Crossing Paths With The White Wolf

Kassie POV

**4 Months**

It's been three months since the fight in Sicily. We've taken down the last three labs and are hurrying to get these people back home for therapy and help. At least two of them were recent kidnappings and Lalo and I decided to stay behind to take them home while Helios hurried home to Nat. She's due in about two weeks and he can't bear to be away from her for too long. We had dropped one off already, but the last one was a little too south from where we started in Austria, in a small village in Northern Italy. Paolo was a quiet chap at least. He just wanted to get home.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

"How far are we again?" I asked Gonzalo as he maneuvered down yet another dirt road. I wasn't usually motion sick, but this place had more holes than a fish net. Still, I couldn't help but put my hand out as I felt the warmth of the sun soak into my skin. We had found out that we could in fact be out in the daytime now, but whether it was because I had lived almost 500 years without it or because I'm still part vampire, I have to wear a fair bit of sunscreen when I am out in the Arizona sun, so I still led trainings in the evenings for the sake of keeping Gonzalo from worrying about it.

"About 20 minutes." Gonzalo said as he squeezed my hand.

"I'm really sorry. This was too far. I could have found my own way home." Paolo said from the back seat. "We are happy to do it. We barely get a chance to have a nice long drive. Right, muñeca?" Gonzalo assured. "Yes, it's a beautiful area! I don't mean to complain, it's just the holes are hard on the back." I lied.

After a few more minutes of chatting, we continued the drive in comfortable silence. We finally saw a small cluster of houses in the distance. "Is that it?" I asked. Paolo nodded excitedly, his knuckles white as he gripped the seatbelt. The closer we came, the more people came out of their houses to see who was approaching. Finally, one of them seemed to recognize Paolo in the back seat and started screaming about it. Paolo undid the seatbelt and flew out of the moving car, making Gonzalo break to avoid running him over. "Mamma!" Paolo yelled as he engulfed an older woman in a tight hug and they fell on the floor crying. My eyes watered as I watched as they cried together. Gonzalo pulled me close and wrapped his arm around my waist. Everyone surrounded the small family and shouted happily. People began bringing out food and drinks and before we knew it, there was a party in the middle of the village.

'Let's try to get out of here,' I mind linked Gonzalo, who nodded, but as we were heading back into the car, Paolo got through the crowd and brought his mom to us.

"Mi hanno salvato, mamma (They saved me mom)" he said, and soon she was herding us towards the party.

Halfway through the celebration, an older blind woman came up to Gonzalo and grabbed him by the arm. "Tezcatlipoca is still looking for him. Tell him he needs to find his other siblings. He will need them in order to face what's to come. He will need all of you. In 50 years' time he will come. You need to be ready. You cannot allow him to win," she said to him urgently. Gonzalo looked at me alarmed before someone came and walked the woman away, apologizing for her behaviour.

We weren't really able to enjoy much of the party after that, but they didn't let us leave until well past nightfall. It was a long road back and we had to stop once for me to overturn my stomach. I was still not fully used to all the food and they had fed me too much. By the time we got home two days later, we were jet-lagged, exhausted, and just ready to sleep. The old woman's words were still in the back of our heads.

Sleep would wait, of course, the entire packhouse was a mess of chaos when we arrived home and we were informed that Nat had gone into labor. The baby was early, but not too early for anyone to be concerned. They had kept the s*x of the baby a secret so we walked in to two packs making bets on the gender of the heir of Guardian Moon, while Celeste and Mama Isabel were baking up a storm in the kitchen. We showered quickly and walked up to the Alpha floor. Natalia was a healer, so no one had dared to question when she had chosen to have a home birth, assured that if anything happened, she could take care of whatever happened. Still, Dr. Castle was in there for Helios' sanity.

We were greeted by everyone sitting around the main living room of the floor. The kids were running around like maniacs feeding off everyone's anxiety. Theo and Sebastian had finally taken in a pair of siblings that had lost their parents in a car crash last year in Blue Moon. They were allowing the pair to decide if they wanted to stay, saying it's as much the pair's decision as it had been theirs. Looking at the older one playing with Cory and James, and the little girl sleeping next to Bellarose, I doubted the children would be going anywhere. I saw Adrien playing with little Lucien and the dreamy way Elias was looking at the pair, I doubted they wouldn't be next in line to adopt now that things were settling down.

'Thinking of getting a few?' I mind linked him. He looked startled at the question at first, but then he smiled as he looked down to see Lucien trying to eat Adrien's hair.

'We were thinking of putting our names down in a couple of places. Just so we can get the ball rolling! He responded, 'I'm nervous. I've never had anyone depend on me. What if I'm not a good dad?'

'You have people to help you. You'll both be amazing dads. The biggest thing a kid needs is love and you've both got more than enough for a soccer team.The rest, you will figure out as you go. I assured him. 'Thanks Kassie.' He smiled and continued to watch his mate and little Lucien play.

Three hours later, I was sitting at the edge of the living room on the floor with Lalo, soaking up all the love and happiness in the room, when I heard Natalia screaming and Helios roaring, making a few of the children startle awake. Valerie came out and let us know that she was now in active labor and pushing, so to not get alarmed at the sounds and that Helios was just reacting protectively to her pain. In other words, the man was a nervous wreck. Soon, Mama Isabel and Celeste ran into the room with a couple of containers of food and waited with us. We waited for another 45 minutes before we heard the cry of a new born coming through the door.

"The little heir sure has a good set of lungs," Gabriel laughed as he held Camila closer.

Another 15 minutes later, the door opened. Everyone stood up as Helios emerged with a tiny bundle in his hands, a giant smile on his face and red-rimmed eyes. "Can I present to you the heir of Guardian Moon, Xochil Anya Del Sol," he said, grinning from ear to ear as everyone began cheering for the little girl. Once word got around, the entire packhouse was howling and roaring as they welcomed to the world their new little heir.

After a while, people began to disperse to let the new parents rest. Celeste and Markus saw Nat quickly before leaving. Theo and Sebastian visited them for a few moments before also heading down to put the kids to bed. Finally, Gonzalo and I entered the room to see a tired but happy Natalia on the bed while nursing little Xochil under a blanket.

"Sorry, she was born hungry I guess," she smiled at us.

"So she definitely takes after Helios then," Gonzalo teased, but nothing could possibly erase the grin from Helios' face right now.

"I'm so happy for you both. I look forward to babysitting," I said. We chatted for a little while as I reassured Natalia that I was fine with taking over the Luna duties for a while as she got the hang of having a new baby at home. About 20 minutes later, we decided to let them rest and enjoy their new born. And by "we decided" I mean I mind linked Gonzalo, and forced him to give little Xochil back. Natalia stood up and put the baby down in the bassinet and walked over to hug us. I was surprised when she held onto me a little longer than normal and she was smiling when she pulled back. "What?" I asked.

"Oh nothing. I know when I have to come back from my maternity leave now." She said mischievously.

"Huh?" I asked. Helios and Gonzalo also looked confused until I saw Helios' eyes widen with knowledge and he fist pumped in the air before essentially screaming "HA!" at no one in particular.

"Care to enlighten me?" I asked, annoyed.

Gonzalo was looking from Nat to Helios and back to Nat before his eyes widened and he looked at me. He dropped to his knees and put his head on my stomach. I was confused until I heard him whisper, "I can hear it."

"Wha-"I said before Mayahuel started jumping up and down in my head. 'Pup!' she yipped. My eyes watered as I put my hand on my flat belly. "Please tell me you're not kidding," I begged Natalia, who smiled and sniffled a little.

"I wouldn't do that to you. You're 2.5 weeks pregnant, Kassie. Your scent should change soon. My daughter is going to have her Beta partner in crime in less than 5 months." She laughed. I closed my eyes as the tears left my eyes and I listened closely. After a few moments of silence, there it was, as precious as it had been when I heard Lalo's heart beat again. A tiny heart beating inside of me.

Lalo stood and grabbed my face and crashed his lips into mine. "I'm going to spoil you so much you're going to want to leave me after." He said with such intensity. I almost believed him, if I didn't know with every atom in my body that I couldn't live without him. He picked me up and ran to the door before he stopped, "Thank you Nat. You've made me the happiest man in the world. Well, technically she has. You know what I mean. Congratulations again on Xochil." He rambled before running us back down to our suite and making love to me the entire night.

It wasn't until the following day that I brought up our trip to Northern Italy as we snuggled in bed before we went down to breakfast. "Are we going to tell Helios what the old woman said?"

"Yes, but let's give him a month. Let him enjoy his new little family before we give him something to worry about. We have 50 years to prepare," he said as he doodled on my belly with his finger. I nodded and kissed him. Kassie POV

"That sounds fair," I mumbled.

"Hmm. You know what sounds more fair? Theo said he would help with some duties so we can go on at least a week-long vacation next week." He mumbled as he sucked on my ear.

"But, I don't want to let Nat down," I pouted. I really liked how close we had gotten over the last few months and I didn't want to leave the role she was entrusting me to help with while she recovered.

"You're not. It was her idea," Gonzalo answered.

It took me the entire week to make sure everything was in order before we left for our trip. Gonzalo still hadn't told me anything about where we were going. He wanted it to be a surprise. The more annoying part was that we still hadn't found all 10 council members. We had already weeded out a few that were found to be corrupt and some of the others seemed to be hard to find where all of their assets were coming from. American councilmen were proving harder to find. There were not many elders here and we were beginning to consider having some elders move or having a younger council.

"You ready to go, Kassie?" Gonzalo's voice followed by the door opening as I was paying some last-minute bills before we left.

"I need 5 more minutes, love." I said. He walked in and came over to the desk. He turned my chair as I submitted the payment and pulled me up. "Theo spent a thousand years being in charge of bills. He will do fine. We won't get another chance for a while until the baby is older. Let's go enjoy this short trip."

"OK" I said as I snuggled into him. Lately, his smell was becoming my own personal drug. Nat said it was a pregnancy thing. I wasn't complaining. "How about a quickie?" I asked as I walked my fingers along his chest.

"We can have all the quickies you want on the plane. Come on my little assassin, let's get that delicious a*s of yours on the road." He picked me up and walked us from our office.

"Wait, my bag!" I protested.

"Already in the car." He countered as he put me down and led me to the front doors. Helios and Theo were waiting for us. Adrien came running from the kitchen, a piece of toast in his mouth.

"How are you not getting fat? You're always eating!" I told him.

"What, I have a lot of food that I need to get reacquainted with!" He said as he hugged me after stuffing the extra piece of toast into my mouth.

We said good bye and we got on the road. About 6 hours later, we were landing in Grande Prairie, Canada. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this Lalo." I said as he led me to a rental car.

"You don't have to be fully ready, Kassie. You just need to start healing that wound. Talk, or don't, but I know you need that hug." He answered with a squeeze of the hand.

We drove another 4 hours north to a place called High Level. He found a two-level house and parked outside. I got out of the car to find Braden waiting for us. I hadn't seen him since he that night at the cliff. We still had a pending conversation. We walked inside the house and followed the voice beckoning us over. "Over here!" it whisper-yelled.

We found her in a room on the second floor, rocking a baby. "Hello sister," I said and Karissa smiled back at me.

"Hi Kassie. Come sit. Do you want to meet your nephew? He's almost asleep." She said quietly.

I moved over and sat on the seat next to the bed. Gonzalo excused himself with the pretext of talking to Braden and I sat and watched as she rocked her baby to sleep.

When my sister had fallen after killing our mother, Alpha Markus, who had been a last-minute addition at Kara's request, had leapt down and saved her Karissa before she hit the ground. She had managed to break her foot on the way down, so he'd stayed down there with her until she had been able to move again. When everyone had left, Karissa had begged me to help her run away. People had seen her fall and we had the video to prove it. She didn't want to be Queen again. She just wanted to start over with her child and live a quiet life.

Helios had agreed to help her and had Evergreen transfer some of the money mother had been siphoning into offshore accounts to her name so she could start a quiet life. The rest went into a fund to help the kidnapping victims that wanted to start over someplace new. Braden had immediately followed her. It wasn't hard to see that he was in love with her. Watching the way she smiled when she saw him walking in behind Gonzalo an hour later, I could see the feeling wasn't one-sided. There was hope for them and I hoped she gave him a chance. She had confessed that while she didn't completely love Armand, his actions to protect her and his baby had proven to her that their relationship hadn't been without warmth and partnership and she was allowing herself time to mourn him.

We left the following day for our real destination. Gonzalo took me to the Maldives to stay in this beautiful hut on the sea. No one disturbed us and we never left. We were looking out at the sunrise on the day we were to leave, enjoying the last day in our own bubble, when I felt him getting nervous through the bond.

"Kassie?" He asked.

"Hmm?" I answered.

"I love you with everything that I have in me. Every time I think I can't possibly love you more, you smile and I'm proven wrong. I don't know how I managed to exist without you and I don't think I ever could again." He said as he held me tight. My eyes teared up at his words and I hid my face in his chest. "I was going to do this when we got back, but I am a selfish bastard and I want this moment to be just ours." He continued.

I pulled my head back and looked at him. He took a step back and knelt before me. "You are my mate, my Beloved, mi muñequita con labios de rubi, my Queen, the woman who completes my soul and the mother of my child. Will you do me the honor of also being my wife?" He asked, pulling out a box with a beautiful platinum ring with a citrine opal.

"Yes," I rasped out and knelt down as he moved to stand up and the box fell from his hand and fell into the ocean. We both looked at the little box in horror as it slowly began to sink before I heard a splash and realized Gonzalo had dived in after it. After a minute, he broke the water's surface with an arm stretched out in triumph.

"Got it!" He said triumphantly before he climbed back up and we laughed for a good five minutes on the dock. He took off my wire coral ring and replaced it with the platinum version in my hand while putting the wire ring in the little box and handing it to me. "I love you," he said tenderly.

"I have loved you since the first moment you pretended you hadn't followed me from the witch's hut in the marketplace," I said.

"You knew?" He asked. An embarrassed smile on his face.

"You were not very subtle, my love." He fell back onto the dock and pulled me on top of him, peppering my face with kisses as he continued to laugh.

Adrien pulled me away the moment we got home, asking for presents, pictures and then when he saw the ring on my finger, he demanded his damn tea. I, of course, obliged with all of his requests. At the end of our hour-long talk, he began looking nervous. I wanted to laugh, because if I didn't know they weren't actually blood, I would have sworn he really was Gonzalo's son.

"What's wrong Adrien?" I asked first.

"What? Nothing?" He said quickly.

"Something happened. What's wrong?" I asked again.

"Well, I...Elias and I..." he stammered.

"You decided to adopt?" I asked eagerly.

"You know?" His eyes went wide.

"Elias said you were looking around, so I hoped!" I said as I squealed at him, bringing Gonzalo in from the other room looking for the threat. I told him to sit and called Elias over too. "Did you sign up? Did they call you already? Is it here?" I asked. "What it? What did they pick?" Gonzalo said in confusion.

"Baby! They are going to adopt!" I said, jumping on his lap happily.

"You're not upset?" Adrien asked, making me pause.

"Upset? Why would we be upset?" I asked.

"We..uh...we didn't want to steal your thunder." Elias said as he put his arms around Adrien.

"Are you kidding! We're going to be parents together!" I clapped. "Where is the baby? Or kid? Is it a boy or a girl?"

"We put our names down only last week after you left. We thought just to get on the waiting list, but it turned out that a pack a couple of hours north had a bad rogue attack and a little girl lost both of her parents and they had no extended family. She's 2 years old. Her name is Samantha. We're heading over to pick her up tomorrow." Adrien said sheepishly. Elias couldn't stop smiling.

"Oh, you have to take us with you!" I said and Gonzalo nodded with me.

"Yeah?" Adrien asked hopefully.

"Of course. Adrien! You're going to be parents! I'm going to be an aunt! Well again! Did I tell you I saw Karissa? Her little boy is actually cute considering he's Armand's," I said, and continued chatting about everything. We shopped online for toys and clothes as Theo and Sebastian and Nat had already ordered him everything he needed for a room after they heard the news.

We came back two days later with a cute little brown-eyed girl in the back seat. We were already all obsessed over how cute little Sam was and she got the biggest welcome party a 2-year-old had probably ever gotten. Theo had rented bouncy castles, water slides and caterers.

We sat around the outside tables as the night began to settle in. Helios stood up to give a toast. "If you had told me three years ago that I would be here today, surrounded by all of you as family, I would have thought you'd lost your marbles. For the first time in my eternal life, I am absolutely sure of what happiness is. Whatever comes our way, I know with you all by my side, we will be able to beat it."

"To kidnapping Celeste!" Theo yelled, making everyone laugh.

"And to rescuing the legendary white wolf who did NOT want to be rescued," Gonzalo added before downing his shot of tequila.

Celeste smiled and then we heard the words everyone had apparently been waiting to hear because the entire table burst into cheers when she said "This was my vision, and it's even more perfect to experience it coming true," I smiled back as I felt Gonzalo's hand rub my stomach.