In the hospital, Lucas opened his eyes and found Austin watching him from a chair right next to his bed. “You know,” he whispered, his voice very dry and weak, “you could have saved us all a lot of trouble if you had said it back the first time.”

Austin stared at him and whispered back, “Trust me. There won’t ever be any hesitation on my part ever again. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Lucas closed his eyes again. He was very, very tired. He was also distantly aware of a lot of pain and he didn’t want to deal with feeling that just yet. Before he drifted off back to sleep, he said, “By the way, I’m pregnant.”

If Austin responded, Lucas didn’t hear it.

They were both in the hospital, in a tiny little town on the edge of the Florida Everglades, and their stay lasted a couple days in total.

Austin needed only an IV for fluids and a few meals, and a strong dose of antibiotics, to get back on his feet. He was, after all, a wolf with a hardy constitution found nowhere else in the animal kingdom. He would fight as hard as he could to the very end, because that was what wolves did.

For Lucas himself, things were a little more complicated. He was also a fast healer, but the bite of a 20-foot crocodile was nothing to scoff at. He had to have surgery to repair some of the tears in his muscles, and then he had uncountable stitches to close the rest of the wounds. He pretty much lived on pain medication at this point.

And the baby was fine. That was one of the first questions he had asked the doctor, who gladly confirmed it for him.

One bite in the wrong place and he would have lost it. This child was incredibly lucky. And, incredibly loved.

Anytime he was awake, and almost certainly while he was sleeping, Austin had his hand on his stomach.

“I can’t believe it,” he kept saying. His eyes were wide and round with wonder. “A pup. Our pup. My pup.”

Their pup, who would never have to know the pain of being an outcast with only a single parent.

Of course, there was one more person who should have been in the hospital with them. George Glenn had been blinded, and he also seemed to have lung cancer. This facility was not equipped for such things and so he was healing in a prison hospital in Miami, having been flown there by way of an emergency helicopter. The press had not been allowed to see him, but the rumor was that his illness was taking him rapidly downhill. He probably would not live to see his own trial.

His many lives, spent causing havoc and terror, were drawing to a close. Everyone was glad about that.

During their last few hours in the hospital, as they were waiting for Franklin to come and take them home, Lucas placed his hand over Austin’s, which was resting on his stomach, as usual. “Do you want a boy or a girl?” he asked.

“I want a boy,” Austin said. He flashed a grin. He looked wasted and terrible, the effects of his time in the pit still showing despite all the progress he had made in recovering in the hospital. “I’ve never had much luck with women.”

Lucas laughed. “Me neither. But a girl could be fun, too. I’ve always kind of been curious about how girl clothes work. Maybe if we raise one, the mystery will finally be solved.”

Austin gazed at him with his dark, warm eyes. “And you’re sure you want to do this? It’s not going to be easy.”

“I’m the one who has to give birth to it. Trust me, I know it won’t be easy.” The thought of giving birth, of all that pain, filled him with anxiety, but not doubt. His natural urge to be negative wasn’t gone, he knew that. It would be something he struggled with for his entire life. But, with Austin by his side, with his pack behind him, he was certain he could overcome it and all the challenges which might come his way. “But, I know I want to do this. I want to be with you. I want to have a family with you.”

“It’s about time you said that,” Austin said. He bent his head down and kissed Lucas.

Lucas closed his eyes, settling his lips more firmly against Austin’s. Austin tasted like the hospital, but he didn’t mind very much. The two of them would be home soon enough and then they could start the process of getting back to normal. It would be a long journey, what with his leg and Austin’s bad memories.

If anyone could do it, they could.

The kiss parted, though Lucas felt the lingering sweetness on his lips. His groin tingled, a strange and exciting sensation in light of everything that had happened.

“When we get home, both of us should probably take some time off work to recover,” Austin said.

Lucas reached out and took Austin’s hand from where it was resting on his stomach, and brought it down to his groin so Austin could feel his arousal. “I know something we could do.”

Austin laughed. When he laughed, some of the lines smoothed out of his face and he seemed younger, the way he had before all this. “I think your heart monitor would go crazy. The nurses could come running.”

Lucas scowled. “I meant when we’re home.”

Austin wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close, then pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “I know.”

The kiss filled him with warmth. He closed his eyes and sank into the feeling of being here, alone, with his child in his stomach and the man he loved wrapped around him.

They were still sitting like that when Franklin came into the hospital room, after knocking to let them know he was there. He looked back and forth between both of them for a moment. Lucas felt tension deep inside his chest, like a cage forming around his heart. He’d been expecting that his father would rush to him, concerned for him.

Franklin focused on Austin, and Lucas felt the tension become even more pronounced. “I thought I told you not to hurt my son,” he said. His voice was a low, deep growl.

Austin looked right back at Franklin, unmoving. It was hard to tell what he was thinking so, just in case things were on the verge of getting iffy, Lucas wrapped his hands around Austin’s upper arm. Please behave, he thought, aiming it towards Austin.

He felt a touch in his mind, fur against fur, and knew he had been heard.

Austin said, “That was never my intention. You wouldn’t believe how much time I’ve had to spend on what I did wrong. I’ll spend my entire life making up for it. It won’t happen again.”

Franklin sighed. “Yes, it will. That’s just how these things go. But if I can’t keep you two apart, I guess I’ll just have to do my best to keep you together.”

Lucas lifted up his arms, reaching out for his father. “I told you I was going to find him, Dad.”

Franklin came over to him and wrapped his arms around Lucas, burying one hand in his hair. “Yes,” he murmured. “Yes, you did.”

Lucas rested his head on his father’s broad shoulder and squeezed him as tightly as he could, trying to provide comfort for the one who had always been there for him, through thick and thin, better and worse.

“Let’s go home.”