Second Epilogue

Valery - 5 Years Later

“Mama!” Carmen giggles and waves from the swing set where her uncle’s compete with each other as to who can swing the highest.

I glance over my shoulder and look for my husband who will undoubtedly kill Kit if he catches him swinging that high with our two-year-old daughter on his lap.

Wiping my hands on the apron wrapped around my very round belly, I walk toward the new playground Carmen’s uncles built her last weekend. “If Karter catches you?—”

“Yeah, yeah. He’ll skin my hide.” Kit jumps off the swing mid-air with his thick forearm around Carmen’s belly. She squeals and giggles the entire time. “Lucky for me, I’m still faster and more nimble than him.”

Kason jumps off next to him, landing with similar grace. “This swingset is solid. If seven hundred plus pounds of sexy muscle can’t pull it out of the ground, nothing will.”

Koran stops with more grace and sneaks up behind Kit to snatch Carmen out of his arms, flying her through the air like an airplane toward the slide.

“When’s the grub?” Kason and Kit ask simultaneously.

I roll my eyes. “Your brothers should be back from the butcher any minute. If you want to be helpful, you could build the fire. The pig has to roast all day, so you still have a good eight hours for that.”

“We will die if we have to wait eight hours to eat.”

“Which is why we have burgers and hot dogs to tie us over.” I rub my hand over my pregnant belly. “Trust me. I can’t wait that long to eat either.”

“Who is coming to this shindig?” Kason asks, like he doesn’t already know.

“The family and their mates. Kade’s business partners and their mates. And of course, all of the kids.” I grin.

“No single chicks, huh?” Kit chirps from the swing set.

“Are you finally ready to settle down?” I quirk my brow.

He shrugs. “Fates willing.”

“You’re only twenty-three. You’ve still got a couple of years before we call you old maids.” I bite my lip and suppress a smile. “Besides, I think you’ve already dated all the single women in the northwest region.”

“That’s not remotely true.” Kason grins as Kit puts his hands over Carmen’s ears. “Hey, don’t ruin our reputation.”

Koran snorts and rolls his eyes as a couple of children’s voices add to the ambience. Kade and Dinah’s two-year-old twins, Kimmy and James, run through the house, informing us that they have arrived. Carmen screams with glee as she slides down the slide, and runs toward her cousins. I’m pregnant with twins now, while Dinah is pregnant with one, each of us experiencing what the other has before. Miraculously, we’ve spent most of our time pregnant together, overlapping by less than three months. It’s been exhausting, but also nice to have a friend going through the same thing I’m going through—with a bear-shifting mate, no less.

Dinah walks through the kitchen with her hand on her belly, mimicking my pose. We both start laughing as we lay eyes on each other.

Karter, Kade, and Kash walk around the side of the house with a giant pig prepped for a roast suspended from a giant metal pole. Something about the sight of the poor animal turns my stomach, and I turn my back on them with my lips curled in disgust.

“Yeah, me too.” Dinah nods. “Although I bet it smells amazing later.”

I sigh. “Karter is practically a pescatarian. I don’t know why they wanted to do a pig roast tonight.” I mumble, the two of us as close as sisters-in-law get.

“The wolves and the cats will devour every scrap. We do this at least once a year in Broken Falls.” Dinah smiles as our children climb all over their uncles. “Those three are amazing with kids.”

“They’ll soon be outnumbered. Then what will they do?” I smile.

She shrugs. “Have some of their own, I suppose.”

Karter walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my belly, pressing his lips into my neck. “You okay?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think I’ll be helping with the pig today.”

“That’s okay. Once the guys get here, none of us will have to tend it. Did you see that the big RV in spot two has arrived? I noticed them when we pulled in, but didn’t get a chance to stop and introduce myself.”

“No, I don’t think they’ve called.” I pat the pocket of my apron and realize my phone is on its charger in the kitchen. For the first two years we traveled all over Canada and the northern states, taking weeks and sometimes months between visits home. I think it was good for both of us to have time with just each other, learning all we could and unpacking all of our shit from our past. Karter is the strongest and yet most vulnerable man I’ve ever known, and his willingness to bare his soul to me gives me the freedom to do the same. Although I love and miss my parents, my hyper-independence is a trauma response to being an only child and spending most of my formative years alone. So, when we found out I was pregnant, we made the decision to come home and put down some roots.

At the same time, the terror trio were looking into buying land outside of Fortune Falls with their massive online wealth. While the town has grown significantly since the day I wandered in unaware, it will never be more than an unincorporated one-horse town with a close knit community of shifters and their mostly human mates.

“Land is the best investment money can buy.” That’s what Koran said the day we got home and announced our big news.

Three months later, Karter and I moved an hour south to run a campground with twenty RV pull-throughs, five rustic cabins, two deluxe cabins—one of which we live in—and a large metal building with storage units, coin-operated laundry machines, a mini-version of the Fortune Falls trading post, and a communal area with Wi-Fi, board games, and a giant television. There are also a couple dozen tent sites that we open in the summer months. I do all the marketing for the campground and the trading post, as well as Kade’s Bear Claw Ammo shop in Broken Falls. Although, I’ve taught Dinah everything I know, and for the most part she takes care of things there.

Karter kisses my neck again, this time his lips linger longer than appropriate considering Dinah is standing in front of us. “Check your phone, babe. I’ll grab the gator and we’ll drive down to introduce ourselves.”

“Okay.” I close my eyes and melt into his chest, not making one move out of his embrace.

Dinah giggles and takes a step away. “I think Kade is calling me.”

Karter chuckles over his shoulder. “Hey Dinah.”

“Hi Karter.” She sing-songs as she walks away.

“Let’s check on our guests and maybe we can take a break on the way back.” I grin when he nips my neck with his teeth.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Grabbing my phone, I notice the missed text message from an unknown number and type a message back.

We’re here. We’ve pulled into spot 2 and are setting up camp. Thx!

We’ll be by in a few minutes to make sure you have everything you need.

Karter pulls up in the ATV, a blanket on the passenger seat. I hop in and he drives slow, careful to not jostle my oversized belly. We drive the half of a mile to spot two and note the rented class C RV. A beautiful girl with soft orangish red waves bounds out of the door with a folding chair in her hands.

“Hi!” She waves and leans the chair against the back fender of their rig.

Karter jumps out of the ATV and is by my side, helping me to my feet. “Hello. I’m Karter and this is my wife, Valery.”

“I’m Tabitha, but everyone calls me Tabby.”

“Nice to meet you.” I shake her proffered hand. “We’re just up the road, if you need anything. Have you had a chance to look around yet? There’s a common area with basic goods for sale. Laundry facility. Showers. All the common campground amenities.”

“We haven’t yet, but we’ll do that before dark.”

Two other women around Tabby’s age exit the RV, with the third older woman exiting behind them.

A lithe, statuesque woman with long curly hair and dark skin offers me her hand. “I’m Sabrina.”

The third is a short blonde with full breasts and round hips. “Oriana and this is our mother, Morgan.”

Morgan doesn’t offer her hand, her eyes resting on my stomach. “You’re very close.”

“Oh,” I rub subconsciously at my swollen belly. “Six more weeks, actually, but I’m having twins and they’re huge.”

“Hmmm.” She nods. “They’ll be early, but all will be fine.”

“Mom.” Oriana hisses, a blush hitting her cheeks.

Karter frowns and wraps his arm around me, pulling me back against his chest. “Yeah, well, if you need anything, you have our number.”

“We’re midwives and doulas, and are very in tune with the nature around us.” Tabby smiles and waves her hand in the air, as if that explains her mother’s odd behavior.

“Oh.” I nod. “What brings you out this way?”

“Foraging.” Sabrina answers quickly.

“And vacationing.” Tabby adds. “Summer is the perfect time of the year to visit Glacier.”

“True.” Karter agreed, but I can feel my mate’s protective instincts roaring to life through his possessive touch.

I smile broadly. “Is there anyone else in your party?”

“Nope. Just four single ladies taking over the world. You know?” Tabby giggles and throws her arm around Oriana’s shoulders who nods shyly in our direction.

“Awww.” I glance up at Karter. “They remind me of me before I met you.”

“Hmmm.” Karter slips his hand into mine and takes a step back. “And you’re staying all summer?”

Tabby glances at the other women. “Or until it no longer feels right being here.”

I nod, taking a couple steps back with him. They book the spot for ten weeks, longer than any reservation we’ve had to date. “Ummm, well, we drive around a couple of times during the day and night, and we lower the gate after ten for security. But you can call anytime!” I yell the last word as Karter pulls me to sit down on the ATV.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine.” Tabby waves as we drive away, the other three women watching us as we leave.

“There’s something wrong with them.” Karter grumbles when we’re out of earshot.

“No. They’re a tad eccentric, but maybe that’s because a giant mountain of a man went all grizzly bear on them.”

“That was not grizzly bear. That was me very nicely telling her to back off.”

I roll my eyes. “You are so silly.”

“I’m going to have an issue with anybody who focuses on my mate’s unborn child.” He grumbles, his hands flexing on the steering wheel.

“They are midwives. It’s their profession.” I say while shaking my head. “You’re really making this into something that it isn’t.”

“Babe, please trust my animal intuition here.”

“Okay. Something seems off to you. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but notice there are three beautiful and single twenty-somethings hanging around our campsite. And we just happen to have three large, single men in need of mates.”

He snotes. “It doesn’t work that way, and you know this.”

I shrug. “It doesn’t hurt to introduce them.”

“Are you trying to play matchmaker right now?”

“Maybe. But as you said, it doesn’t work that way. I can’t force anything, but I can make sure the triplets know there are beautiful, single women staying in their campground.”

Karter places his hand on my thigh. “I think we should get back to the house.”

“Are you really so disturbed by them that you no longer want to take a break?” I slide my hand over my husband’s thick cock strangled by denim. He instantly stiffens in my palm, one of the many things I love about him.

He growls low in his chest. “You know there is nothing that will stop me from taking a break with my mate.”

“Good.”

We drive to the edge of the campground, and through an empty tent site down a small path to a tiny creek that will be running with water in the upcoming weeks as more snow melts off. I hop out of my seat the moment he engages the emergency break, and hold out my hand for my man. He walks me to a giant boulder—our favorite rock—and throws down the blanket before leaning over to kiss me deeply until I’m flat on my back with one leg wrapped around his waist. Karter can take hours pleasuring me, but I’ve found I crave the quickies just as much. There is something about sneaking off and scratching that itch that never really goes away no matter how sexually sated I am. It seems I will never get enough of him.

Karter lifts the hem of my floor length maxi dress, running his hand up the insides of my thigh. “Fuck, you’re already wet for me.”

“Always.”

“If you’re uncomfortable, tell me.” His eyes glow with a golden sheen, his bear also looking down at his mate through Karter’s eyes.

I press my lips together and “Baby, I need your thick cock inside of me. Right now.”

“Whatever my mate wants.” Karter plunges two fingers inside of me, stroking my g-spot and thumbing my clit while working his belt and zipper with his other hand. He unveils himself and is pushing inside me in the matter of seconds, a lusty moan escaping my lips.

“Oh yes.” While Karter’s cock always feels good, there is something about pregnant sex that amps up my need, the nerve endings in my pussy extra sensitive with every stroke. It takes no time to take me over the edge, my orgasm hitting quickly as Karter grunts and leans forward, placing gentle kisses on my belly.

“You feel so fucking good.” Karter pumps through my orgasm, wrapping his big forearms around my thighs and thrusting into my gushing cunt to chase his own climax. Birds stop chirping overhead as he roars his finish, his head thrown back, the veins in his thick neck protruding ever so slightly.

Smiling, I run my hands up his chest. “That was a good break.”

“The best break.” He chuckles, bringing his gaze down to me.

“I love you so much, Karter. I can’t imagine my life without you.”

“Nor I you, babe.”

“Think we should go back to the party?” I raise my brow.

He rolls his eyes. “I guess so. Otherwise Kit will whine that we are starving him to death.”

“Oh, we can’t have that.” I laugh.

Karter lifts me off the slanted boulder and pulls my skirt down over my belly. He leans down and presses another gentle kiss to my swollen tummy, and rests his hand there. “Do you think you’ll be early?”

I shrug. “Dinah was with her twins.”

“She had Nan nearby. We don’t.”

“Then maybe we should be nice to the midwives. Just in case.”

Karter’s brow furrows and he huffs, grabbing the blanket off the rock. “I guess so. Come on, babe. Let’s go home.”