The Alpha’s Heir
Chapter 19: Epilogue

~~~ Three Months Later ~~~

*** Melanie ***

Today is Eva’s baby shower and I have been helping with the preparations. The place looks beautiful with pink, white and rose-gold decorations all around. We are having a traditional English afternoon tea party in the gardens and the weather is perfect for it. Plenty of people are attending and Eva is glowing.

“Thank you all so much for coming to help me celebrate, it won’t be long until this little madam is joining us too.” I smile at my friend and Luna as she rubs her tummy, she has a perfectly oval little bump and a pang of longing rushes up inside me.

I moved here three months ago to be with Max but little has happened between us since then. We have k!ssed and we share a bed and a home together, but that is as far as it goes and I am starting to believe he has changed his mind about me. Sometimes, he can be really short with me, and he seems so grumpy now when he has always appeared so patient and understanding before.

I think I need to bite the bullet and ask him outright if he has gone off me. I want to take things further, I want to commit to him, I want to have s3x… I want to have his children, but if anything, Max couldn’t care less.

Eva comes and sits at the table with me, Amber and Sal. “How is my little niece doing in there?” Amber asks Eva.

“She’s using my bladder as a trampoline. I don’t remember Summer being this active.” Amber laughs at her sister-in-law.

“What did you expect? This time the pup you’re carrying has two Alpha werewolf parents. Of course, she’s strong and active… Aren’t you, Coral?” Amber talks to Eva’s bump affectionately. “I can’t wait to start trying, too.”

“I’m so sick in the morning I can’t seem to get anything done. When does the sickness pass, Eva? I can’t do this for another seven months.” Salma’s usual tan complexion has a green hue to it at the moment. She recently discovered she is also expecting.

“I wasn’t really sick, I had a bit of nausea but I think it should pass soon, Sal. Just hold on in there, it’ll be worth it.” The normally glamorous and gorgeous Salma is looking tired and worn out since finding out she is going to be a mother soon.

“Well, I am so jealous of you both. I want to be pregnant too.” Amber looks wistfully at her own flat tummy.

“You two will be next, I promise,” Eva assures us with authority. I would feel comforted by that, but for me to get pregnant I would have to have s3x with Max and Max hasn’t so much as touched me for weeks now.

“I know Preston is right, it’s the responsible thing to do to wait until the curse is broken before trying, but it’s all I have thought about since our Mating Ceremony.”

“Are you waiting for the curse to break too, Mel?” Salma asks me directly and my face heats up with embarrassment.

“Not intentionally, no. I don’t think Max is interested in me in that way anymore.” It stings my pride when Amber bursts into laughter.

“You are kidding, right? Melanie! He is head over heels in love with you. I’m sure if you told him you are ready to try for a baby, he would be delighted by all the extra mating.”

“We haven’t mated. We haven’t done more than k!ss. I think he’s gone off me. I’m scared to talk to him about it because… I’m in love with him, I want to be with him, and I love living here. What if he doesn’t want me anymore?” There is stunned silence around the table. When I lift my head to look at them, the three of them look back at me in shock.

“Melanie, this is a big miscommunication. I know for a fact that Max wants you. I can smell it whenever he sees you or is near you. He is crazy about you. He might be just about the dumbest wolf on the block for not realising you feel this way, but sometimes we have to take the wolf by the tail. Tell him. At least then you’ll know either way.”

“Besides, if he’s stupid enough to turn you down, the pack will kick him out and keep you instead.” I laugh at Eva’s interjection.

Before long, the men return to the baby shower and, despite my reservations about his feelings for me, Max stands behind me and places his hands on my shoulders and whispers. “You look beautiful, Honey, did you have a good time?”

I nod to him. “Yes, it was lovely. I’m tired now though, can we go home please?” We say our goodbyes and Max takes my hand as we walk back to the packhouse.

As soon as we approach our apartment, Max becomes rigid again. “Actually, I need to go and work out so I’ll just drop you in here and see you tonight.” He attempts to place a chaste k!ss on my cheek, but I pull away.

“Please, come in, I need to talk to you.” If he didn’t look so comical, I would be offended, but Max… the big overgrown Gamma werewolf who is around double my size, is looking for a way out, his eyes fill with panic. Why is he so afraid of being alone with me?

“I do have to train. I have to keep strong to protect my Luna,” he reiterates as he backs up away from me.

“I think I should move back to my house. You obviously can’t stand to be in the same room as me. I don’t know what changed but… I can’t do this.”

I run into the apartment and shut the door behind me before bursting into tears. My little bubble has popped and now I must move back home and the man I thought cared for me is just letting me walk away.

“Like f**k you’re leaving me!”

I didn’t hear him come in, but I hear him now. Max is furious! He stands in the doorway with a scowl that would frighten the devil himself. I pull out the suitcase from under our bed and start pulling my clothes from the wardrobe.

“Why are you leaving me? What did I do? Tell me and I will fix it.” I don’t reply because I think it’s too late, he’s only here offering to fix stuff because I’ve made a scene.

“It’s okay, Max, I get it. You don’t want me any longer. You can’t even bear to be in the same room as me for long. I had hoped that I was wrong, and that you could feel for me the way I feel for you, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Melanie, I don’t have a clue what is going on. Have I done something wrong? I don’t want you to leave. I never want you to leave me.” Why does he have to confuse me so much? First, he can’t stand to be near me and now, he’s begging me to stay.

“I hardly see you, you’re always running away from me and I want to start moving things along between us, but if anything, we’ve never been so far apart.” Tears threaten to engulf me once again, but I stand my ground. Having lived with werewolves for the past three months, I have learned that if you want something you have to grab it and I want Max. I want Max to want me.

“What do you mean… move things along?” I gr0an and cover my face; he’s going to make me explain in-depth. I don’t know if he really is that dense or if he likes to watch me squirm.

“Become a proper couple Max, you know, s3xually. You say you want a pup, but how are we going to achieve that if we hardly even k!ss?” I front it out as much as I can, but then I lower my crimson face. I have never felt so embarrassed.

“Are you ready to mate? Is that what you’re telling me?” Yep. He is definitely dense. I can’t front this any longer. I let down my walls and look him in the eyes.

“Yes. I love you, Max. I’m in love with you and I want the future you painted for me when I moved here. But you’ve been so distant, I hardly see you and when you’re here… you’re not here, not mentally anyway. So, if you’ve changed your mind, that’s okay but you need to let me know so I’m not sitting here day after day hoping and wishing for something that isn’t going to happen.”

“You love me?” I nod to him. There’s no point in denying it, it must be obvious to everyone else apart from Max that I have fallen in an epic way for him. “And you’re ready to take things to the next stage?” I nod again.

A massive smile covers his face as he strides towards me.

“Then what the f**k are we waiting for?”

I frown at him, but he takes my face in his hands and k!sses me, he scrapes his teeth over my bottom l*p and slips his tongue in, deepening our k!ss. A fire ignites inside me, one I thought had long been extinguished, and I squeal a little as Max lifts me and carries me to the bed.

“I have been distant. I have tried to keep a distance between us because I want you so badly, but I needed to be patient. I needed to give you time to be ready. I have been in love with you since the moment we met. I will love you until my dying breath.” He lifts the hem of my dress all the way up and over my head, leaving me standing in my bra and panties. “F**k! You are stunning!”

I leap into his arms, returning his k!sses. I frantically unbutton his shirt while he kicks off his shoes and unbuttons his pants. We embrace again, our bodies intertwining and I m0an as I enjoy the feel of his skin against mine. “I wake up in the night while you are sleeping and have to take a cold shower because I need you, I want you, I want to be inside you, I want to become one entity with you and I want to please you until all you can remember is me, and the feel of me.

I unclasp my bra and let it fall away and in less than a second Max is cupping my bre*asts. My n!pples harden under his touch and he gr0ans before licking each of them in turn. I whimper in response. It feels so good and yet I want more, more of Max all over my body.

I run my hands down his body. I have seen him na*ked a couple of times and I know he has an incredible body and a c0ck that matches his physique. I have fantasised about how he will fill me up as he presses into me, reaching places that have never been reached before. I skim my hand over the bulge in his underwear and he gr0ans loudly when I do. “Word of warning, it’s been a while and I have been dreaming about us for months.”

I smile back at him. A few short minutes ago, I thought he was happy I was going to walk away from him, and now I find he was dreaming of being with me too.

He slips his hands between my legs and touches me expertly. I have never been with a man who was both talented and giving in the bedroom. Most were just wham, bam and thank you ma’am. I think that is about to change.

I m0an as he grazes his fingertips on my cl!t, rubbing my gathering we*tness over it. I pull down his underwear and as I fall to my knees to take him in my mouth, he pulls me up to him, pulling off my panties as he does. “Not today. Today, all I want is you, I want to feel you. I want us. I wanna hear you shout my name as I make you cvm over and over and over.”

I clench my legs together, whimpering with need and desire. Max applies a small amount of pressure to my cl!t and my body climbs higher to oblivion. I’ve never cvm as fast as I might today. “Wrap your legs around me, Honey.” He is on top of me, his manhood pressed against my c0re. “Sh!t, I just remembered. Condoms. Do you have any?” I shake my head.

“I don’t want a condom, Max. We both know what we want.” He nods his agreement as he lines up with my entrance.

“Melanie, sweetheart, I love you. I have wanted this for so long. I want this forever.” He pushes into me, filling and stretching me just as I knew he would before he stops inside me. “I’m not going to last long, you feel too good!” I giggle a little, and he laughs with me.

Max moves his hand back down between us, he pounds away inside me, edging me closer and closer to fulfilment, the added pressure to my cl!t is all I need, and I shout his name as I cvm just like he asked me to.

“F**k, yeah! Cvm for me,” he shouts and then gr0ans as he cvms too.

“Was that what you meant by moving forward?” Max asks me afterwards as I bask in the glow of our lovemaking.

“That was just the first step, Max. I want so much more with you.”

“Good, now we can talk about our Mating Ceremony.”

*** Xavier ***

I have a lot of pent-up anger and grief and my mate tells me I have to do something about it. So, I do. There are some old scores to settle and the first one takes me to the South of France, to the home of my daughter’s ex-stepfather.

“Claude Duvall?” I ask as a tall, greying man answers the door. He nods to me, frowning in confusion at the English man who had turned up out of nowhere. “Good. This is for touching what you shouldn’t.”

I dislocate both of his shoulders before breaking both of his wrists while he screams in agony. “And this is for looking where you shouldn’t too.” I flip him over and jab a pen into each of his eyes. “My daughter is Eva. You made her feel unsafe. You looked at her and touched her. Now I’m going to cut your c0ck off. And if you tell a soul who did it I will come back and cut your throat too.”

“Please no, don’t do this. Not my c0ck!”

The fact that I am avenging my daughter makes this all worthwhile. It gives me an outlet for my grief and maybe now I can look forward to the birth of my grandchildren without the grief and guilt that consumed me at the moment.

Claude screeches and squirms in agony as I enforce the toll on him for messing with me and mine.

~~~ Six Months Later ~~~

*** Eva ***

I hold the two little girls in my arms, my nieces. Lydia called them Hope and Serenity because their mother, Nikki, died as they were pulled into the world. They are tiny. My own little girl, Coral, was born around the same time and is double their size. My heart fills with pride when I think of our little girl: big, bright green eyes like her daddy and chestnut hair like me. A perfect mix of us both. Summer adores her little sister, who we named after Aiden’s mother as he requested.

“They are so delicate and petite, I’m terrified of breaking them,” I tell Lydia, who smiles down at me and her granddaughters.

“I know, they are almost four weeks old, and they are still little dots. I caught your father singing to them last night. They wouldn’t settle and I was exhausted, so he told me to have a sleep and he would look after them. I found him about an hour later. The girls were looking at him like he was an alien and he just kept singing at them.”

I smile at her. Although my father and stepmother are both still heartbroken and grieving, Junior’s little girls have given them both something to carry on for.

“We are all sorted, Shortie; we can go home when you’re ready.” Aiden tells me as he enters the room again.

“Did you burn the heart?” He nods his head at me and holds up a small glass vial.

“Yes, these are the ashes. I’m going to take them home and find a decent hiding place for them.” The curse is broken, the only thing that could affect it is if the ashes are released. We have to do all we can to ensure that never happens. Nikki had become too weak, and too far gone mentally. Her babies were born prematurely when she began to die. We couldn’t get her to break the curse for us before she died, so we had to perform the heart-burning ritual. Now, it is our lifelong job to keep these ashes safe and secure.

“It’s over now. We can all go back to living our lives as we should,” Aiden tells me as we travel back to our cottage and our own little girls. Everything worked out in one sense or another. Life is good.

~~~ The End ~~~