Chapter 48 1/2

Hi! I wanted to add a small chapter to bridge the time between chapter 48 and 40, seeing as I jumped pretty quickly to 12 years later. Hope you get a better feel of what happened those years from Axel's pov. 

Axel’s pov

The thought about being a father again excited me so much. It was also terrifying, I had skipped the whole diaper and breastfeeding fase with Elias. I had no idea what it would be like to have a little baby around. When I heard it was going to be a girl I got even more scared, a girl! Someone I would have to protect from annoying boys. Or it could be girls, but at least that way she wouldn’t come home at 16 with a child like Amber and me. O god, I was really going crazy here.

"What are you stressing about Axel?" Amber asked kindly through the mindlink.

Hearing her voice in my head calmed me down. Having a girl wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t anything like her mother. I would make sure this pack was a safe place for her to be raised. A place where a girl could be anything she wanted to be.

"I was just thinking about our daughter’s future," I said.

Amber was heading to see me in my office.

"I want to finish this conversation face to face," she said.

Amber opened the door.

"Look Axel, I know you’re worried. I can feel it. But she will have two parents to guide her plus a big brother to turn to when her parents annoy her. I wanted to discuss this with you before, but hadn’t found the right time. But is it okay if we call her Briana? After Brian."

I had been jealous of Brian for a while, but since he died I was only thankful for the role he had played in Ambers and Elias’ lives.

"Yes, that name is perfect," I said as I kissed Amber’s growing belly.

It would only be a few weeks until Briana would be born. Kenzo and Keva had helped us set up the baby room, but for the first few months she would be sleeping in a crib next to our bed. Elias had crawled in our bed a couple of times after a nightmare, so we would have a busy bedroom. I would miss my time with Amber alone, but having my family close was such a blessing.

I would have never dared to go to my father if I was scared or sad. Elias had been seeing Doctor Oliva since we came back, which seemed to really help him. But going through what he had would take a while to recover from.

The weeks went by so fast and suddenly Amber started having contractions. The first time she gave birth she did it without the help of Ripley and me, with Brian in a hospital room. But now she wanted to do a home birth. Elias would sometimes come by to see how Amber was doing, he didn’t want to be around for the actual birth though. I had seen Amber fight and go through so much, but there was nothing like seeing the woman you love give birth. She was so strong.

I loved Amber even more after holding our sweet baby Briana. I took my shirt off and placed Briana on my chest, Amber said it would help with the bonding. Briana’s skin was so soft and her small body felt so fragile against my large frame.

"Hi Briana Wentworth, I am your papa. Well you can call me dad if you want, but your big brother has always called me papa. You are named after one of the bravest man I know and I am sure you will live up to his name. Whatever you do in life, I just want you to be happy. I love you so much," I said to the small little baby that had my blue eyes, but a full head of Amber’s curls.

Seeing Elias and Briana grow up together was the greatest gift Amber had ever given me. They would fight sometimes, like any brother and sister. But Elias was so patient and kind with Briana. I would sometimes find Briana sleeping next to Elias in his bed, with her tiny hands around her stuffed animal. We had talked about another pup, but Amber had said she wanted to keep the pack safe first.

We had a couple of small attack, but they were all stopped before anyone noticed. Noah had opened his own butcher shop after spending some time at the packhouse with his family. His daughter Zoey had become one of Elias’ best friends. He would do one border check before going to bed, he ran so fast it only took him 10 minutes. Ronin had helped the first few years, but Ronin and Bodhi had been very busy raising a pup they adopted. They had asked us for permission to move to another pack, they had both always dreamed of living somewhere with a hot climate. I knew Amber would miss them, but how could we deny them their dream after everything that had happened.

When Brianna was five years old Amber had decided to call all the special wolves together. She called it a conference. With the help of Ripley she could teach the wolves some new trick and the wolves that needed it could get some of her moonlight. This way Amber could also find new ways to keep our pack safe. Amber knew the most important thing was keeping Elias alive so he could become King. That was her number one job in life.

Perhaps that’s why we never had more pups, Briana was a daddy’s girl and I would give her all the attention she needed. I knew Amber wanted to give Briana the world, but Ripley was her wolf for a reason. It made me sad at times, but I so treasured the relationship I had with Bri. She had my personality, but her mother’s looks. Well except for my eyes.

Logan and Maria had been traveling for years, looking for anyone connected to my mother. It was Maria’s way to redeem herself. To us, but also to Logan. Being mates was a life long connection, not something you could quit that easily. I knew Logan had thought about leaving Maria, but their love was too strong. Maria couldn’t look Amber, Elias or me in the eyes for years. She left every time we entered a room and I could see the guilt in her eyes. But she had done the work, she had proven herself countless times and had earned our trust back. We weren’t back to how it was, but at least she could be herself around my family again. Which was a good thing, because Maria was pregnant and had to stop all her traveling for a while. Keva was also pregnant, Kenzo had grown on me and had actually helped me with a lot of the Beta responsibilities when Logan was away. I felt kind of jealous, everyone was having more pups but us. Well perhaps in a 10 or 15 years I would have some grandpups. Wow, that thought made me feel old.