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|| THREE MONTHS LATER ||

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RAIDEN ||

"Raiden! Where the fuck are they?!" Taj screamed through yet another contraction as he clutched onto the front of my shirt.

"They're almost here, I promise Taj.. just try to breathe." I tell him, gently rubbing his back as he leaned his head forward, to lay against my shoulder.

"I am breathing Raiden, but you have to do something, get these fucking cubs out of me!"

See, this is exactly what I was afraid of.

I told Dylan, Garrett and Bennett not to leave. I told them that Taj was going into labor, but nobody wanted to believe me. The man was clearly showing the same signs that Dylan did before he went into labor.

Taj has been less active, even more hormonal, eating less and sleeping more. Not to mention the fact that the man has been having cramps on and off every few hours the last few days.

I told the damn wolves not to leave, but they insisted on going into town and picking up Taj's apple pies that he ordered yesterday, that somehow I don't think the man would care about now that he's about to give birth.

Dylan, Garrett and Bennett have been gone for almost three hours now and within that time, Taj has gone from a few contractions here and there, to full blown screaming and trying to rip my throat out.

Why am I always the one to deal with the pregnant males in this pack man?

At this rate, I should get paid for this shit.

"Ahhhhh!" Taj screamed again through his next contraction and for some reason, chose to punch me in the chest.

"Deep breaths Taj." I whisper, continuing to rub his back, despite the pain that now radiated throughout my chest.

"This hurts Raiden." He cried against my shoulder.

"I know, but you're doing so good." I tell him and he nods. "I'm going to try something ok, let me know if this works."

Seeing how much pain he was in, I decided to force my purr and wrap Taj in my calling, something I couldn't do for Dylan because he didn't want to be touched while he was in labor, let alone be forced under the calming effects that my calling would've had over him.

Increasing the power behind my purr, I force my calling over Taj and feel it completely wrap him in a thick blanket of calming energy. I knew it wouldn't have the same effect that it would on Dylan because Taj wasn't my mate, but I could tell that it held some power behind it as he began to slump forward in my arms.

"Thank you..... so much." He whispers, completely laying his head against my shoulder.

"You're welcome." I whisper back as he starts to knead into the back of my shirt.

"Don't leave me, ok. Whatever you do.. don't leave me Raiden."

"I'm right here Taj and I'll be right here until Bennett gets here, I promise."

"Ok." He breaths out, leaning into me even more, continuing his kneading motions into the fabric of my shirt.

"I love you Taj." I tell him as he nuzzled his face into my neck.

My words holding a different meaning with him being in labor. I didn't say it to let him know that I had feelings for him, but to let him know that his brother is right here and I wouldn't let him go through this alone.

"I love you too Raiden."

"But only as a brother." I chuckle before poking him in his side, bringing a chuckle out of him as well.

"Yeah, only as a brother and nothing more you weirdo." He confirms with a hearty laugh as my calling continues to bring him relief.

"BABE!"

I let out the biggest sigh of relief when I heard Bennett's voice, echoing through the house.

"Upstairs! In your bedroom!" I yell back as Taj starts to rock in my arms. I could tell he was about to have another contraction, so I was beyond ecstatic when Bennett and Garrett rushed in the room to grab him from me.

"Thank you so much Raiden, I appreciate you." Bennett gave me a quick hug before grabbing one of Taj's arms, while Garrett held the other.

"Be strong Taj, you're almost done." I tell him as they walk out the room. He shot me a quick smile over his shoulder, which I returned before I watched them completely disappear out of the bedroom.

Once I was sure the coast was clear, I left their bedroom and made my way to find Dylan, who was in the kitchen, now eating Taj's apple pie.

I gave him a look and he returned it with one of his own, complete surprise lacing his every feature.

"What? He's in labor, it's not like he can eat this now." Dylan says innocently as he takes another bite.

Wolves man..

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"Congratulations Taj, Congratulations Bennett!"

Excitement filled their hospital room as we all piled in to welcome the new arrivals.

Bennett called after about 4 hours to let us know that Taj had safely delivered their cubs and he was now in his recovery room. I told Bennett that we could wait to come and visit because I was sure Taj was exhausted, but Taj was the one to insist on all of our families coming.

So Dylan ran out of our wing of the packhouse to let everyone know that we all needed to get to the hospital, despite the fact that he could have just used the pack link. The man was beyond excited.

When we got to the hospital, Miles and Allio met us all out front to tell us that Taj did great and was fully expecting everyone.

Taj gave birth to twin boys and Dylan was pissed.

My mate still wanted a girl and had his fingers and toes crossed for Bennett and Taj's twins being the girls he so hoped for, but all of those hopes went right out the window a few months ago when Taj went for his gender scan.

Dylan still has his heart set on a girl and has been trying to convince me since Taj's scan to actually impregnate him again, which I have respectfully declined every single time by either faking a headache or acting sick.

My ridiculousness hasn't completely deterred my mate though. Dylan has tried everything he can to get me to have unprotected sex with him again. Threats, bribes, he's even gone as far as to buy lingerie that he thought would entice me, which it definitely did. His ass looked great in those little outfits, but I refuse to have anymore cubs, anytime soon.

My mate was a nightmare when he was pregnant, so no thanks. I'm not in a hurry to deal with that again.

Not to mention that Ezra is a Hybrid and we don't know what his future holds, so another cub or pup for us right now, just would be a lot to handle.

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Looking at the tags on the new arrivals Hospital carts, they read the same names that Bennett announced at their name reveal party they hosted right after Taj's gender scan.

Bennett and Taj named their first born Wyatt Liam Haller, after everyone's self proclaimed favorite grandpa and both boys held Taj's last name because just like Dylan, Bennett said he absolutely would not go by Dean's last name anymore and refused to pass that onto his little ones.

Their second born was named Sebastian Tayte Haller, after Taj's father and I had to admit their boys looked just like Taj with their jet black hair and brown eyes.

With our arms empty, Dylan quickly picked up both of our nephews and handed one to me.

"I'm so happy for you guys!" Dylan all but screamed his excitement, cutting through the crowd of people in the hospital room, to run and hug Bennett, while cradling Wyatt in one arm.

"Thank you little brother." Bennett smiles as Dylan let's go him go, only to hug Taj, who was still laying on his hospital bed.

"Thank you Dylan." Taj smiles as well once my mate released his poor, healing body. Then he looked at me and smiled even wider before holding out his hand.

I happily placed my hand in his and he pulled me closer to his hospital bed before carefully hugging me, trying his best to avoid Sebastian who was in one of my arms.

"Thank you so much Raiden, I'll always love you for this." Taj whispers into my ear as he tightened his grip around my neck.

"You're welcome Taj, I'm so happy for you both." I whisper back before pulling away from his embrace and looking down at his son in my arms.

"Do we know what they are yet?" I ask, looking around the room.

"No, I haven't gotten a chance to look through, but if you would like, I can share the news now." Quiweeme suggests, looking between Bennett and Taj.

"Yes please, thank you Quiweeme." Taj smiles as the elf makes his way towards Dylan and Wyatt first. Placing his hand on the little one's head, his eyes glow for a few seconds before he removes his hand and looks at Taj.

Holding my breath as majority of the room did, we impatiently waited for Quiweeme to let us all know if Bennett and Taj's sons were Hybrids or not.

"Wyatt is a pup." He smiles brighter as some form of relief floods the room. Then he walks over to myself and Sebastian.

Repeating his actions before, he places a hand on the little one's head as his eyes glow.

"Sebastian is a cub." Quiweeme announces and we all let out huge sighs of relief. Fully enjoying the fact that we didn't have anymore Hybrids in the family.

"Does he carry the recessive gene? Will he be a Black Leopard?" Taj asks and Quiweeme shrugs.

"I can answer that for you now, but that would take away the fun of enjoying his beast after his first shift."

"Wait, does that mean you know if Gage is a Black leopard too? And what about Ezra, have you seen his beast as well?" I ask frantically.

"Yes I do know what each of your sons beasts look like and trust me when I say, the less you know, the better... Try to enjoy your sons now and we will worry about their beasts when the time comes." Quiweeme explains.

"But Rhys is a wolf and Gage is a Leopard?" Dylan asks just to clarify and Quiweeme nods.

"That is correct."

"Great, that's all we need to know." My mate smiles at the elf before smiling at me with a certain look in his eye.

I knew that look, so I decided to keep my questions to myself until we actually left the hospital. Today was a day of celebration for Bennett and Taj, so I wouldn't burden their day with my craziness.

After awhile, without Eva's magic, we all noticed that the room had quickly become cramped. So majority of the beings here congratulated Bennett and Taj one more time before making their leave.

The ones that stayed including myself, Dylan, Garrett, Liam and Emilio.

"I will go check on the little ones and the ladies to see how they are getting on." Quiweeme announced as he was the last one to leave the hospital room.

"Thank you!" Dylan yelled out just as the door was closing.

Both Dylan and myself refused to bring our boys today because of the very obvious reasons... they're crazy and way too rambunctious now.

Our boys were now very active five month olds and have become increasingly difficult to keep still during times like this, so the awesome women offered to stay home with them. Sophie, my mom Layla, Kaylie, Ruby, Zahara, Maisie, Dakota and Eva were sure enough in for a treat because our sons were pure jackasses.

I now fully understand why Dylan insists on calling them little fuckers because that's exactly what they are. Rhys is still clingy as all fuck, Gage is still a true feline and hates being crowded, he refuses to even play with his brothers and Ezra still is the quiet, observant, protective older brother that he's always been.

Expect now, the boys are all on the move. I mean, crawling everywhere, trying to learn to stand and they are fast too.

You would think it would be easy to keep up with three boys when there's so many eyes and hands available to grab them, but nope, they are busy little fuckers and get into everything. Just as you think you have one under control, the other two slip away and wreak havoc.

I used to think Dylan was crazy during his pregnancy, but I would honestly take his mood swings over our three rambunctious five month olds any day!

Sophie and my mom I'm almost positive, we're handling the boys just fine because they're both used to wrangling multiple little ones at one time. The only mom I was actually worried about dealing with our boys was Eva because she was now 4 weeks pregnant herself.

She found her mate or match or whatever witches call their other halves, in the forest surrounding the pack about 3 months ago.

Dylan called a meeting when an unknown warmth surrounded the area. Everyone was concerned and rightfully scared, well everyone except Eva because she told us that the warmth was magically sourced.

So Eva and the Elves went out to check everything and came back with a Warlock named Maxx.

The warmth that we all felt was actually a Linking spell that Maxx cast because he could feel Eva's presence, but couldn't find her. So he cast his spell to be able to locate her whereabouts and it definitely worked.

I was actually expecting Eva to go crazy on the Warlock, because who are we kidding, Eva is crazy and loves to play games, but to all of our surprise, she fully embraced her match and now they are expecting.

Maxx is adamant that Eva is carrying a boy, he said he can feel their son's energy, but Eva however, is adamant that their baby is a girl. So I guess we shall see in the next 8 months what actually comes out of the two.

No doubt that the baby whether it is a boy or girl, would be gorgeous because Eva is a beautiful woman and Maxx is an incredibly handsome man, with light brown skin and shiny black, wavy hair that hung to about his shoulders.

The pair are annoyingly beautiful together.

Now I understand how people feel when they see Dylan and myself.

It should be illegal for two people to be so gorgeous separately and even more gorgeous together.

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|| ONE WEEK LATER ||

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Today was another day of celebration because Miles and Allio's son Aaron was coming back home to the pack from his Graduation.

Aaron followed in Miles' footsteps by studying medicine and according to the two crazy men, their son was top of his class in high school. He graduated two years earlier at 16 years old, then went straight to university for four years before being accepted into Medical School.

Miles and Allio returned to the pack about 3 days ago after attending Aaron's graduation because they wanted to throw this welcome home party for their son, which in my opinion, was such a sweet thing to do.

I can't wait to be able to do things like this for my boys. This is truly a beautiful gesture.

Eva, Maxx and Quiweeme were busy setting things up, well more like flying things around with their magic. Weheil wasn't much help because he summoned Kano this morning and of course, the two lovebirds were off in the corner of the massive backyard behind the packhouse, being super cute together.

Maxx tried to takeover for Eva because he said magic is draining and with Eva being 5 weeks pregnant now, he didn't want her exerting too much energy, but he quickly learned that his mate was a firecracker and wouldn't take being told what to do, nicely.

Even if it was just a suggestion.

Poor Maxx.

Quiweeme took his duties very seriously and with him helping to set up the decorations, I noticed how strategic he was. Everything had to be in a very specific place, in a very specific way and nothing, I mean nothing could be crooked and the man did it all with Ezra in his arms.

My first born has taken quite nicely to the elf. I always wondered what their relationship would consist of being that Quiweeme was the only person that Ezra actually stared at in the hospital room the day he was born. Nobody else seemed to perk his interest like Quiweeme and now seeing them together, it was heart warming.

Even throughout these last few months, my son has been oddly attached to the elf. Quiweeme never mentioned anything about them being paired, so I wasn't concerned about that, but it did interest me to see how clingy Ezra was to the elf.

Ezra loved to bite Quiweeme, which the elf didn't seem to mind at all and my first born has even gone as far as showing another form of emotion when the elf was around. I've seen him frown only for myself and Bennett, but for Quiweeme, he also flashes somewhat of a baby smile.

It's not as big as the ones Gage or Rhys shows us, but his lips have definitely tugged upwards at the corners when he stares at Quiweeme long enough.

I've also noticed that the elf's eyes glow even brighter whenever he's around Ezra, almost as if he's searching my son's mind or they are playing some kind of weird mind games or something and Ezra seems to love it.

Our magical creatures seem to be happier than they've been when I first met them, seeing how they all have found someone to attach themselves to.

Well everyone except the vampire.

Alaric had taken to a slumber about 3 months ago, right before Maxx showed up. He said he couldn't allow his feelings for Rhys being his beloved to overshadow his ability to think rationally. So he said he would enter a deep sleep until Rhys was of age to accept and consent to their relationship.

Eva said she would wake him when it was time.

I felt bad for keeping him from his beloved. Knowing how hard that must have been on him, but at the same time, Rhys is my son and he's an infant, the whole thing was just wrong in my eyes, so I had to be a father first and think about my son's best interest. So when Alaric proposed the idea of his deep sleep thing, I was on board for it, as was Dylan.

Liam and Emilio actually got married last week and their wedding was simple, yet beautiful. The whole pack, all 110 beings were in attendance, including Kano, Beau and Derrick. Tears filled everyone's eyes at the sight of the two men finally being able to come together after 27 years of being forced to reject each other. Their vows were perfectly written for their bond and the moment Kano announced them husband and husband, the whole pack went wild.

I hope my wedding is as beautiful as theirs one day and I pray that Dylan would accept my hand in marriage when that time comes because I don't want him to be known as only my mate for the rest of our lives, but also as my husband.

Thinking about my mate, I forgot to mention that he and the rest of the male wolves from the Wolf's Claw pack that now live here in the Shadow pack were a little skinny now, but they've been coming along.

The happiness within the pack and the future looking up... Dylan, Hunter, Gabe, Garrett and Theo all decided to go down to the cells and spend three weeks there.

Hunter and Gabe apologized for their part in my capture about 4 weeks ago and they all approached me with the idea of them spending time in the cells here, being the only sure way they could make up for their wrongful ways of the past.

Of course, I fought them on the idea because I didn't care about the past anymore and truly didn't see the point in this happening, but they insisted and eventually I agreed with three conditions.

I was able to visit them whenever I wanted, stay as long as I wanted and I wouldn't inject them with the same poison they injected me with because I refused to take their wolves away.

Roman overheard Hunter and Gabe's apology to me, effectively finding out about Hunter's involvement in my capture all of those months ago. He also learned the truth of how the wolves of the Wolf's Claw pack treated me and without saying much, he went crazy.