Epilogue - Elena

The full moon rode high in the sky as Elena was led from the manor. It was such a surreal feeling to be surrounded by the senior she-wolves of the Nightstar pack as they guided her out to join their number. Bonnie had taken to what was apparently her usual thing, going above and beyond to make sure that the ceremony was perfect.

She, Bonnie, Layla and Miley were all dressed in simple white sheathe gowns that flowed in the breeze, their hair decorated with wildflowers. If Elena hadn't known better, she might have believed they were fae-folk rather than werewolves, but she had to admit, it was magical, and the gowns helped her see a new side to the color white. For so long, all she had seen in the color was the sheets she had wrapped her baby and mate in before they were sent to the fire.

But now, she would have a happy memory of the color, the memory of the night she joined the Nightstar pack and her mate for good.

The three other she-wolves danced around her as they walked her across the lawn to join the rest of the pack at the bonfire. Everybody was there, from the alpha to the smallest babe, Miley's own six-month-old baby boy wrapped lovingly in his father's tattooed arms.

As they approached, the crowd of werewolves parted to allow the she-wolves through, guiding her directly before Jack, who stood at the head of the pack with Zander at his side.

When Jack held out his hands, Elena instinctively placed hers in them and dropped down onto her knee. This wasn't her first pack initiation. She had seen plenty of them before. But it was her first since her very first shift, and she felt even more excited now than she had then.

Holding both her hands in one, Jack laid his other on Elena's head carefully, as if he didn't want to knock the flowers from her hair. "I, Jack Blackwell, initiate you and welcome you, Elena Bradbury, into the Blackwell Nightstar pack! I give you my word and the word of all those under me that you shall be protected, respected and nurtured within our pack for as long as you shall seek shelter!"

Tears pricked in Elena's eyes as Jack raised his head and began to howl at the moon. Following suit, one by one, all of the other members raised their own voices in welcome.

"Rise, Elena, as one of the pack!" Jack ordered, and Elena followed the instruction of her new alpha, rising to find that Hanson had moved to stand beside her. "Rise and meet your mate! May you share many long, happy years together and help our pack grow in number!"

Again, the pack began to howl, and this time Elena added her own voice to it, howling louder than she ever had before as she fell into Hanson's arms.

Never in her wildest dreams had she ever believed that life would ever feel this good again. The small stone of guilt she felt lying heavy in her stomach as she remembered Jason and their child was growing smaller by the day.

She would always love them, she would always miss them, but somehow, she knew they did not begrudge her the life she was building for herself now. It was as if she felt them walking beside her even now as she was welcomed by her new pack.

"Are you okay?" Hanson asked, stroking her cheek with his thumb, and it was only then that she realized she was weeping.

For once, she smiled and said, "Yes. I just never in a million years believed I could be this happy!"

Hanson's own eyes brimmed with tears then as he cupped her face in both his hands and kissed her for all the pack to see. Their howling only grew in happiness, welcome and excitement as they looked on. And when their kiss ended, Elena found she was crying harder than ever.

"I think this calls for a pack shift!" Jack called, and voices were raised in fast agreement. All around her, the members of the pack began to strip off their clothes. Likely it would have been a strange sight for the eyes of a human, but to Elena, it was yet another sign of welcome. To be so vulnerable, to shift before each other in such a way, was a sign of trust that she would cherish all her days.

"Shall we?" Hanson asked, taking hold of her hand to give it a squeeze. He smiled at her with clear love and affection in his eyes, even as he used his free hand to begin unbuttoning his shirt.

"Nothing would make me happier," she assured him, and was surprised when she felt hands at her back, undoing the knots of her dress for her.

Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled at Bonnie and said, "Thanks."

There was no greater honor than to be helped by the mate of the alpha. It was a shock to the system to realize that not only had she found a mate in Nightstar, but she had also found a friend—more than one, in fact, as Layla was also awaiting her, standing naked close by as she waited for the shift.

Together, as one, the pack transformed, taking on their wolf forms to streak into the woods, dancing and playing and acting like pups. Only those too old, too young or too weak to shift remained behind, but with an entire pack of shifted wolves on the loose, there could be no danger in Nightstar tonight. There was only to be celebration.

And Elena let go of all the pain and stress of the last few months as she shifted, chasing her mate into the woods, for once, without a care in the world.

6 months later

It was pure agony. There was nothing else like it. Birthing a werewolf baby was excruciating. Humans had it bad enough, but with a mother's hormones still coursing through an infant's body and the threat of their being able to shift inside her, it was terrifying, agonizing, and long.

By the time the first twin entered into the world, Elena was so bone-weary that she didn't think she could go on any further.

"Come on, Elena, you can do this," Bonnie assured her, wiping her head with a damp cloth as she had been doing religiously since the labor started. That was whenever Elena wasn't fighting her own shift, her own wolf's need to protect itself from the pain. "You have a healthy baby girl, Elena, now you just need to gather all of your strength and push again!"

Elena wasn't sure she had any strength left to give. Glancing around the room that had been practically stripped bare save for the mattress to lie upon, Elena searched for her strength, unable to find it.

"Where is Hanson? I need Hanson!" Elena screamed. Men were useless. They were never around when you needed them.

"We have sent for him," Layla assured her as she appeared at the side of the mattress with a cup in hand. "He'll be here soon, I'm sure of it."

"Why, why did he have to go on patrol today of all days?" Elena growled through gritted teeth as she felt another contraction coming on. "I can't do this without him!"

"You already have once," Bonnie protested, gripping Elena's hand tightly. The scent of blood filled the air, not only Elena's, but also Bonnie's and even Layla's, too. The two she-wolves were utterly against leaving her alone. No matter how many times she lashed out at them with tooth and claw, no matter how much she ordered them out of the room, they remained by her side.

"Drink this," Layla urged, holding the cup towards her lips. "It'll help give you a little extra strength."

"What is it?" Elena growled, glancing down into the cup. There was a foul-smelling liquid inside, one that made her gut churn.

"Does it really matter?" Layla asked, cocking her head.

Elena knew she was right. In that moment, she would have given anything to see her second child safely into the world.

She grabbed the cup from Layla's hand and drained it, trying hard not to gag on the sour-tasting drink.

She dashed the cup away, glad that it was plastic and not glass as it bounced off the nearest wall.

"Oh, I can't do this!" she said as her claws elongated once more with the contraction that was trying to eject the baby from her womb. The moment it started to pass, she glanced to the baby already wrapped in its blanket on a pile of pillows across the room, as far from her as possible in order to keep it safe from her lashing out. "Is she alright? She has not cried!"

That was the sign of a healthy baby was it not? The sound of crying?

Please, oh, please!

"Be calm, Elena, she is well," Bonnie assured her, stroking her hair back from her face with the wet cloth.

Elena's eyes started to flutter. She could barely keep them open. Her strength was fading fast.

"Come on, Elena," Layla ordered as she returned to the end of the bed to see how things were progressing. "Just a couple more pushes and your second child will be here."

Feeling whatever Layla had given her to drink starting to work, Elena mustered all of the scraps of strength still in her and pushed.

What happened, Elena didn't know. One minute she had been pushing, and then the next, everything went black. How long she was out for, she did not know, but when she came to all she smelled was her own blood. Her own blood, and Hanson!

"Hanson! Hanson!" she screamed, her eyes fluttering open. They were blurred for a few seconds, but as the room came swimming back into view, Hanson was there, crouched at the side of the mattress, holding her hand so tightly in both of his it was as if he feared to let go.

"Oh, thank the great wolf gods, Elena!"

He rushed forward and pressed a kiss to her lips.

"Wha…what happened?" Elena asked, blinking her eyes to try and clear them. Her throat felt like sandpaper. Her entire body ached like never before. Her womb felt…empty. "The babies! Where are my babies?"

Panic rose in her like a tidal wave, and she tried to clamber up in search of them. It was only when she heard a soft cry from the other side of the room that she eased back down into the pillows that were propped between her and the wall.

"Be calm, Elena," Layla said as she appeared behind Hanson carrying one of the babies.

"We thought we'd lost you," Hanson said, and Elena's gaze flitted to his. There were tears in his eyes. "I thought I'd lost you."

The pain in his tone was unbearable. She reached out her hand and cupped his cheek. "I'm right here."

"And so are these two gorgeous little bundles of joy," Bonnie said, as she too appeared, carrying one of the twins. "Congratulations to you both, you have one beautiful baby girl and one very, very handsome baby boy."

Elena's mouth dropped open in shock. "One of each?" she gasped as the babies were placed on either side of her, Hanson never releasing her hand, but moving to avoid getting in the way.

"That's right. A son and a daughter," Bonnie said gently, as if she knew it would take a while for the fact to sink in.

"I…I don't believe it," Elena cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Well, you had better believe it!" Hanson ordered, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. "You did so damn good!"

Remembering her fear and anger from before, Elena mustered enough strength to smack him on the upper arm. "How would you know?" she snarled, "You weren't even here!"

"Believe me, I saw enough!" Hanson said, and his face paled.

"Typical wolf-man arrived just as your little boy was coming into the world," Bonnie said, scowling at Hanson.

"Blame your mate, he's the one who had me out on patrol," Hanson shot back at her, though there was clear affection between the two of them.

"Yes well, I'm about to go and give him a piece of my mind on that," Bonnie assured him with a low growl. She turned to Layla then and added, "We should give this beautiful little family a moment or two alone."

Layla nodded, though she looked to Elena and asked, "How do you feel? Do you need anything?"

Elena gave herself a quick mental once-over. Other than the aches and pains she had felt after giving birth to her first child, she didn't feel anything alarming. Shaking her head, she said, "I feel…tired but fine. I could use a glass of water, though."

"I can do one better than that," Layla smirked at her, and she disappeared from the room for only a second before returning with a glass of something Elena recognized the scent of all too well.

"Lavender lemonade!" she exclaimed. She had been obsessed with Layla's lavender lemonade her entire pregnancy, and as the woman helped her to take a few gulps, she moaned with delight. "Thank you!"

"I'll leave it right here," Layla said, placing it on the floor close by. "Make sure you let Hanson get it if you want anymore."

The stern look she gave Elena told her not to argue and so she simply nodded.

Bonnie gave Layla a gentle nudge, and the two quietly exited the room. Beyond the door, Elena heard the mutterings of the rest of the pack. It sounded as if the entire town had turned out in the hallway for news.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Hanson asked as he slipped onto the bed beside her, laying a hand on the bundled-up feet of his son. Elena did the same with the feet of her daughter on the other side of her.

She was crying harder than ever now. "I never believed I could ever be this happy again. I…I thought I was destined to be alone forever."

Hanson wrapped his free arm around her and pulled her close. "Stick with us, my love, and you'll never be alone again!"

He kissed her then, long and tender, until their daughter let out the most beautiful cry Elena had ever heard. She didn't think her heart could swell any more than that until her son joined in the chorus.

"They…they really are alright!" she exclaimed, looking at Hanson incredulously.

It was only when he smiled, tears rolling down his cheeks, that she actually believed him. He had been right all along. Everything was going to be fine.

*****

THE END