Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
“Why didn’t you tell me about your past? About the way you were left out in the wild when you were a cub?”
“The past is the past,” Azlan says. “I was trying to change the future.”
I turn my head to look back at him, feeling his knot shift inside my cum-drenched pussy as I do. “I feel like I understand you more, and this whole place more, your family more, from what Kain told me. I wish you would share more of the parts of you that you think don’t matter. They all matter to me.”
“You are the sweetest little thing,” Azlan growls. “And you are now the alpha female of Shattered Gulch. I hope you’re ready for the level of responsibility you have brought on yourself.”
He’s trying to change the subject. Azlan does not know how to talk about himself or his feelings. I hope to change both those things over the course of forever.
“I’m ready,” I reassure him. “I am ready for the rest of our lives together.”
“Good,” he says, licking the back of my neck with a feral possessiveness. “Because as soon as my knot subsides, I am going to mate you again.”
“Oh,” I grin. “Yes, fucking please.”
EPILOGUE
To absolutely nobody’s surprise, it emerged that I was pregnant when Azlan deposed Kain the mad king. In the months that followed, I bore Azlan not one son but two, their names Gregory Tonka and Robert Rex. They have Azlan’s golden pelts and eyes, and my tendency to go their own way. They keep us very busy, and Nyan and Skol prove to be doting uncles to the pair of them.
Another baby follows, a daughter. By this time, three years have passed, and Kain remains in the dungeon. Azlan chooses not to speak to his brother, and he has the rug of his father interred properly and with more respect than the monster was ever due.
I visit Kain from time to time, never with the babies, but just to see how he is doing. I do not agree with this incarceration. I think he needs help, but Azlan will not permit him to be freed. He claims Kain is not mad, but an evil genius, and every time I am caught visiting him I pay the price.
Azlan will not kill him, and he will not send him into exile. Kain remains the monster in the depths, a darkness that lingers in the light of our new lives as the first family of Shattered Gulch.
Ten years later…
Our twins are having a discussion with one another about the family, running through all the relations they have.
“Skol, and Nyan…” Gregory counts on his paw fingers. Our children have turned out to be a delightful mix of Leonid and human, my sweet fuzzy babies. They are smart and they are gorgeous and they are more loved than I can express. They play from time to time with their namesakes, Tonka and Rex, who are one year older and still bonded with me, and I with them. The Den is full of babies, laughter, and love.
“Nyan’s funny,” Robert grins. “Skol is always so serious.”
“We don’t talk to Uncle Kain, because Uncle Kain killed and stuffed Granddad Leonidas,” Gregory says.
He is not supposed to know about Uncle Kain, but rumors of the brother in the dungeon, of course, persist.
“Cool!” Robert exclaims.
I’m about to explain that it is not cool to kill your father and stuff him, when I’m interrupted by our youngest, Lillian. She has come in from the stronghold grounds with a new friend. This is not uncommon. She makes friends easily with anything that cannot speak.
What she has today has large ears, a pointy snout, haphazardly arranged sharp teeth, and a long segmented tail.
“Mom! She followed me home. Can I keep her?”
“You already have three pet Grumblers, Lillian.”
“I know, but she’s so cute!”
She holds the baby Growler up between her chubby little paws. It’s not wild like the ones I was used to back on the asteroid.
Growlers have become endemic in Shattered Gulch now, thanks to me. They’ve become popular pets, in large part because someone started a rumor that they were the preferred pet of the alpha female.
I relent immediately. I used to hate Growlers, but now they remind me of home. Speaking of home…
“You can keep her, but I need you to put her in the enclosure with the others, because we’re going on vacation, remember?”
All three children let out roars of happiness.
Azlan strides into the room and is immediately mobbed by the children, including Lillian and her new pet Grumbler. He laughs and picks them up in his arms all at once. I smile at the sight as I sit with Buttface in my lap, stroking his sleek fur as I watch my mate in his proudest and most important role yet: father.