I looked Beau over, making sure he was okay. He looked up at me with confused blue eyes and then coughed. As he coughed though, he transformed from a baby human to a wolf cub.
“Oh. My. God. Travis wasn’t lying,” I gasped in surprise.
“What the hell is that thing?” Bentley exclaimed.
“Beau,” I answered simply. “Apparently he’s special.”
“Obviously,” Bentley gasped.
“Whoa, that’s cool!” Bryce shouted. “I want one!”
Caeden snorted. “A baby? You want a baby?”
Bryce shrugged. “Well, when you put it that way, no. But look, he’s so cute and fluffy and he’s gray like you.”
Caeden wore a proud smirk. “That’s my boy.”
Bentley shook his head. “We better get the others and see why the hell the house is on fire.”
I frowned down at Beau. I was scared to follow the guys in case we were walking into a dangerous situation. I couldn’t fight with Beau in my arms, but staying here by myself wasn’t a safe option either.
With a pop, Beau shifted back into his human form.
“Y’all lead the way.”
The guys shifted into their wolf form and I followed behind them.
When we reached the back of the house we found all the wolves we’d left behind outside. No one seemed hurt, but there were more mutant bodies lying on the ground. A door to what looked an underground cellar—much like the one we’d traveled through—was open and that’s where the mutants had come from and where the fire was burning.
I looked around to see if anyone was still fighting, but all the mutants were dead and it looked every member of our pack was safe. Thank God for that. I didn’t think my conscious could handle any more deaths of our friends and family.
A cry escaped my throat—a cry of relief. We had our son back and the threat of a war with humans was over. We could all move on and live normal lives—well, as normal of a life as you can live when you’re a shifter.
Nolan’s tiger formed stalked forward and I knew he was communicating with Caeden. The wolves all listened intently to whatever Caeden was saying. I could tell when they learned that Travis was dead, because if it was possible for wolves to dance, that was definitely what they were doing.
Caeden shifted back to his human form and grabbed my face between his hands. Before I could blink he kissed me soundly. The wolves howled in happiness. He pulled back, smoothing his thumb over my lip. “Let’s go home, she-wolf.”
Twenty Three.
Sophie
“And this is your room,” I cooed to Beau as I opened the door to his nursery.
“Sophie, he’s barely two weeks old, I don’t think he needs a whole tour of the house,” Caeden chuckled behind me.
“Shut up,” I grumbled. “If I want to give our son a tour of our house, I will.”
We’d only been home long enough to shower and dress and I’d reluctantly had to relinquish Beau to Caeden to do that. But now he was all mine and I was never letting him go. I’d heard people say that holding a baby all the time would make them clingy, but I didn’t care. I’d almost lost Beau, and if I didn’t look at him at least once every five minutes then I was convinced he wasn’t real.
Caeden and I had given him a bath and I’d dressed him in a cute blue sleeper with monkeys on it. I’d also wrapped him in a pretty white blanket so he currently looked like a little burrito. I found myself constantly staring at him, trying to memorize his features.
I sat in the big white chair with him in my arms, and Caeden squeezed in beside me.
“Do you know the legend Travis was talking about? The one about the Prince?”
Caeden nodded. “Only, it was never in the Book of Legends. He lied about that. It was just a story parents told their children. It was called The Wolf Prince. My mom used to tell it to me and Bryce to help us sleep when we were little.”
“But it’s true,” I stated. “Beau can shift.”
“That he can,” Caeden shook his head, staring off into space. “You know, they always said that the most powerful wolves always have a full moon on their birthday that they transform. That happened to both of us, then we’re mates, and Alphas…maybe those three factors coming together resulted in Beau,” he shrugged, reaching out to hold the baby’s hand. Beau’s clenched fist looked incredibly tiny resting in Caeden’s open palm. “I know it’s a long shot, but it’s the only thing I can think of,” he shrugged again.
“The story…what did it say about him?” I questioned.
“Man, it’s been a long time since I heard that story. I’m not sure if I really remember. Basically, like Travis said, the wolf prince is stronger and more powerful than the typical shifter. But what he didn’t say, is that the wolf prince is extremely compassionate. He’s supposed to bring peace to all shifters…to unite us all together.”