Chapter 12

Astrid

Five Years Later…

"When will I get a bike?"My oldest son, Malik, asks as we watch Caden climb off of his and head our way.

"Not until you're older. A lot older," I tell him, and he frowns at me.

"Why not now?" He pouts.

"You don't even have a license yet," I say with a laugh.

"What's going on?" Caden asks.

"I want a motorcycle," Malik says, but it sounds more like mow-ter-cyle.

"Maybe once you're older," Caden says, scooping our son up.

"How's everyone doing at the clubhouse?" I ask my husband as I push to my feet and head inside after him.

"Good. We welcomed a few new recruits today," he says, and I smile. "Where's Arlo at? Napping?"

"Yeah, he just went down twenty minutes ago."

"Oh, Jude says hi. He said that Nara wanted to get together for dinner soon."

"Yeah, we talked about it at our play date today. She's going back to work soon, so it will have to be on the weekend," I tell him.

"Sounds like you two have it all figured out," he says with a grin.

"We always do," I tease him, and he laughs.

"Isn't that the truth?" He asks Malik.

Our son isn't paying us much attention, but he still agrees with his daddy.

"What should we do while Arlo sleeps?" I ask Malik.

"Blocks!" Malik says right away.

I knew that he would. We spent most of this morning building towers and whatever else he wanted. That's been his latest obsession for the last few months. Before that, it was toy cars and before that, trains.

Arlo is only eight months, so his interests are pretty much bananas and this giraffe teething toy. He's getting his first tooth now and it's been kind of rough. I hate seeing him in pain, but I know that there's not much I can do for him besides the teething toys and some numbing gel.

"How is Arlo's tooth?" Caden asks as we head into the playroom.

I set the baby monitor down on the table as Caden helps Malik get the blocks out.

"It seems to be a little better today. He wasn't quite as fussy this morning."

"Good."

"Here, Daddy!" Malik says as he passes each of us a few blocks.

We start to put the blocks together and I smile as I spend some quiet time with my family. It's been five years since Caden and I met and became mates.

True to his word, the Midnight Rebels left town a week after the shooting. From what I heard, they had the FBI and a bunch of other law enforcement agencies after them for some various crimes and the whole lot of them fled. I was just glad to see them go.

Caden started visiting the VA once a week and going to meetings there to work through everything that happened on his deployments. He worked hard to move past the guilt of surviving and the grief of losing so many of his friends.

Seeing him work so hard at improving himself just made me fall in love with him even more. He swore that he would be the best mate and partner to me and he kept his word.

We got married in a small ceremony here in town just a few weeks later and we've been together ever since.

I moved out of my parents' house and in with him then and it's been years since I've seen them. Not that I miss them. I had all of the family that I needed with Caden.

We found out that we were pregnant with Malik just a week after our one-year anniversary. We wanted to enjoy being a family of three for a bit, so we waited before we got pregnant again. Now that Arlo is here, I think we're done having kids. Two boys is enough for me, and I know that Caden is happy with our family of four too.

Caden is still vice president of the Devil's Pack MC and the club has grown in the last few years. I'm still working as a marketing exec too, though I'm no longer a junior one. I've worked my way up to senior in the last five years, and now I have my own small team working under me.

Arlo starts to fuss and Caden leaps to his feet and heads to go get him. I finish building my hotel and show it to Malik.

"That's good, Mom," he says, and I grin at him.

"What are you working on, honey?"

"A cabin," he says."

It looks like a big square, but I don't tell him that.

Caden comes into the room with Arlo and I smile at them. This is it, the family I never had, but always wanted. I'm so glad I get to set a better example for my kids than my parents did for me.

I eye my husband as he sits down with our two sons. He's so good with them, so patient and sweet. It's so… sexy.

My body starts to heat, and Caden looks over at me, giving me a lustful look.

"Mate," Caden growls in my ear, and I shiver.

"Tonight," I whisper back, and he grins.

I smirk back at him and he leans over, kissing me quickly before we go back to playing with our sons.