Epilogue
**A/N- well my loves, we say see you later to Seth and Carson. But you will see them again in the sequel Carnal Lover that will be mostly Sebastian's story but of course his siblings will be involved. Thank you again for all your support, it's been a two year journey for this story and now it's complete. Now I have to decide what story I am going to work on next, but I may just give you all a treat and update everything except the coming soon stories. We will see. I love all you and until next time, stay well and happy reading. xoxo Dianna
**please enjoy the song by Johnny Gill, You for Me**
Carson's POV...
(Carson with his little princess------->)
9 months later...
"Carson, I love you and respect you as my Elder and my uncle, but you are going to have to go home and face your mate at some point." Peyton chuckled and I just shot him an evil glare. I couldn't wait until Chantal gave home the happy news that she was expecting again, let's see how the smug bastard took that little bit of news. I sighed and shook my head, this pregnancy was completely different from the first one. Gone was my cute little mate and in his place was this emotional harridan that cries at the drop of a hat, and screams in a blink of an eye. I rubbed my hand over my still healing shoulder. I was almost electrocuted by the love of my life this morning because I smelt like honey for some reason, and Seth didn't seem to like the smell of honey today. Although just yesterday he was drowning his strawberries in the stuff and stuffing them in his mouth. He had even got the children sticky sharing the drenched fruit with them and their little mates. It took at least three bath to get them clean, and I am not sure if Chantal had managed to get it out of Williams curls.
"Fine, whatever. If Seth asks, you haven't seen me." I muttered as I got to my feet. I was immediately thinking if who to visit next in order to avoid going to the emotional battlefield that my house, when my wonderful nephew blurted out. "No way, you are not putting me in the line of fire. If Seth asks me , I am going to tell him everything, right down to what you ate while you were here."
I rolled my eyes, "Chicken shit."
"Yeah, that may be, but at least I will be an alive and whole, not extra crispy and smoky chicken shit, thank you very much." He barked behind me and I just kept walking.
Raphael's house was next on my list of possible hideouts, even if the man and his mate were still in that damn honeymoon phase, and if they got any sweeter to one another, I was going to vomit. But to be honest, I was worried about my friend there for a minute after Tendra's betrayal. Raphael never showed it, it wasn't a vamptire's nature to wear the heart on their sleeve, but we all knew he was suffering the loss of his mate. Who would have thought that one of the visiting seers from Gregori's clan, Grace, a lovely little thing, would turn out to be big vampire's life mate. But what was even more shocking to all of us, was the fact that she had her twin brother accompanying her. And at first everyone thought that Lucas was going to kill the sarcastic little whelp when the first met, but it turned out that Garrett had been being extra naughty and annoying to catch the wolf's attention. Now, he still is a handful, and he sure knew how to keep our gentle giant on his toes. It was also sweet to see how Lucas' son took to Garrett, they were inseparable. It was great, and everyone was happy.
Well almost happy, I mean was anxious for my princess to be born. I wanted this pregnancy to hurry up and be over with, for the main fact that I wanted to hold her already. The boys were getting too big and too mischievous to cuddle and love up on anymore. They needed a firm hand in order not to get out of hand. They had a hard enough time controlling the level of power they could generate amongst the three of them without being total hellions on top of it all. Sebastian was the worst though, especially after feeding from his Uncle Rafe. On those days we have to have William with us because, that quiet little one was the only person that could keep Sebastian in line and calm enough to function sensibly. Dominic and Trenton were a handful as well constantly pranking their brother's trying to see who can get a rise out of who the quickest. They tried to run circles around Seth but they quickly learned that they would get a tiny little shock for their efforts. With me they didn't even try, much to Seth's consternation.
I went to tap on Raphael's front door but with my sensitive hearing, I picked up on the unmistakable sounds of heavy breathing and feminine sighs of pleasure right behind the door. I mean Rafe really, up against the front door. I couldn't blame the happy bastard though. Door sex was the best, and just like that my mood dipped with the reminder of sex. I couldn't tell you when last I had it. With the triplets, Seth couldn't get enough of me, but with this pregnancy, it scared me to do anything more than relieve Seth by hand or with a nice blowjob. We had quickly discovered that penetrative sex caused him to bleed, and although he wouldn't admit it, iintercourse was painful for him. So let me tell you, cold showers and bottles of lube for self pleasuring has become a routine in my life.
Trudging back the way I came, I felt my wolf prickle beneath my skin. And I immediately opened my senses and reached out to my loved ones. An excited gasp left my lips a second before I shifted to my wolf, four legs moved faster than two. I dashed through the trees, heading right back to the main house. Thank the spirits for Ben and the fact that he has become a real professional at handling emergencies, instead of losing his shit when it came to dealing with pregnant mates, seeing that Aaron was now quite round as he entered his seventh month of gestation. Ben had efficiently gotten my disgruntled mate to the pack healers. My anxiety level spiked through the roof when the thought of Seth having a difficult delivery this time around. The possibility if having a hard time was mentioned by the team of doctors months ago when we discovered Seth's problems after sexual intercourse. They were planning to immediately deliver our daughter and promptly remove Seth's uterus as we discussed. It was weakening and with each pregnancy it will eventually put him at risk of bleeding out, even with his ability to heal quickly.
Clearing the tree line, I headed straight for the front door and Lucas threw the door open for me, ever our observant guardian. I bounded up the stairs hearing Seth swearing long before I even made it into the room.
"Shift, you know better." Chantal barked at me from where she was perched at Seth's side as she held his hand and had him breathe through another contraction.
I caught the pair of sweats Aaron threw in my direction and slipped into them before climbing onto the bed with my writhing mate. I immediately called my energy and my entire body was awash with my magic as i gathered Seth into my arms and channeled most of his pain. I sent soothing waves of comfort to our child as my love settled in my arms. Now that he was calm, I felt his magic connect with mine and I couldn't help but kiss the tip of his cute little nose. He went to protest when another contraction gripped the the muscles of his abdomen and I again channeled the pain into myself. I shook my head at him as a fine sheen of sweat flushed across my skin as I absorbed his pain. I held great respect for women who have gone through natural childbirth. The is no pain that can even compare to that of labor pains. I have shouldered Seth's pains with both pregnancies and the spirits knew that if he was a woman and had to go through labor and delivery I wouldn't be able to take it.
So when the healers sent word that they were ready for us in the operating room, I breathed a sigh of relief. Seth brushed his dainty little hand over my cheek and pecked me on my lips to show his gratitude and my heart melted all over for him again. I sent a silent prayer up to the heavens to protect my love, the very reason I breathe safe during the delivery of our child. I already knew our daughter was healthy and whole, I just hoped that it wasn't going to be too much for him. I opened my eyes and my gaze collided with Aaron's petrified gaze and I willed a soothing wave of energy his way.
He followed us as far as the doorway where he couldn't enter unless he was sterile, they pushed Seth bed through those doors and I followed letting the nurses pull me into a prep area to get dressed and washed to go to my love's side in the delivery room. I was too busy willing all my energy into Seth and our daughter to realize it right away until I felt him slip away from me as the anesthesia given to him pulled him into an oblivious slumber. My nerves spiked yet again, this is it. I released even more of my magic and the nurses gasped and stepped away from my glowing body, but their sensibilities were the least of my concerns. I refused to loose the one person I have waited for, and would have waited the rest of my life for. They kept a wide berth from me but they showed me to the operating room, and showed me exactly where to sit as the doctors prepared to cut into Seth's womb to remove our child.
Seth was positioned on his back with and he was facing me, he had a tube in his mouth and it was taped to his face, they had explained that he was on a breathing machine called a ventilator to protect his airway while he was sedated during the surgery. They would remove it when they woke him up after the operation. I closed my eyes and held his cold little fingers in my hand and focused completely on him. The doctors made quick work of slicing him open, the gently removed our baby from his body. I heard her healthy wail of indignation as she loudly protested her change of environment, and i had to smile before returning all my healing magic back to her father. They removed his and cauterized the veins and whatever else they needed to, and rinsed the cavity to make sure there wasn't any bleeding before neatly sewing him back up.
I continued to sit at the head of the operating table as the doctor slowly reduced the medicine that was keeping him sedated and after another minute or two, he removed the tube and Seth was breathing on his own. And I breathed a sigh of relief, now all that was left was for him to open his gorgeous hazel eyes and let me know that he was alright. The nurse came up and placed a swaddling bundle in my arms and I looked down into a set of eyes that were the exact replica of Seth's, and used a finger and gently lifted the little cap to see a shocking head full of midnight black locks. She blinked up at me before releasing a mighty yawn for her little self and promptly closed her eyes and went to sleep.
"Annalisa." I heard the quiet whisper and my eyes shot to Seth's sleepy looking ones, and I felt like the weight of the world was suddenly taken off my shoulders. I hunkered down and leaned to the side so that he could get a good look at our precious little princess, and he gasped and his eyes went wide. I immediately scanned him to make sure he was alright and then Annalisa since he was staring at her in shock. Then I saw what he did, and I just shrugged. Whatever else, our family was never going to be a normal one. Seth looked up at me and I leaned over to kiss those pretty pink lips. Our little Annalisa took not only her eyes from her father but his exact genetic make up as well, she carried all the genes for the three species. I couldn't wait to see which one was her dominant one. Would it be her witch like her father, or her wolf or vampire?
We finally got back to the room where Seth was going to recover after his surgery. Our son's along with the rest of our immediate family were packed into the room. The adults waited until our boys clambered up onto their father's bed to get a good look at their little sister. They all stared at her in awe before one by one they leaned over and gently kissed her chubby little cheek. They all settled down and refused to be coaxed away from Annalisa's side, so the grown ups had to ooh and aah from a distance. It was the cutest thing, until Chantal and Raphael had to bribe them with cookies to get them to leave her side. I also laid it on pretty thick about their daddy needing to rest and they left without much of a fight. My love laid our sleeping daughter into the bassinet at the side of the bed and I managed to feed him some soup before his eyes began to droop with exhaustion. He released a contented sign and soon fell into a deep sleep.
Slowly I made my way around to the others side of the bed and I sat in front of Annalisa's bed and I had a good view to watch both of them sleep. And i sat there late into the night watching them take their every breath and I knew I was extremely blessed. I had a mate, and I had pups. And I had an entire pack of not just wolves, but warlocks, and vampires living all together as one huge family. Yes, I was blessed the very day this sweet young whelp walked into my life, and I was going to spend the rest of my days showing him and our children just how much they mean to me. They were mine to love and to protect . Seth sighed and my eyes flashed to his gorgeous face. His eyes were wide open and they were filled with so much love as he gazed at me, I had to climb into his bed with him and gently take him into my arms. He ran his fingers through my hair and I just whispered, "I love you." and before I drifted off, I heard him whisper the words right back at me and I was happy and content in the arms of my lover and my mate.