55 - Travelers

55 - Travelers
~Six Months Later~

~Rafe’s Point of View~

“That’s it baby, it’s almost time to push,” I say, reaching to brush some stray hairs off of Hannah’s sweaty face.

She straight up growls at me, but I only offer a smile. The labor has lasted several hours, which Jane says isn’t uncommon for lycans. Everything is on their time, when they’re ready. Shifters usually pop babies out within an hour or so of their water breaking. But this is all new to me.

While we know it’s only one baby, we don’t know the gender. We were tempted to visit another pack that has an ultrasound machine but decided it was better to be surprised. After raising two boys though, I know my mate wants a little girl to love on.

It’s a girl, I feel it, Cruz boasts.

When I see Parker come in with a video camera, I quickly motion to cut it. Now is hardly the time! But Parker does what he wants, and this won’t be any exception. As if it happens in slow motion I watch Jane palm the front of the camera and pitch it in a corner.

“Hey! She’ll want it one day,” he protests.

“That ain’t now,” Hannah snaps, between her labored breaths.

I’m so damn happy that we have Jane with us for the birth. Not only will it be her first grandchild but the entire pregnancy they’ve bonded so much. We’ve had no clue what the hell we were doing. It wasn’t like we helped much with Scarlett when she was little.

But for the most part as long as we got her all the food she wanted, day or night… Kept the foot rubs going and were pretty much ready for sex 24/7 … we handled it well. Goddess I’m going to miss all the sex. It’ll be slow going for a while now I’m sure of it.

Come on, be a team player, Cruz scolds. Oh please! He’ll be the first one to bitch about blue balls.

“All right honey, now. Now we’re ready! Push Hannah! Push with all you’ve got,” Jane shouts, from somewhere between her legs. I stand next to her right side, holding her hand. When she squeezes me into a death grip, I wince.

Suck it up! Ohh, ohh damn that really does hurt, shit! Owwww, Cruz whines.

Be a team player sport, I scold, trying to stay on my feet. All I want to do is fall on the floor or get some ice for my hand.

“Aw fuck,” I finally say with a loud whimper, when she’s basically got my hand completely twisted in an extremely unnatural positon.

Is the baby here yet, my father asks over mind-link.

No the crying is me! She’s breaking my hand, I say. I hear his laugh from the hall.

A cry breaks out but Jane says she still has to have one more big push. I put my free hand on her forehead and Parker takes her other hand.

“You can do it baby, just a bit more,” I say, keeping eye contact with her. She doesn’t look sure, in fact she looks ready to give up. But the baby cries again and Jane yells for the push.

It’s all she needs to get through it, and when Jane drops the baby on Hannah’s chest, everything else fades away.

“It’s a girl,” Jane boasts, already gently wiping the gunk off.

“What the hell is all that,” Parker questions, looking grossed out.

Literally everyone ignores him as I hear Scarlett yell out into the hall that we have a girl.

“Aurora Jane,” Hannah says simply, then rubs her nose to the pup’s forehead.

We’d talked a lot about names, though one hadn’t really stuck. Now that I look down at my little
daughter, Aurora is fitting. That’s definitely it. Cruz wags his tail proudly, though he’s desperate to shift and get to smell her, rub our scent all over her.

It’s barely minutes before cheers and howls blow up all over the pack. It’s truly a massive feeling to be a first time parent. But to also know that I almost made the wrong choice. We were just talking the other night about how different everything would be if I had mated Cassandra. Goddess I shudder to even think.

Good riddance too! Sending her family to a pack in another country isn’t far enough. Some other bastard will have to deal with that, Cruz says, shaking his head.

But won’t be us, that’s all I can care about. This is the family I was meant to have. The pack I was meant to lead… with my brother.

“Piece of cake huh? So we're gonna have like at least six more right,” I tease, reaching for Aurora’s foot.

“Hah, hah, hah,” Hannah simply says, but there’s more venom in that laugh than anything.

“Too soon, idiot,” Parker says, as he kisses Aurora’s head.

She’s already got a tiny bit of blonde fuzz up there and it’s adorable. It’s obvious she’s got Hannah’s nose and chin but she smells like all three of us, and my wolf couldn’t be happier.

“My little thief. Ended up stealing not only my heart but that of the entire pack. They just had to see how incredible you are,” I whisper, lowering my head to kiss Hannah.

She blushes, but smiles.

“Once they realized I wasn’t a gold digger I guess. Besides you guys have all the best stuff to steal, you’re my favorite victims. However if they cross me, my lycan will gladly--”

“Ah ah ah. No blood and gore in front of my grand baby huh? Little ears,” Jane scolds.

The rest of the morning is a blur as far too many people want to see Aurora and get pictures. By the time everyone clears out, I don’t know who is more exhausted. Hannah seems to be running on fumes but she doesn’t want to put the baby down.

Scarlett pushes in a tray of food and the smell has me perking up. Once we all eat, it's more than obvious we’re all ready to crash. When I wake with a jolt, I have no clue how long I’ve been out but the sun has set. My neck is killing me from the position I slept in, seeing as I was in an armchair. I quickly see Parker and Hannah both snoozing away in the bed and my heart practically skips a beat as I realize Aurora isn’t here.

I’m on my feet as Cruz wakes, trying to get his bearings. While I’m certain someone has her, until my eyes see her, I can’t stop the panic. The clinic is pretty well deserted and I find myself bursting outside. There’s a small fire going, with several gathered around. It smells like hot dogs and a few other foods.

My nose instantly picks up the scent that could only belong to my pup, and I follow it to Oscar, who is sitting and holding her. He quickly looks up at me and winks.

“Just feel back asleep, be quiet,” he whispers.

I run my hand through my hair and let go of a breath I’d been holding too long. I shift on my feet, clearly irritated but more relieved than anything.

“She needed some fresh air,” Oliver says, from just beside him.

Aww be nice to them, they didn’t know, Cruz insists.

“Right,” I say, just as Scarlett hands me a smore she’s made. I give her a look, but she only nods. I can hardly be mad at them for helping, but shit. I don’t think you should take a newborn away from their sleeping parents like that. Hell if Hannah wakes up without Aurora in the room right now she’ll lose it.

After a few minutes I take Aurora back inside. Within seconds Hannah wakes looking for her. Parker and I watch with awe as the pup nurses, and Hannah can’t stop rubbing the little bit of hair on her head.

My mind wanders back to the night I watched her sleep, the first night I brought her home. It seems like another lifetime ago now.

“Thank you Hannah. For not giving up on me, just writing me off. I know Parker is easy to love, easy to be with, but I’m a pain in the ass,” I say, feeling drunk on sentimentality. She flashes me her perfect smile as Parker shakes his head.

“Like I’m not,” she whispers, then grins.

“I’m not easy,” Parker says, offended.

Both Hannah and I glare at him, as he tries to act put out. World’s worst actor, right here.

Over the next few months, we settled into a routine. It takes Aurora some time to adjust her days and nights, but once she does and we’re all getting some sleep things get much better.

Parker and I have had it pretty good so far as Alphas, though I think the lycan element that has been added to Nightwind is keeping away any problems. Fine by me.

It was a miserable rainy day and I’d been holed up in my office doing paperwork while my little family enjoyed a nap. Parker and I often traded off nap times, since we both looked for any reason to get in bed with our mate. But it wouldn’t look good if both Alphas slept half the day away all the time.

KNOCK KNOCK

“Yeah? Frederick,” I call out, already picking up the scent.

He sits down and I finally take in how tired he looks. He’s carrying a box with all the notebooks and journals taken from the Rhodes clan. I’d nearly forgotten all about them but Frederick couldn’t let it go. Not that I blamed him, but the male needed a vacation.

“There’s just so many things but none of it is enough to satisfy my beast. It’s hard for me to accept that there will never be any real closure,” he says.

“You can’t get closure from psychopaths. I don’t know how generation after generation they could somehow continue. I’m inclined to believe they were actually far worse two or three generations ago. When there were more lycans still. More motivation for them,” I say, then I rise and move around the desk to sit on the corner.

“I think I’ll take a little trip. I know there is nothing there but … something is telling me I have to see where they were. It may be the only thing that’ll settle me. Some time in the wild will also do me some good,” he says, as if he’s asking for permission. Maybe he wants me to tell him no, tell him it’s a worthless endeavor.

But Parker has more than let Hannah and I know what his time away meant to him. Even though Frederick was in another pack before coming here, he was essentially alone once Jane went into a coma.

“Do whatever you need to do. Just make sure you come back to your family in one piece,” I say, nodding.

He looks off into space, hearing my words but maybe taking a few minutes to process them. I don’t interrupt him.

“I think I’ll… drive. It’s been fun learning and it’ll be a better shelter than a hotel,” he says, still without looking up.

“Whatever you need,” I say, reaching forward and patting his shoulder.

Two days later, we all waved good-bye to the lycan as he drove off in a truck. He’s got about a month’s worth of food, though of course he could stop somewhere. Also a few full gas cans so he doesn’t run out somewhere though my father lectured him on how to watch the levels. We gave him a couple thousand dollars should he need it and several maps.

Hannah had mixed feelings about him going, but Jane understood. I didn’t like him not having a cell phone but he didn’t like it and wouldn’t take it. We were all silent for easily five minutes staring down the road, until I heard my mate’s stomach grumble. It’s a half mile back to the packhouse but it’ll go fast.

“It’ll be good for him baby,” I tell Hannah, as we walk. Nearly there, I see my sister bolt out of the packhouse, clearly upset.

“Where are the twins? I haven’t seen them all morning,” Scarlett shouts, her face full of worry. Hannah and I share a glance, and then look back at the path, where the truck had gone.

“They wouldn’t,” I say, knowing very well they could have hidden under the truck’s cover. We’d put a tall cap on the back so Frederick would have a dry and safe bed if he needed it. We’d even put a thin mattress in there for him.

“Wanna bet? Those little shits,” Scarlett spits, then puts her hands on her hips.

We all move as one unit, and blow in the door to the twins’ bedroom. Of course they’d insisted on sharing one. Sure enough, there’s a note in the middle of the bed.

“Don’t be pissed, we need this journey too. Freddy will need us. Love O & O.”

The writing was quite obviously a female’s. I held the paper to my nose.

“Jane!”