Epilogue
Jethro
My job on the base came with flexible hours, so I came home every lunchtime to spend time with Miles and Dawn. This day, I was a little early, because I had some news to share.
The watch on my wrist told me it was too soon to go searching for Miles in our rooms and I detoured to the preschool instead. Sticking my head in the door, I found Miles overseeing a group of toddlers finger-painting. He carried Dawn in a sling around his chest and I could tell from her heartbeat that she was fast asleep, blissfully unaware of the chaos of half a dozen toddlers with their hands dipped in paint.
“Okay, time to finish up,” Miles called. A little boy trundled over to him, holding out a piece of paper heavy with paint.
Miles crouched next to him. “What a beautiful picture, Toby. When it dries, I’m going to hang it up on the schoolroom wall.”
Toby beamed at him and ran back to his seat. Miles glanced up, catching me watching.
“Do you have a minute?”
He nodded, turning to Vic, the other preschool teacher. “Can you manage the clean-up? I’ll be back to help.”
Vic waved him away with a smile.
Miles followed me out into the corridor, cradling Dawn to his chest. I greeted him with a kiss before pressing one to her forehead. She stirred before settling against him.
“Is everything okay?” Miles asked.
“You know how Nate came online yesterday?”
“Of course.”
“His Omega got across the border. The AO Office called him to come claim them. They’ll be here in a few hours.”
“That’s fantastic.” Miles hugged me and I held on tight. Each bond made since we’d started the clan had been a fight. And there’d be tougher fights to come, I was sure of it.
“Can you take Dawn while I go help Vic finish up and get the little ones into the lunch room?” Miles asked.
“Sure,” I said, easing Dawn out of the sling and into my arms. “I’ll go get a start on our lunch.”
The transfer had woken her but she smiled at me as I braced her against my shoulder.
At almost five months, she was flying along, despite her difficult start. There were still worries, the same ones every parent had with an early baby, and we watched out for each milestone with anxious anticipation. Her smiling had been the biggest thing to reassure Miles. Now we were waiting for her to learn to sit up.
We could see her taking an interest in the world around her and I was sure it wouldn’t be long before that extended to sitting up to see and reach for things. The time passed almost too fast. I longed for more time to enjoy each stage even as I eagerly awaited her next achievement.
As we walked along, she started to grouse, so I bounced her gently and started to tell her a story.
“Once upon a time...”
A year after Miles and I bonded, after we formed our clan that continued to grow, we held a party. Good friends, good food, good music. We had beautiful weather and threw up a few marquees outside. I wasn’t sure how many would come, anticipating mostly those living in the clan estate. But on the day almost every Alpha and Omega in Rathlin State arrived at our doorstep.
Later on, after most guests had gone home, and the kids had gone to bed, a smaller group of us gathered inside the clan house.
I was surprised to see a late arrival.
“Cam, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Cameron had more recently taken a position as the clan’s lawyer when we needed someone to fight our corner. But he also had a day job that seemed to take up all of his time these days.
“Well, I could hardly miss the celebration of something I helped create, could I?”
A year before, Cam had brought the supplies to help mine and Miles’ flight into the wilderness. And many years before that, he’d been the one to show me a secret cave hidden on a mountain top. Without him, and Roman, and Blaise, none of this would have been possible.
“We’re so glad you could make it,” Miles said, following him in the door. Dawn was in his arms, hiccuping and tearful. “Someone woke up and they’re not happy about it,” he said as a quiet aside to me. I stroked Dawn’s cheek and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“We can’t have that, can we?” I said, taking her from Miles’ arms and resting her against my chest so the sound of my heartbeat would fill her ears. I knew the soothing thump would settle her faster than any whispered words.
Miles was chatting to Cam, Blaise joining them, as I circled the room. A year ago these people had been close friends but now they were more. They were family. A year ago I had nothing but the faint hope of a bond mate. And now I had Miles, and we had Dawn. We still had a fight on our hands, what with the South having more of our future Omegas, but it was a battle we were prepared to win, one heart and mind at a time.
“Cam! Your arm,” Miles exclaimed.
I walked over to stand by Miles’ side as the attention of the room was drawn toward them.
Cam was frowning down at his arm and pushing up his sleeve. There was no mistaking what we saw there, his bond mark glowing brightly.
Miles glanced from him to me, an excited smile on his face as Cam looked down at his arm in wonder.
I looked around the room, meeting people’s gazes head on. Another fight for love, for a bond. Were we ready?
Miles slipped his hand into mine, pressing against my side as Dawn slept soundly on my shoulder, and I knew the answer. We were.
The End