“She couldn’t get up because of the contraction,” Ayla snapped. “So I grabbed her arm to help pull her up, and then mine broke too!”
Silence filled the van for half a second.
Then Marla snorted.
“Oh, that’s hysterical. You synchronized labor.”
“That sounds like a disease,” I mutter. “Where are you?”
Amani gave me the trail marker between breaths.
I immediately jerked the wheel hard enough that the minivan fishtailed across wet pavement.
Suki grabbed the opossum bag before Meatball launched into orbit.
Princess Murderbean started screaming from her carrier like a demon being exercised.
Rhonda looked thrilled. “NOW this feels like a proper evening.”
“Oh my Gosh,” Amani groaned through the speakers.
“We walked too far,” Ayla groaned.
“I told you we should’ve turned around!” Amani cried.
“You ate six pastries before the walk!”
“THAT ISN’T RELEVANT.”
“You also stopped to stare at mushrooms for twenty minutes!”
“THEY LOOKED SUSPICIOUS!”
“Hey, tell them to pick me some of those,” Marla says, laughing before shoving another mozzarella stick into her mouth.
Lunatics. All of them.
I accelerated harder.
Behind me, Rhonda started gathering supplies with the energy of somebody preparing for war.
Towels.
Blankets.
Liquor.
Why was there liquor?
“Rhonda,” I said carefully, “why do you have whiskey?”
“In case I need whiskey.”
Unfortunately reasonable.
Another contraction hit somebody through the phone hard enough that both women started yelling over each other.
Jill burst into panicked tears.
Marla threw her a mozzarella stick.
Meatball was awake now and eating French fries.
Suki immediately started digging through her purse.
“Oh my God, I have emergency Xanax.”
“You are not drugging the pregnant women,” Jill snapped.
“I wasn’t offering it to them. I was offering it to me.”

By the time we reached the trailhead, rain was coming down hard enough that the windshield wipers were basically decorative.
I threw the minivan into park, so aggressively Jill screamed.
“You are going to kill us!”
“We’re already rescuing two laboring she-wolves in a minivan full of drunk grandmas and illegal emotional support animals,” I snapped while shoving the door open. “Death is clearly circling the situation already.”
“RAVEN!” Ayla called from somewhere within the trees. Followed immediately with “AND BRING PAINKILLERS.”
Amani sounded significantly closer to murder.

We found them about fifty yards down the trail.
Ayla sat on a fallen log, gripping the edge hard enough that her knuckles had gone pale, while Amani paced nearby, between contractions.
Or at least she was trying to.
The contractions kept interrupting the pacing.
“You jinxed me!”
“You literally went into labor first!”
“I was managing privately!”
“You were breathing like a dying moose!”
Another contraction hit Amani hard enough that she bent forward with a strangled curse.
Okay.
Actual labor now.
Rhonda immediately switched modes.
Not calmer.
Just… more focused chaos.
“All right. Enough whining. Which one of you is closer?”
“Her,” both women snapped immediately while pointing at each other.
Rhonda stared at them.
“Fantastic. They’re both stupid.”
Suki crouched beside Ayla while Princess Murderbean’s carrier swung from her arm.
“Oh wow,” she said seriously. “You’re sweaty.”
Ayla stared at her.
“Thank you, Suki. That fixed everything.”
Marla snorted.
Jill was already unpacking towels with the panic level of someone preparing for open-heart surgery.
“We need to get them back NOW.”
“No kidding, sweetheart,” Rhonda muttered.
Another contraction rolled through Ayla this time. Hard enough, her fingers suddenly crushed around my forearm.
“Oh, that one hurt,” I said.
“Thank you for your medical expertise,” Ayla hissed.
“Anytime.”
Thunder cracked overhead. Rain soaked through all of us while we slowly maneuvered the laboring she-wolves back toward the van. Slowly being the important word. Because every thirty feet, somebody had to stop.
Mostly Amani.
Who kept apologizing every time another contraction hit.
“I’m sorry,” she breathed against the tree trunk.
“Amani,” I said flatly, “if you apologize to the forest one more time, I’m leaving you here.”
“I can’t help it!”
Another contraction tightened across her stomach hard enough that she made a small, distressed sound.
Ayla immediately grabbed her arm.
“Breathe.”
“I am breathing!”
“You’re panic squeaking.”
“I’m trying my best!”
Ayla groaned suddenly behind us.
“Oh my fates, this hurts worse than the twins.”
Jill looked moments from a complete emotional collapse.
“We need to move faster.”
“We are moving faster,” I snapped.
“No, we are not!”
“We’re dragging two laboring she-wolves down a muddy mountain trail during a thunderstorm, Jill. This is the maximum speed.”
Another contraction stopped Amani hard enough that she folded slightly forward, gripping my arm.
“Oh wow,” she whispered weakly.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “That one looked evil.”
“I think this baby hates me.”
Rhonda barked out a laugh.
“Welcome to motherhood.”
Ayla climbed into the very back, breathing hard through another contraction while Amani folded carefully into one of the middle seats, clutching a pillow against her stomach.
Rhonda immediately started issuing orders like a tiny drunk war general.
“Jill, towels.”
“I already handed out towels!”
“Then emotionally support somebody!”
“I AM TRYING.”
Suki climbed into the floorboard beside Amani, holding Princess Murderbean’s carrier while Meatball wandered freely through the van, eating stolen French fries.
Marla slammed the side door shut behind us.
“Drive.”
“Finally,” I muttered.
The tires spun hard against wet gravel before the minivan lurched back onto the mountain road.
Rain hammered the roof loud enough that it almost drowned out the contractions.
Almost.
Ayla groaned behind me.
Amani whimpered.
I hit the steering wheel button, merging the phone call through the van speakers while rain hammered the windshield.
The line rang once before Damon answered immediately.
“Hey, everything okay?”
In the background, I could hear road noise and Cyrus arguing with somebody about gas station snacks.
“Depends on how you define okay,” I said.
Amani made a small noise beside me as another contraction tightened across her stomach.
“Amani?” Damon said instantly. Ayla cursed loudly from the backseat.
Then Thane’s voice cut in, “Why is Ayla breathing like that?”
Ayla pointed accusingly toward the dashboard.
“Don’t tell him.”
“You are literally in labor,” I informed her.
“Raven.”
“She sat on a log and exploded, Thane. I don’t know what to tell you.”
Amani looked offended.
“That is not what happened.”
“That is exactly what happened.”
Damon sounded like somebody had just shoved him off a cliff.
“…labor?”
“Surprise,” Marla said.
“HOW?” Damon demanded.
Amani immediately defended herself.
“We went for a walk!”
“That explains absolutely nothing,” Cyrus cut in somewhere in the background.
Another contraction hit Ayla hard enough that she groaned under her breath.
The sound that came out of Thane afterward was deeply concerning.
“How far apart?” he asked immediately.
“Uh…” Ayla looked panicked. “The contractions or the babies?”
“THE CONTRACTIONS,” Damon shouted.
“Oh, thank God,” Amani breathed. “I thought you meant the babies, and I got really scared for a second.”
“None of that made any damn sense!’ Rhonda yelled, taking a swig of whiskey.
“IS THAT RHONDA?” Thane yelled through the speakers.
“Surprise. I’m driving a minivan full of drunk idiots, leaking she-wolves, and ferrel pets.”
“WHAAAAAT.”
“Alpha is mad,” Suki whispered to Princess Murderbean.
“Amani?”
“I’m okay,” she said automatically.
Rhonda pointed aggressively. “That’s labor lying. Don’t do that.”
“I’m trying not to panic him!”
“I AM ALREADY PANICKING,” Damon yelled.
Thunder cracked overhead. Ayla shifted uncomfortably in the backseat before another contraction hit her, too. Her breathing changed instantly. Thane noticed just as fast.
“Ayla, how far apart now?”
“I don’t know because every time I try counting, another one happens, and then I forget numbers exist.”
“That feels medically alarming,” Jill whispered.
Suki was digging through her purse again.
“Oh, good, I found gummy bears.”
“No one needs gummy bears right now,” I said.
“I need gummy bears right now.”
“Those aren’t gummy bears.” Marla laughs.
Great.
“We’re going to the cabins, right?” Jill asked nervously.
“Not in this storm,” Marla answered immediately.
“And not with both births progressing this fast,” Rhonda added.
“Mikhail’s already waiting at Midnight,” Thane said, voice clipped and focused. “But we have a problem.”
“What problem?” Damon demanded immediately.
“…he’s supposed to be watching the twins today.”
Silence filled the van.
Oh.
Right.
Because Damon and Amani usually took them whenever they needed a sitter.
Except that Amani was currently also trying to eject a child.
“I’ll take them,” Cyrus said instantly.
Absolutely not.”
“Rude.”
“You taught my daughter how to hiss at guards.”
“In fairness, she was excellent at it.”
“Cyrus,” Damon started carefully, “the twins are still little—”
“And I’m their uncle.”
“YOU TAUGHT MY SON TO BITE PEOPLE.”
“Self-defense is important, Princess.”
“Stop calling me Princess while discussing my children.”
“No.”
Another contraction rolled through Ayla hard enough that she groaned from the backseat.
Everybody started talking at once.
I finally slammed my hand against the steering wheel.
“OH, FOR FUCKS SAKE, SHUT UP. We’re like two minutes out.”
Silence.
Then I hung up on all of them.
The gates of Midnight Pack came into view through sheets of rain about three minutes later.
Honestly?
Best thing I’d seen all night.
The entire medical wing was lit up already, glowing gold against the storm while wolves sprinted through the rain carrying supplies back and forth.
Mikhail had clearly gone into full healer mode.
I barely got the minivan stopped before the side doors were yanked open from outside.
Damon appeared first.
Soaked from the rain.
Wild-eyed.
Absolutely one second from collapse.
“Amani—”
“I’m okay,” she said immediately.
“You are not okay!”
“I’m emotionally okay.”
“That is not better!”
Another contraction hit hard enough that she folded forward, gripping his shirt.
Damon instantly dropped to his knees beside the van like the world was ending.
Honestly, kind of sweet.
Behind him, Thane appeared, and the second his eyes landed on Ayla, everything else disappeared.
The entire courtyard could’ve exploded, and I genuinely don’t think he would’ve noticed.
“Ayla.”
She let out one long breath the second she saw him. He climbed into the back of the van without hesitation, one hand immediately finding her stomach while the other cupped the side of her face.
“You okay?”
“No,” she said honestly.
Damon carefully lifted Amani into his arms while she clung to his shoulders, breathing hard through another contraction.
Meanwhile, Thane already had Ayla against his chest before anyone could even suggest helping.
Overprotective ass.
“You know,” Rhonda announced while slamming the van door shut behind us, “I think we handled this beautifully.”
Jill stared at her in disbelief.
“Suki lost the ferret twice.”
Princess Murderbean immediately popped out from under one of the seats like a summoned demon.
Suki gasped dramatically.
“My baby!”
The ferret sprinted directly into the rain.
“Oh, for the love of….” Marla muttered. “We’ll be out here, looking for the rat.”
Meatball hissed from the tote bag.
Cyrus appeared through the rain, carrying both twins awkwardly against his sides while they squirmed violently in protest.
One looked half asleep.
The other was trying to chew on the collar of his shirt.
“Your offspring are rabid,” Cyrus informed Thane immediately.
The calmer twin spotted Ayla first and instantly reached both tiny hands toward her with a distressed, “Mama.”
Ayla softened immediately despite the contraction hitting her.
“Hi, lovebug.”
The second twin pointed at Amani’s soaked leggings with complete toddler betrayal.
“Wet.”
Dead silence.
Then Rhonda started laughing so hard she had to brace herself against the van.
“THANE, IF YOU GROWL AT ONE MORE HEALER I SWEAR —”
Definitely Rhonda.
Cyrus grinned without looking up from the toddler currently attempting to feed him soggy muffin chunks.
“She’s doing great.”
“You’re enjoying this too much.”
“I’m enjoying the fact Princess is finally getting yelled at by somebody scarier than him.”
The toddler in my arms shifted slightly with a sleepy little whine before immediately face-planting back into my chest.
Warm.
Tiny.
Heavy in that strange toddler way.
I stared down at her quietly.
Huh.
That feeling again.
Dangerous.
Across from us, Damon’s carefully packed emergency labor bag sat exploded across half the waiting room because apparently nobody had actually needed six breathing guides,
three notebooks,
laminated schedules,
or color-coded contraction charts.
Cyrus spotted me staring.
“He really thought organization was gonna save him from pupbirth.”
Tarrick suddenly sneezed muffin directly onto Cyrus’s face.
I looked away immediately before I laughed.
Cyrus slowly wiped the blueberry off his cheek.
“You did that on purpose.”
The toddler blinked at him.
Then smiled.
Tiny little teeth.
Absolutely no remorse.
“Mama?”
Cyrus’s expression softened for half a second.
“She’s okay, menace.”
The toddler clearly understood absolutely none of that.
Then immediately shoved another handful of muffin toward his mouth.
Cyrus accepted his fate.

“THANE I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU HOVER ANY CLOSER—”
“I AM NOT HOVERING.”
“YOU ARE LITERALLY BREATHING ON ME.”
Another healer sprinted past us carrying blankets.
Then another carrying what looked suspiciously like surgical supplies.
My attention sharpened immediately.
Cyrus noticed too.
The humor faded from his face slightly.
“Mikhail asked for backup rooms prepped earlier,” he said quietly.
“Yeah.”
Not ideal.
Across the room, Damon suddenly appeared in the hallway looking like he’d aged ten years in an hour.
Hair wrecked.
Shirt untucked.
Eyes wild.
He spotted us immediately.
“How is he still awake?”
Tarrick was currently upside down across Cyrus’s shoulders, chewing on one of his curls.
“Built different,” Cyrus answered.
Damon looked seconds from collapse.
“Amani threw a pillow at me.”
“That’s actually a good sign,” Cyrus informed him.
“She cried because I handed her the wrong water bottle.”
“That’s also a good sign.”
“What if she hates me?”
“She married you voluntarily, Douchewaffle. Relax.”
Damon bolted up, running back down the hall, “I’M COMING!!”
Cyrus laughs around the piece of soggy muffin in his mouth. “He’ll cry more than both she-wolves combined.”
“WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PEOPLE TOUCHING ME?”
Definitely Ayla.
Cyrus looked delighted again.
“I love this family.”
“You love disasters.”
“Same thing.”
The entire medical wing went strangely still for half a second.
Then a pup cried.
Cyrus slowly lowered his feet from the table.
Even Tarrick looked toward the hallway.
Then a second cry joined the first.
Tessa stirred against my chest sleepily while Tarrick squirmed down from Cyrus’s lap, immediately trying to follow the sound.
“Nope,” Cyrus said, catching him around the middle one-handed.
The toddler growled at him.
Tiny.
Offended.
Ridiculous.
“Yeah, yeah. You will have powers and melt my brain someday.”
About thirty minutes later, Mikhail finally stepped out into the waiting room, looking exhausted, with blood on his clothes.
But he was smiling. “You can come in now,” he said.
Damon sat beside Amani’s bed, holding a tiny dark-haired baby against his chest while looking completely emotionally destroyed by the experience.
Across the room, Thane sat on the edge of Ayla’s bed with one arm around her while a newborn rested carefully against her chest.
Tiny dark wisps covered the pup’s head.
But when the pup blinked her eyes open briefly—
bright teal.
The same impossible color as Ayla’s.
Ayla made a small, broken sound immediately.
Tarrick pointed immediately.
“Pup.”
“Very observant,” Cyrus told him.
Tessa started squirming harder in my arms the second she spotted her parents.
“Dadda.”
Thane reached for her automatically without taking his eyes off the newborn.
And for the first time since I’d met him, the Alpha of Alphas looked completely overwhelmed.
Rhonda sniffed loudly from near the end of the bed before immediately pretending she hadn’t.
“So,” she announced gruffly, “what are we calling these little gremlins?”
Damon looked down at the tiny dark-haired baby sleeping against his chest, and something in his face softened instantly.
“Elias,” he said quietly. “After my grandfather.”
Amani’s exhausted smile widened immediately.
Across the room, Ayla looked down at the newborn tucked against her chest. “Ada Marie,” she said softly. “For my sister that was taken too soon and who should’ve had the chance to live. Ada can do that for her.”
Heavy.

Cyrus moved beside me quietly while I stood near the doorway watching the room.
“You’re staring again.”
I rolled my eyes immediately.
“I’m literally standing here.”
“Mhm.”
“You’re annoying.”
“You like me.”
“Debatable.”
His grin flashed briefly before his eyes drifted back toward the babies piled across both beds.
Cyrus leaned one shoulder against the doorway beside me.
“You know,” he said quietly, “our kids would be terrifying.”
I snorted before I could stop myself.
“Genetically unfortunate.”
“Violently gifted.”
“Probably banned from multiple territories.”
“At minimum.”
A small smile tugged at my mouth while I watched Ayla laugh weakly at something Rhonda said from across the room.
Then Cyrus glanced sideways at me. “Still think they’d be cute though.”
Something warm twisted low in my chest.
Dangerous.
I looked away immediately.
“This conversation feels manipulative.”
“That’s because you’re emotional right now.”
“I’m never emotional.”
Cyrus barked out a laugh.
Inside the room, another newborn cry echoed softly while thunder rolled far off in the mountains.
Cyrus’s hand brushed mine briefly where we stood in the doorway.
Warm room.
Sleeping pups.
Tired wolves.
Complete chaos.
Honestly?
Not a bad life.

Thank you for taking this writing journey with me on my first-ever book. I spent all weekend writing to bring you a more complete and requested storyline. You can find me on my socials/search for me to keep up to date with any new projects I will be undertaking the big task of editing now.
More of my works:
Lia's Redemption (in progress)
Cross My Heart (in progress)
Future Mafia/Assassin dark rom/com in development
Howl For You (book Kane was reading Amelia in LR) in development.
(Omega Bound 2 currently developing. Keep an eye out!