The following month, Ali gave birth to a son named David Alan Kelley, Jr. There was no drama involved, no complications, no attacks. She simply went into labor and was taken to the doctor’s office for delivery. Their lives seemed to have finally reached a level of tranquility that they could only have imagined several months before.
With the end to the Dire Wolves, many of the couples had finally been able to leave the clubhouse and find homes outside the pack. Of course, they were all still close and came together often at the clubhouse for meetings and gatherings where they could all share food, drink, and fun with one another.
Ali and Moose had stayed in the adjoining rooms for several months after the baby was born while they built a new home on property left vacant by Dire Wolves that had disappeared. Despite a few visits from the authorities, no one had ever been able to conjure up enough evidence to tie a single person at the Silver Wolves MC to anything that happened with the Dire Wolves MC or the incident at a certain hotel garage.
Now, here they all were, together, for a pack-style picnic. Aspen manned the grill while his uncle propped up in an oversized lawn chair nearby, enjoying a cigar and brandy. He smiled kindly down at the group of children playing nearby.
There were four of them, all about the same age. They were taking turns shifting into wolf puppies and howling as loudly as they could. Then, they would shift back and giggle at the other five year olds in their circle. Aspen, Grant, Moose, and Carter stood in a similar circle nearby, smiling proudly down on their sons. Though it was fairly common knowledge in the pack that Carter was not the natural father of the boy he called his own, it was not something anyone every gave a second thought to.
One thing that seemed to be true was that the Dire Wolf claws they kept in the office safe worked. All around them, outside the small circle created by the boys they liked to refer to playfully as the Four Dog Knights, were children not much younger, playing and laughing or shifting back and forth just for fun.
After the initial experiment with the claw, there had been a huge baby boom. It had worked a bit too well and they have been forced to space out future use among their members. The other thing that happened was that they discovered that while a scratch would allow them to have a baby, it would only allow one. If they wanted more, they had to be scratched again. Several had done so before they put a hold on future births to contain their own population spurt.
“It’s incredible to see so many children, isn’t it?” Moose asked as he moved over to stand beside Ali.
“Yes, it’s amazing. Did you ever think you’d get to see this?”
“No. We were all prepared to die out until three very special women happened along in our lives and showed us we could rebuilt.”
“I’m just glad we found the answer. Although, it is a good thing that you primarily mate with humans, as there are more little rambunctious boys here than you can shake a stick at.”
As if to punctuate the thought, she was suddenly knocked over by a group of boys playing behind her. There was a chorus of “Sorry, Ali” and giggling as they all ran away to play elsewhere. One stayed behind to get a better look at the fallen mother.
“Are you okay, Mom?” Alan asked her.
“I’m fine, baby. You just go play and have fun,” she told him.
Moose felt a warmth flood his heart at seeing his small son demonstrate such caring and concern for his mother. It was a good sign that he was going to grow up and be a good man. It was all Moose could ever ask for. He marveled that each time he thought his life couldn’t get any better, it somehow did.
After the day out, they returned home to their peaceful little family home. Ali sat down with Alan, teaching him to read some basic words from a Dr. Seuss book called “Go Dog Go.” It was one of his favorites.
Moose stood nearby watching as he read aloud and smiled to himself. It was then that he noticed the faint red spot on Ali’s sleeve. Why did she have blood on her arm?
“Did you hurt yourself, Ali?” he asked, pointing to the spot.
She paused in her reading and moved her arm forward, looking at the small spot of blood soaking into her shirt. Pulling the material up, there was now a small scratch visible. She shrugged and made light of it.
“I must have scraped it against something while we were at the picnic. Doesn’t look very bad. It’s no big deal.”
“Well, just don’t forget it. You don’t know what you scraped it against, so keep it clean and make sure it doesn’t get infected.”
“Yes, Dr. Kelley,” she teased.
“I’m serious. You worry about everyone else, but never yourself. You’ve got to take care of yourself too.”
“I do.”