Tyler

The summer air was shining bright in the sky as we all walked through the woods together on our way to Blue Hole. It was a swimming spot not too far away from camp, and the day was hot enough that we were all itching to get out.

“It’s like a goddamn parade here,” Charles joked as he snapped a branch off a tree that was blocking our path. “We’re gonna have to stop letting people in if you omegas keep churning out the babies!”

“When are you gonna bless the world with some pups, Charlie-cakes?” Patrick chimed in, a sly look on his face.

“Let me know when your next heat comes, sweet cheeks,” Charles joked back. “And prepare your anus!”

We all laughed and I hoisted Rose, my sweet baby girl, higher in my arms, rubbing my nose against her soft cheek. She was getting big, looking more and more like Nate every day. She had his eyes, but she had my cheekbones. She was going to be a looker, that was for sure. I was already anticipating having to fend off the boys, or girls, who would be throwing themselves at her feet when she was older.

“How’s Mira doing?” I asked, half to Nate and half to our baby boy, who was walking between us. Nate was holding his hand and smiled down at him as he looked up at me.

“Good!” he replied, his voice still chirping with that baby gurgle that warmed my heart.

“You ready to go swimming?” I asked him. His eyes lit up and he started to jiggle around, nodding his head.

“Ya! Ya!”

“You’ve got his floaters, right?” I asked Nate.

“Of course, babe,” he replied, scolding me gently with his eyes. “You think I’d come out here and let our little boy drown?”

I smiled back and kissed my mate on the head and looked behind me. At the back of the line, Will and Buck were taking up the rear. They were walking slowly, and I knew why.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” I told Nate, squeezing his hand as I headed back to my buddies. We’d grown up in Portsmouth in the same area and had spent a lot of time together last summer – before the drama.

Buck had been “with” Chase before Matias. As far as Buck was concerned, Chase was his and that was that. But when Matias discovered the two were fated mates, well – everything changed.

What came next could only be described as a clusterfuck. Buck tried to act tough, and Matias fought back hard. Thankfully, things didn’t escalate too far, but Buck had a difficult time accepting the loss of Chase, and almost jumped off the cliff of a quarry. I guess he’d seen his life crashing down around him and didn’t know how to deal. Thankfully, he didn’t go through with it.

After that, we’d all managed to convince him to get help. He started seeing a counselor and had gotten a lot better. He still hadn’t found himself a mate, or even a new boyfriend. Like Nate, he’d put walls up to protect himself, but I had hope for him. If Nate could come back from what happened to him, Buck could too.

“How you doing, buddy?” I asked him, giving him a hearty slap on the back. He was a tall guy, wearing his usual three-day scruff and a baggy pair of jeans, boat shoes and a polo shirt.

“Oh, you know,” he replied with a half-hearted grin.

“He being a party pooper again, Will?” I asked him, raising an eyebrow. Will had lost some weight, but he was still a bit of a roly-poly bastard, and I hadn’t been able to shake his fascination with gold jewelry. Will licked his lips and chuckled.

“I was thinking of tossing his ass off the falls when we got there,” he told me.

“You better not,” Buck said.

“Yeah? What are you gonna do about it?” Will laughed, throwing him an elbow in the side.

The path fanned out into a slight clearing at the top of the falls, fed by stream that was still running strong with spring runoff. The winter had been a rough one, and all the melting snow had the rivers and streams overflowing, which was another reason we’d come out here today.

“Listen to that,” I said, snuggling my face up against Mira’s as we knelt down at the edge of the water. “You know what that is? It’s a waterfall!”

“What’s a waterfall?” he asked me. I smiled up at Nate.

“Well, I’ll show you!” I told him, snatching him up in my arms and setting him on my shoulders. “Can you see that?”

I pointed across the stream where the water was white and cascading over the stone to the swimming hole below.

“That water goes allllllll the way down there to the bottom,” I told him.

“That’s where we’re going swimming!” Nate added.

“See? It falls down. That’s why they call it a waterfall!”

“Daddy?” Mira said, wrapping his arms around my neck. “It – it scares me.”

“Awwww,” Nate cooed, patting his son on the back.

“Don’t worry, hon,” I told him. “It’s just loud. It can’t hurt you.”

I set Mira down on the ground, patting him on his head. He was still timid and grabbed a fistful of my pant leg to keep himself secure as I took Rose from Nate.

“You want to jump?” I asked my mate. “I can take the kids down the slope after and meet you down there.”

“You’re too sweet,” Nate smiled. He’d been spending a lot of time with the kids and I knew he needed to blow off some steam. And what better way to release some tension, aside from the obvious, than to leap off the edge of a cliff and go plummeting down to the water below?

Stripping out of his clothes, Nate grinned at me as he stepped carefully across the smooth stone at the top of the falls.

“Woo-wee! Look at that ass!” Charles roared with laughter. Nate glanced over his shoulder and spanked himself, sticking his tongue out at the alpha.

“Come on, Nate!” Matias cheered. “Let’s see a swan dive!”

“Oh, right!” Nate laughed, readying himself for a jump.

As I watched my mate standing there in front of me, while I held our beautiful children, I couldn’t help but think just how lucky I was.

I’d found the man of my dreams, and even though it had been hard, I’d stuck around and given him the time he needed. I’d worked for him, and there was no shame in that. Not everyone can be lucky enough to be instantly in love and together with their mate. Some people have scars, scars that take a long time to heal, or walls that they’ve built over many years. And those walls aren’t easy to take down.

But Nate had let them down for me, and with Mira, Rose and me by his side, I knew our future was nothing but bright.

“Here I go!” he yelled, racing to the edge and leaping into the air. The world slowed down as he soared, the sun shining bright, my two children in my arms. I marveled at the beauty of the moment, my heart filled with the love for my mate and the pride of my children.

This is the life, I thought as Nate hurtled over the edge of the falls. This is perfect.