A few weeks later, Moose came home to find that Alan had been sent to play with his friends over at Aspen and Amanda’s house. Ali was in the kitchen making dinner, which included a lovely leg of lamb and roasted potatoes, one of Moose’s favorite dishes. He glanced at his watch, anxious that he had missed some milestone. It wasn’t an anniversary, holiday or birthday, as far as he knew, so he found it curious.
“Who are you and what have you done with my take-out ordering wife?” he asked.
“Ah, you know. I like to cook from time to time. I thought you might like something special.”
“Well, you certainly picked the right meal for it. This looks incredible.”
“I am glad you approve. Want to open the wine?”
“Red or white?”
“Whichever you prefer,” she replied, smiling at him thoughtfully.
They sat down to dinner and discussed their days, his full of working on custom paint jobs down at the clubhouse garage and hers with her new job as an art broker for the import business started by Amanda and Elizabeth. He was surprised that she had found the time to also create a delicious chocolate soufflé, which he enjoyed with his wine, finally noting that she hadn’t drank any of hers.
“Not in the mood for wine tonight?” he asked.
“I guess not. Let’s clear away these dishes and we can enjoy a quiet night in, watching a movie. It’s been a long time since we’ve had the peace and quiet just to sit together and take in a flick.”
“Sounds perfect to me, but don’t be trying to get fresh and take advantage of me,” he teased.
“Who? Me?” she replied.
“Yes, naughty girl.”
She smiled at him, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek as they finished up the dishes and relaxed on the sofa nearby. Afterward, they found their way to bed, where they took advantage of being alone in a childless house to get a little more adventurous and loud.
If they had any close neighbors, they would probably have been reported for noise infractions with all the noise they were making in their bedroom. It was nights like this that reminded Moose just why he had fallen so in love with her. She was always up for anything and just as much turned on by him as he was by her, it seemed.
Afterward, they lay in the dark, holding one another close. He was surprised when she suddenly reached up and flipped on the light, sitting bolt upright in bed.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you something!”
“Yeah. Like what?” he said, caught off guard.
“You remember when I scraped myself at the picnic a few weeks ago?”
“Yeah. It’s okay, isn’t it? It was just a little scratch, nothing to get infected or anything if you kept an eye on it.”
“I kept it clean. It’s all better now, but I found out what I scratched myself on this morning.”
“That’s weird. How did you figure it out after all this time?”
“Oh, simple. There’s a test.”
“A test for scrape origins?” he said, completely confused.
“Yeah. Hold on. I’ll show you.”
Moose watched as she reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out some sort of plastic pen or something. She held it out to him and he looked at it, slowly absorbing what he was seeing. There was a small window and inside of it, was a plus sign.
“You’re pregnant?” he gasped.
“Yes! I went to the doctor and confirmed it earlier after the test showed up positive.”
“I don’t understand. How? Did you get Aspen to scratch you again?”
“No, silly. Keep up! That’s what I was telling you. The thing I scratched myself on at the picnic wasn’t a thing at all. It was Carter’s son, Hunter.”
“A Dire Wolf scratched you,” he said, finally grasping what she was telling him.
“Yes. They were playing and when I fell back, he must have caught my arm with his nails.”
“But he wasn’t in wolf form when that happened, was he?”
“Nope. Apparently, it doesn’t matter.”
“That’s going to be one dangerous teenage boy,” Moose laughed.
“Isn’t he though? But are you happy? Are you excited?”
“Oh, absolutely. I am beyond thrilled. Another baby! This is going to be amazing!” he said, pulling her to him and hugging her tightly.
She pulled away to turn off the lamp and curled back up into his arms again. Moose couldn’t help but think of how far they had come since they met. They had endured mistrust, violence, murder, kidnapping, and potential loss. Yet, in his mind, their greatest adventure to date would be parenting a young shifter, a part of a future that looked brighter every single day.
The Silver Wolves MC was once again becoming a force to be reckoned with and with no enemies to bring down their numbers, they would no longer have to worry about going extinct. Each new birth made them stronger and his sons would someday stand among the others born of this generation and lead them to greatness, once again.
He stroked Ali’s hair softly as she lay breathing softly against his shoulder, content. He had never thought he would find this place again, but here he was. Here they were and it was only going to get better. With Ali by his side, he felt there was nothing he couldn’t overcome. She was his perfection.
Time seemed to fly between that night and the night she went into labor with their second child. Moose stood by her side, mopping her head with a cool cloth as she brought a new life into the world, a new life that was a part of each of them. This time, though, it was a little different.
“Congratulations, it’s a girl!” the doctor told them.
Moose grinned broadly as the doctor handed him his baby girl. She was beautiful as he cradled her there in his arms. He suddenly thought about how Aspen must have felt when Elizabeth was very small. He had felt much the same for her, though she had not arrived in their life until she was older. Now, he understood even more why Aspen had done what he did for her, going to jail rather than revealing her to the authorities when she needed a place to hide.
“I will never let you be hurt or taken from me,” he whispered to her.
“Hey, are you two telling secrets over there without me already?” Ali said in a tired voice.
“Are you kidding me? You are both my very best girls and we have no secrets from one another, ever. I love you both so much. Look at her, Ali? Isn’t she beautiful?”
“Yes, she is,” Ali replied as he placed her in her waiting arms.
As the years unfolded after that moment, they found that the peace lasted this time. Even the Dire Wolves that still existed were no longer a threat, most of them being ones that had run away from the pack years ago after getting tired of the constant attacks they were forced to participate in. If, one day, they found that this changed, they were well prepared for it.
All the children were well trained in the ways of the pack. Just because there was peace, didn’t mean this would always be the way and no one was willing to risk having their children unprepared against an old enemy. Nothing broke Moose’s heart like the thought of his children having to fight like he had been forced to do all his life, but he felt at ease knowing that, if they did, they would be prepared.
A year later, they found themselves once again looking over the filled yard of the clubhouse. Children played happily all around and Moose felt this was the way life should have always been. He reflected on what things might have been like if he had been afforded this quiet childhood, if all of them had. What a shame that the Dire Wolves hadn’t loved their children enough to want to protect them instead of exploit them, always sending them out into the world to take from others until there was nothing left to take, nothing left to gift.
Life was unfair, in so many ways. Once they had returned home for the day, he picked up the phone and made a call. He was pleased when he heard the voice on the other end of the line and they agreed to a drink with him.
“Ali, I’m going down to the clubhouse for a bit. I won’t be too long.”
“Okay. Do you want us to come with you?”
“No, not this time. No sense getting the baby out. I love you,” he said.
Walking out the door, he felt a renewed sense of purpose. He walked into the clubhouse and made his way over behind the bar, making himself a drink and settling down to sip on it while he waited. He smiled broadly when the front door opened and his guest walked toward him, limping heavily.
“Carl! It’s about time we got together. We always say we will, but we never do.”
“I know, buddy. Been this way for years. Why the change?”
“Well, I was thinking. Life is too short not to spend time with the people that mean something to you and I guess I just wanted you to know you’re one of my dearest friends.”
“Are you dying, Moose?”
“No.”
Moose laughed. He knew this was all foreign to Carl. He wasn’t even sure exactly why he was doing it himself, but he knew he had felt he was short changing Carl for a very long time. He could have helped him so much over the years, instead of letting him languish in an underpaid, underappreciated job that he hated.
“Am I dying?”
“You might be. I don’t know, but I sure hope not, because I want to offer you a job.”
“A job? I have a job.”
“I want to offer you a better job. Here, at the garage. You used to do some mean sketches and I could use your talent. I lost my best artist.”
“Are you sure? I mean, surely there is someone better.”
“I don’t think so. Remember when we used to hang out down at the falls?”
Carl’s face fell for a moment, making it clear that he only remembered one thing clearly about those falls.
“I mean before the bad day, Carl. We weren’t like some of those kids down there. We didn’t go to fight or drink or do drugs. We went down there and enjoyed the sunshine and the water. We took notebooks and you sketched everything, even the damned bugs crawling around on the ground.”
“I still have some of those. I have one of you, even.”
“Really? I’d love to see it. You can bring it in on your first day of work. Tell me you’ll come and help me. I need you, man.”
“Okay. When do you want me to start?”
“As soon as you can.”
“I’ll see you on Monday then,” Carl told him. “Now, didn’t you promise me a drink, or did you just bring me down here to yap like a girl?”
“I did promise you a drink. What’s your poison?”
“Jim Beam on the rocks will do me, but only one. I’ve got to drive and it’s hard enough with a clutch and only one leg.”
Moose looked at him, not sure if he was supposed to laugh at that or not. Then, he saw that Carl was wearing a big smile on his face and joined in.
The following Monday, Moose walked in to find a large canvas propped up on one of the counter tops in the shop. It was him, but not at all what he had expected. Instead, of his human form, he found himself looking at a large thickly furred brown wolf that would look a bit like a moose if it only had a pair of horns. He smiled as he admired the skill that had gone into sketching and then painting every detail of his wolf form, a form Carl had only ever seen once in his lifetime and while he was being dragged by it from a potential watery grave.
“What do you think?” Carl asked, stepping in behind him.
“This is your portrait of me?”
“It’s the way I remember you most when I think about you.”
“Why? You’ve only ever seen it one time.”
“Yes, but it was the one time in my life that I ever needed to see such a thing. I didn’t see you shift. I only saw that beast coming down the rocks after me. He grabbed my shoe and pulled me free of where it was caught, then he began pushing me. I thought he was trying to push me further over their falls in an attempt to kill me, to eat me. Instead, he got under me and hauled me up the rocks.”
“I’m sorry, Carl.”
“For what? For saving my life?”
“No, for saving your life and then not being able to bear to look at you for more than a quick visit here and there.”
“I get it. I was broken. I didn’t want to see me most days either. So, tell me then, Moose. Why did you decide you wanted to see more of me now?”
“Because, for years, I thought that once a thing was broken, all hope was lost. Then I met Ali and things got even more broken. It seemed like nothing would ever get better again, but I was wrong. It got worse and it got worse, and then, out of the blue – it got better.”
“So, now you think you can fix your old broken friend?”
“Oh, no. I can’t fix anything that’s broken, but I can love it with all my heart and if I’m lucky, it will get better. My life is fantastic now, Carl and I realized that if I had just given up when it was broken, I would have missed out on some of the greatest moments of my life.”
“So, we’re going to be girlfriends and have beautiful moments together from now on?” Carl replied.
Moose looked up at him and grinned broadly. He knew Carl was just giving him crap for being so touchy feely. It wasn’t in their nature. He slumped his shoulders and tilted his head to one side as he spoke to him again.
“Well, yeah. I love you, man.”
“I love you too, you big ole mutt.”
It was one of the best days at work Moose had experienced in a long time. He went home after work and held his baby, hugged his wife and son, and realized, in a way that many people never do, just how incredibly lucky he was to have so much for which he could be thankful.