Chapter 0578

The next morning is chaotic. Lily and I took charge of the situation once Alpha Eric found his mate. While

I understood that he just wanted to take her somewhere private and mark and mate her, he was recovering from wollsbane, and

she was needed to provide medical attention as people woke.

We began pulling all of Benjamin’s dead pack members outside, away from the packhouse. More carefully, we began collecting

and laying Alpha Leander’s dead inside the packhouse. We covered them with blankets that the omegas brought to us. As

people woke, they began looking for their loved ones. Many fell the severed bond when they woke.

While we couldn’t save everyone, Lily and I protecting Liam inadvertently helped to save many of the other pack members. If we

hadn’t woken when we did, who knows how many pack members would have died.

The ranked members wake up first. Anders and Leander must have realized what happened when they

woke up in our bedroom, barricaded in. After checking their mates and baby Liam, they moved the

barricades and came rushing down the stairs.

Leander took charge of the situation, sending pack members as they woke to see the medical personnel. Lily reported what she

had gathered about the dead and those impacted by the wolfsbane. When Alpha Christopher woke, his concern for his human

mate and her fetus had him heading home to be treated by

his medical team.

By mid-morning. Lily and I were exhausted, having battled through most of the night and into the

morning. Once everyone was awake, we went to our room, showered and collapsed on our beds

exhausted.

We didn’t wake until late afternoon. When we re-emerged, all the visiting Alphas, except Alpha Eric had

returned to their packs. While it seemed that Alpha Benjamin had acted alone, they wanted to make sure

their own packs were safe.

Anders and Leander sent word to the elder council about what had happened. Alpha Benjamin’s pack would be dismantled, and

the pack members would face trial for their attempt to kill multiple Alphas and

their collusion in the attack on Shadow Falls.

The event, while devastating to many, did strengthen the bond between Estella, Calista and Lily. The celebration of Liam’s birth

was cancelled in light of all the deaths that had occurred in the pack, but

before we left, Estella, Calista and Lily made plans to get together again.

Over the next couple of months, we hear that Alpha Benjamin’s pack was disbanded. Several groups of his now-rogue members

attack our pack, attempting a retaliation. Lily and I are always involved in defending our pack. She and I have become a powerful

fighting machine. We work in tandem, not needing communication. We just know and understand what the other person is going

to do. None of the attacks on our pack present much of an issue when the two of us get involved.

Eventually, we hear that many of the displaced pack members join Alpha Jerome’s pack. He welcomes them with open arms. It

makes us wary of his intentions, but other than the occasional unexplained death in his pack, their activities do not impact us or

Shadow Falls.

Lily, Calista and Estella have developed quite a friendship and get together at least once a month for lunch or shopping.

Alpha Christopher’s mate had a little girl but died in childbirth. We were never sure if it was because she was a human, or if the

drugs that Alpha Benjamin and his people gave her weakened her beyond her human body’s ability to recover. Either way, Alpha

Christopher grieved, refusing to take another Luna and raising his daughter alone.

Alpha Eric mates with our previous doctor, Zoey, taking her as his Luna. Four months after officially making her his Luna, they

welcomed their first child, a boy. We were invited to the Harvest Moon Pack’s celebration of their Alpha heir. It was nice to see

Zoey again and see how she’s come into her own. I don’t know if they struggled with her being Luna and maintaining her medical

practice, but they’ve made it work.

We stay the night at Harvest Moon after the celebration. That night, I curl up with my mate. “Are you still okay with waiting to

have a child?” I ask her. We're at an age where many friends and other packs are finding their mates and beginning their

families.

She turns in my arms, facing me. “Are you?”

I smile at her, kissing her nose. “I asked you first. What do you want my sweet Lily bud?”

She looks thoughtful for a moment before focusing on me. “I've watched what has happened with Luna Estella. I know she loves

her mate, and wants time with him, but being a parent and running a pack pulls her in many different directions.” She licks her

lips, looking at mine. I can feel my body responding to the non-verbal cues she’s giving me.

“I'm not ready to give that up yet. I like that we’re both adventurous in the bedroom, or, wherever the urge takes us.” I smile,

knowing she’s thinking of me taking her against the side of Harvest Moon’s packhouse during the celebratory party earlier

tonight.

“I want more time for us to play, explore, be together without a child pulling our attention from each other. I want to try new

positions that we haven't thought of yet, have the opportunity to wake you in the middle of the night with my mouth because I

want you right then, wake up early in the morning to your hands exploring me and making my body sing before we have to go

train. I love that after you’ve made me forget my name, we can lounge in bed, while you learn a new song on your guitar to sing

to me. We can eat naked, feeding each other if we want, have sex in the shower as many times as we want. I’m not ready for

that to change. Does that make me selfish?”

I reach down, nipping at her bottom lip. “If it makes you selfish, then I guess we're both selfish. Nearly a year after taking you as

my mate, I still can’t get enough of you. I want you every minute of every day. So, if you want to wait, so I can take you every

conceivable moment that we have, then who am I to argue?”

She giggles in my arms, and I

proceed to show her exactly why it’s

still a good idea for us to wait. I show

her over and over, all night long, just

because I can.

Cooper

Author

Alpha Benjamin’s pack joining Alpha

Jerome’s doesn't bode well for the

future. But I love these private

moments between Clint and Lily. I

hope you do too.

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