Epilogue

Several months later…

I let myself out of my apartment and pulled my knit hat farther down over my ears as a cold wind hit me that seemed to come right out of the North Pole. Nugget even shivered a little beside me as it hit him too. By now his winter coat had come in, and he had more hair than Chewbacca on Star Wars—he kind of looked like him too. Luckily, I had anticipated the wind before I started out on this walk, so I had worn Rolf’s way-too-long, way-too-big-on-me overcoat. I thanked the gods for every inch of its wooly warmth and even wrapped my scarf around my neck to partly cover my face. And I was still cold.

The newscasters were saying that there was a blizzard coming in later today that would maybe be the “storm of the century,” and the worst one Valleywood had seen in a hundred years. Rolf had gone to the grocery store the night before and loaded up on bread, milk and all the other staples people always buy when a storm is on the way. He should have been home by now, though, because he promised to stay at work to “check a few things” and then come home.

He had started a new job with the Valleywood P.D. a month ago, and he was working with a task team of shifters, handling shifter crime in the city. His new boss was named Dilen Ross, the right-hand man of the Police Commissioner. It was a good job with great pay, and he told me he was really happy.

Of course, I knew he’d had a big argument with his parents over his decision not to go back to New York, but again—he had told me he was happy, and I decided to not borrow trouble and to just take him at his word. He sure seemed happy enough, and I was trying to make sure to keep him that way.

Nugget and I walked down toward the district, and I saw the now-empty lot where Leroy’s house used to stand. It was hard to believe that he and Willie had been gone for almost eight months now.

Since the attack on me, I’d learned a lot more about what had happened that last night when I got shot. The man who shot me had once worked for the same agency as Rolf. Alex Conroy had been a special agent and had been following me around and watching my apartment at Rolf’s direction. But that was when Rolf thought I might be a thief and part of Willie’s gang.

Conroy had really been a criminal, though, who had taken part in the bank robbery, along with Ben Bolagi. The two of them had a falling out—as thieves often did—and Bolagi knew that Conroy was after him to take all the money for himself. It had been Bolagi that had laid the curse on the money bag to prevent Conroy from taking it. But he’d worded his curse improperly and had laid a curse of bad luck on anyone who ever touched the bag. And that had included himself.

It was probably why he’d been hit by that truck and died of his injuries. It was also probably why Willie and Leroy had both been caught up in the same curse and even why I’d been shot by Conroy. We had all touched that bag. By the time I saw Conroy that night, I had removed the curse, but it was already in play from earlier when I’d retrieved it from Leroy’s yard. Hence, the curse was activated and I got shot. And Conroy got arrested.

Rolf said I was crazy when I told him about it, but then he didn’t really believe in the curse like I did. I knew, though, like I tried to tell him. It was only sheer good luck that Rolf had followed me that night. He thought I knew more than I was saying, as indeed I did.

He said at that point he wasn’t alarmed when he’d seen Conroy was following me too. He had tasked Conroy to watch me when he first came to Valleywood, because of what he had thought was my close relationship with Willie. And he had never called him off. Then when he saw him running toward me with his gun pointed at me…well, it had scared him half to death, he said, and he came running to my rescue, shifted spontaneously to his wolf and attacked Conroy, saving the day along with my life. He had quickly shifted back when he found out I had lost consciousness, and he had rushed me to the hospital. An injured Conroy was arrested by officers Rolf sent back to the scene, and meanwhile, once we reached the hospital, Rolf had finally discovered that I was expecting a baby.

Now some months later, we were happily living together in my apartment, and he had talked me into leaving my job until after the baby was born. Once, when we’d been having supper one night, I’d mentioned that I wouldn’t mind having even more babies, and from the way his eyes had glowed when he looked at me, I thought I might not be going back to work for a while. Which was surprisingly fine by me. I’d always thought I wanted to keep working and earning my own way, but now I loved the idea of making a cozy nest for my babies. I might change my mind later, but then again, maybe not.

A gust of wind hit us as we crossed the street to go to the park, where Nugget loved to play, and it brought with it a dash of freezing rain that hit me right in the face. I knew the roads and sidewalks would get slippery fast, so I decided we’d better go back before it got any worse. I managed to turn Nugget around with a promise of more hot dogs that we had at home. I wasn’t wearing boots, so by the time we made it back, I was slipping and sliding in the ice on the sidewalks. Luckily, I had Nugget to hold onto and I made it safely home.

As I reached the front door, Rolf’s truck pulled up and he hurried over to me and swept me up in his arms.

“What are you doing out here in this weather? You could have fallen.”

“I was taking Nugget for a walk before the blizzard hits.”

“I think you’re too late,” he said, looking up at the dark clouds hanging ominously over the city. “Let me get you inside.”

He carried me all the way up the steps and into the apartment. Rolf said he’d get us a new place that had room for gran, but we hadn’t done anything about it yet. I was happy in my old neighborhood, and Gran loved her apartment and being close to her friends. Rolf didn’t seem to mind. It was big and cheap and had an extra room for the baby too, so we decided to stay a little longer.

Once inside, Rolf got the fire going again and sat beside me on the couch. I had a little backache, but I hated to mention it because of the way he always got. He was really overprotective, but I think that went with the Alpha territory.

The man on television announced that all the roads in Valleywood were closing because of the blizzard, and the officials in town were asking everyone to stay home and stay off the streets. About an hour later, I was drowsing on the couch, still trying to find a comfortable position to lie in, when a knock came on the door. Rolf answered it, and it was my gran, who had made a big pot of chili for supper and wanted us to come over to eat.

“I think I’ll pass,” I told her. “Thanks anyway, but Rolf, you should go. I’m a little nauseated.”

“He said his back was hurting earlier,” said my Alpha, the narc.

Gran nodded. “Could be back labor. I had that with your father, Levi. It’s really painful.”

“Wonderful. Thanks for sharing. Good to know.”

“Don’t be snippy with your grandmother.”

“I didn’t mean to be.”

“I know, honey.” She looked over at Rolf. “Some of them get this way when they’re in labor.”

“Some of who? I’m right here, and I’m not in labor. I have at least two weeks to go yet.”

“Your due date is just an estimate, Levi. It ranges from 37 weeks to 41 weeks. Only a small number of babies come on their actual due dates.”

“What? Well, why don’t they tell people that!”

“I think they do. You probably weren’t paying attention.”

“But I’m not ready! I don’t have anything for the baby.”

“We have a whole closet full of stuff.”

“But that’s not enough. No, we just have to put it off until later.”

“On the day of the birth, the baby will come out of you, whether you’re ready or not.”

“Gee, Rolf, thanks for that. I had no idea.”

Rolf popped me on my butt. “Stop being a little smartass. We’re on your side, remember?”

I nodded miserably and Gran took my hand.

“It’s a natural process, dear.”

“Not for me—I’m not some girl you know.”

And that’s when I burst into tears—like a girl. Rolf started patting me, saying, “It’s just the hormones, baby.”

I grabbed his hand and appealed to him. “Look, I’ve been thinking. I’ve decided I don’t want to do this after all. Can we get somebody else to do it?”

“It doesn’t work that way, Levi.”

“Well, why not? If you loved me, you’d find someone!”

My gran looked over at Rolf and said, “They get a little crazy like this when they’re in labor.”

“I’m not in labor!” I yelled as a pain doubled me over and took my breath away.

“Honey, I think you are. I’m going to take him to the hospital.”

“No, it’s much better for you to stay here. The weather is getting worse. I’ve delivered babies before, you know. In fact, I delivered Levi, because his mom and dad didn’t have money for the hospital. We got this.”

“What have you got?” I shouted at both of them. “No, I need to go to the hospital.”

“I’m afraid you wouldn’t make it dear and be trapped in a car on the way. Just look outside.” She pulled the curtain back to show me. The snow was really coming down hard now. It was flinging itself at the window, and it was almost white-out conditions. The wind battered at the building, like it was trying to break in, it seemed. I gasped at the fury of the storm and shrank back against the couch.

“Maybe I can hold it in until the blizzard goes past us.”

I was wracked with another pain and doubled over again, moaning as a giant hand tried to grab me in its fist. I held out my arms to Rolf and threw them around his neck and held on tight when he sat down beside me.

“I’m scared, Rolf.”

He squeezed me so tightly I couldn’t breathe.

“I’ll be right here with you, baby. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I pushed him away. “You did this!”

He looked stricken, so I pulled him back to hug him. “I love you, Rolf. But I hate you right now, just a little bit.”

I heard Gran whispering to Rolf, who was looking shattered. “They always say that. Don’t worry.”

About thirty minutes later, Gran made up the bed with some clean sheets and put plastic garbage bags under them to protect the mattress. Meanwhile, she had Rolf get me to my feet and walk me around the living room to “advance my labor.” Nugget was hiding under the bed.

The walking worked for about another twenty or thirty minutes and then I couldn’t do it anymore. It was only two minutes now between those awful pains that would have brought me to my knees if Rolf hadn’t held me up.

“Bring him in and lay him down,” Gran said.

“I’ll never do this again! Not ever!” I pointed my finger in Rolf’s face. “No more babies for you!”

“I know, honey. Should I go back in the living room and leave you alone?”

“No! Don’t you dare go anywhere; I need you!”

“Okay, I’m right here.”

“Why do you want to leave me when I need you the most?”

“I don’t, baby. I’m right here.”

My grandmother shook her head at me, and then stationed herself down by my hips and encouraged me not to push until I felt the next contraction. She showed me how to breathe through them, but it didn’t help much. Rolf stood on the other side of the bed, holding my hand and looking on worriedly.

“Isn’t this moving too fast?”

“Everyone is different, and he’s doing fine. He’s opening up nicely, and I can feel the baby’s head,” she said, and pulled her hand from out between my legs.

“What are you doing down there, Gran?” I said, in an outraged voice. “You’re not supposed to be looking at me and touching me down there! You’re my grandma!”

“Levi, I’ve washed and diapered that butt of yours a million times when you were a baby. There’s nobody else to do this but me, so hush up!”

I hushed up.

“Now on the next pain, I want you to push really hard. And stop all that yelling. Use that energy to push this baby out instead.”

I did as she said, and on the next pain, I held my breath and pushed and pushed as hard as I could—and I felt the baby slip out between my legs. Gran got busy down there as I fell back in relief. In what seemed like only a few minutes she was thrusting a baby at me that was wrapped in a baby blanket.

“Here you go, dear. It’s a little boy.”

I gazed down at him in wonder. He had dark hair and red skin with little splotches on his cheeks, and his eyes were squinched up, but along with his daddy, he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

The next hour or so passed in a blur. The afterbirth came, and my gran cleaned everything up, but after a while, I got to just hold the baby and look at him as the storm raged outside. He had all his fingers and toes, and he looked so much like his father, it was ridiculous. I was already crazy about him, and I never wanted to let him go.

“He looks like you,” Rolf said, and I shook my head.

“Thanks, but no, he doesn’t. He’s a little Alpha, I think, because he’s already been so much trouble. What do you think?”

Rolf smiled and leaned over to kiss us both. “I think that now I have two of you to wrap me around your little fingers.”

I blushed, very pleased with his answer. “What should we name him? And don’t say Levi—I never liked my name much. What’s your father’s name?”

“Bertram.”

“Oh gods.”

Rolf laughed. “And your father?”

“Barney. So there’s no help there at all.”

“Let’s just name him something we both like.”

“What about Nicholas? I like that name.”

He smiled at me. “I like it too.”

Nugget crawled out from under the bed and gave his stamp of approval with a big woof.

“Nugget approves,” Rolf said and squeezed my hand.

“I hope your parents do. And I hope they’ll come around eventually.”

He picked the baby up and put him in his crib that we’d bought for him. It was right next to our bed. “I think once they see their grandchild and my beautiful mate, they definitely will.”

I hoped he was right. I was scared and whistling in the dark for courage. But if love was enough, then I knew we’d be all right.

“Don’t be scared,” he said, and I realized I must have said it out loud. “They’ll love you. And if they don’t, then it’s their loss. If I have to choose, it’ll always be you.”

I was touched by what he said, and the look in his eyes. We kissed for a while before I spoiled it with a yawn. Thankfully, he just laughed.

“It’s getting late. You need to try and get a little rest while the baby sleeps. Close your eyes, sweetheart. If the baby wakes up, I’ll take care of him.”

“I don’t know if I can sleep. I’m too excited. And I’m wondering—where do we go from here?”

“That depends on where you want us to be.”

“Married, I think. Happy.”

“I’d like that too.”

“And you here with me forever.”

Rolf smiled and brushed a kiss over my lips. “Where else am I going to be? I love you, Levi.”

I sighed and laid my head on his chest. Maybe I was going to get that happy ever after people always talked about in the books I read. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, warm and safe in his arms, as the blizzard howled outside.

The End