Lily King Would Rather Howl Alone! Epilogue - Part I

Lily King Would Rather Howl Alone! Epilogue - Part I

*Fifteen Years Later*

***Azrael***

No one told me how stubborn a mate becomes when she’s pregnant. 
In my case, double that.
I blame Pops. He should have told me this, but if I come to think about it, he did tell me this when Mom got pregnant with my siblings; I was foolish for not taking him seriously.
“Where do you think you are going? Are you sure you don’t want to take another nap, Lil?” I ask her with a tray in my hand.
She kisses my cheek and wraps her arms around my neck, nearly knocking the tray in my hand over with the bump of her swollen belly. From now on, our baby could arrive at any moment.
“Az, I literally just woke up from a nap!” Lily rolls her eyes. “I’m pregnant, not sick, for Moon’s sake!” 
I look at her. My Hurricane looks freshly fucked, and my cock is doing its best to burst through my pants again. The doctor said that sex helps at this stage she is in, so like a good mate, I wake up my mates every day by eating their pussy to prepare it for my cock. I blame the horny wolf in my head.
“Then, I don’t want you to leave the packhouse. Got it?”
“But Cedar mindlinked me! Mom, and he arrived, and he said he had a surprise for me. You know how I love his surprises,” she says with a sweet smile, trying to sway me.
Uncle Cedar always gives her gifts when he travels outside the pack with Aunt Vi.
“Okay, my hurricane. But make no mistake, if you take more than half an hour, I’ll come after you, and we both know this pussy won’t like being on edge all night.” 
My lips form a smirk.
“I hate you.” She deadpun. I stare into her eyes. “No, I don’t,” she admits, rolling her eyes. “But Goddess, you are insufferable!” She kisses me again, and, once more, I have to handle the tray so it doesn’t fall.
Drawing back, I kiss her swollen belly. Then I smack her ass. “I mean it, Lil.”
“Okay, okay!” She says, running down the stairs with a smile on her face. I can’t get enough of seeing her happy like this because she’s going to visit her parents, especially Aunt Vi. It just makes my heart warmer.
“And stop running! Walk slowly! You’re not supposed to run on the stairs! It’s dangerous!”
“You do know I’m a badass she-wolf, right?” She yells. Yet, she obeys me, slowing her pace down. “I’m a year older than you, don’t forget that, and besides, I’ve had my wolf much longer than you, Az!” She blurts it all out in a single breath, finishing when she’s already out of my sight before I can react.
This little hurricane!
‘You will pay for that later!’ I mindlink to her with a smirk.
‘I’m counting on it,’ she replies back with a loud giggle that if it weren’t for my other mate waiting for me, I’d already be chasing her!
Entering our room, which ended up being a converted two-bedroom to fit all three of us, I find Poppy standing by one of the open windows. One hand on her swollen belly, she gazes out. Despite being two months more than Lily, Lily is having our pup first.
“Hey, Sunshine,” I say, walking over to her. I set the tray on the end table and kiss her forehead. “I hope this helps with the nausea. Goddess, I hate seeing you like this.”
I bend down so she can reach my cheek. “Thank you, Azzy.” Poppy gives me an adorable smile before planting a kiss on my cheek. “Where’s Daisy?”
“She’s up to something. She’s too quiet,” I say thoughtfully, narrowing my eyes.
Poppy adds sugar to the tea I make for her with the gentlest movements, like the cup will cry if she clinks them too loudly.
Daisy is our youngest, and she’ll be four in five months. As much as I wanted more kids right after Peter was born, we decided to take our time—to enjoy our pup while he was still small. Now he’s almost a teenager with a sharp tongue and strong opinions, and Daisy… well, my baby girl is sweet, loud, and chaos. I’m very grateful for all my siblings, but I can’t deny that I love the fact that I had my mom all to myself for ten years before she had Ava.
The bond I have with her is completely different from hers with my siblings. Well, they haven’t been through anything we’ve been through together—thank the Goddess—and that made me very protective of her since I was a child. It only got worse after I met my wolf. And that’s exactly how Peter is with his moms and sister.
“I’ll check on her, don’t worry. The only thing you need to do is rest,” I say in a firm tone, and I’m pleased to see her shift.
“I just woke up,” she whines, sipping tea.
I lean down and kiss her swollen belly. 
Fuck. Me. 
They’re so hot. 
I want to get them pregnant again and again. 
Standing up, I state, “You’re exhausted, Sunshine. Do you need me to stay with you until you go to sleep?” 
She makes an adorable and predictable frown at that. “I can’t believe you think I’m going to be able to sleep.” She drinks the rest of the calming tea in one go.
“Sure thing,” I say, holding back my smile. I pick her up in my arms, making her let out a squeal, and carry her to our large bed.
I would rather have Poppy and Lily without access to clothes, especially panties, phones, and outside the world all the time. And preferably tied to our bed so they can’t escape. 
Unfortunately, that qualifies as kidnapping and is frowned upon. 
I cover her with the soft blanket she likes, and then I massage her back with my hand.
“Azzy, it’s impossible. Not going to happen. No way.” 
I slide out of the bedroom quietly three minutes later, leaving Poppy snoring softly in the bed.  
After not finding Daisy in her room, I head straight to the kitchen.
“What are you doing, little girl?”
Daisy jumps. “Daddy!” She puts her hand over her heart dramatically. “You scared me!” Seemingly remembering, she puts her covered in cocoa powder hand behind her, the same one I could smell before I even entered the kitchen.
I cross my arms and try to look angry as I look down at my pup, but, damn it, she’s too cute.
She takes after my eyes’ color, but the tone is clearer, more like my mother’s. All the rest of her looks like a carbon copy of my witch mate. “Daddy... why are you angry? You don’t look very happy.”
My lips twitch as I look at the cocoa powder smeared around her mouth like a chocolate mustache. “What am I not happy about, Daisy baby?” 
She steps back, pressing her back to the wall. Her pink flowered dress has a trail of cocoa powder. “Is it because Mommy didn't drink her tea?”
“No.” 
“Our pack was invaded?” she asks, her meadow green eyes sparkling, all excited as if it could be true!
“Nope.” 
“Did you see my toys allll over the floor?” Daisy lets out a big gasp. “They moved by THEMSELVES! I watcheded them! They’re sneaky like… like raccoons! Not my fault, Daddy, promise!”
“No, it’s not about your toys.”
“Are you sure? They are so naughty. My teddy’s paws are dirty from crawling!” 
“They’re not naughty, but I know someone who is naughty.” 
“Did… did Lizie do a bad thing?” Daisy asks me with a gasp, looking at the floor where lies the doll that I gave to Lily when we were kids and then her mother gifted to her. Then she says with her adorable tiny voice, “She’s my bestest friend!” Reaching out, her hand smudged with cocoa powder clutches the doll to her chest.
My gaze softens, and I crouch to her level. “Oh, Lizie’s perfect—just like always. But someone else…” I tap Daisy’s nose.
“Me?” She points to herself. “That can’t be true, Daddy!” 
I try not to laugh. “Ohhh, I think it is true. Someone sneaky got into the cocoa powder.”
Daisy hugs her doll, her meadow green eyes wide with fake shock. “Nooo, Daddy! That’s a big fat lie! Maybe… maybe it was Mr. Bubbles!” *Her bunny*. “He loves chocolate!”
I raise an eyebrow at the cocoa smudge on her cheek. “Mhmm. And does Mr. Bubbles also love leaving footprints on the counter, little girl?”
Daisy gasps, looking at her own feet. “…Oops.” She looks up at me again. “But Daddy, Lizie licked the spoon first! And I’m never-ever naughty! Only sometimes by accident!”
I want to laugh so bad. But I sigh, scooping my little girl up. My voice is warm but firm. “Uh-huh. And was today a ‘sometimes’ or a ‘I definitely knew better’?”
“Daddy! The cocoa jar ATTACKED ME! It… it jumped into my mouth!”
I try really fucking hard not to laugh now. I can hear Pops laughing outside in the garden; he is telling Mom what is happening here. I hear her laugh right away. 
“Daisy baby, I know cocoa’s yummy, but next time, ask Daddy for a big-girl cup instead of climbing like a little raccoon. Deal?”
“Deal.” She gives me a shy smile and nods, hiding her cute face on my neck. “But Daddy, I’m still hungwy.”
I chuckle. Of course she is.
I lift Daisy onto the kitchen counter, her legs swinging as I wash her cocoa-coated hands. Through the open window, Mom’s voice carries from the backyard. “When Az was little, he was always getting hurt—paper cuts, splinters, you name it. Thank goodness for the werewolf’s healing! My heart couldn’t take it. Oh, and those awful allergic reactions...”
Daisy splashes water. “Daddy! When the babies come, can I teach them how to climb for cocoa? And… and we’ll share! Unless they’re mean to Mr. Bubbles. Then no cocoa forever!”
I chuckle, drying her tiny hands. “Nice try, pup. But no one’s climbing anything. Except maybe me to hide the cocoa.”
She gasps as though betrayed. “DADDY! That’s evil! Like… like villain evil! I’ll tell Nana!”
I press a kiss to her forehead just as Pops’ laughter rumbles through the mindlink. ‘She’s calling in the big guns!’
Daisy keeps babbling about her soon-to-be siblings as I send up a prayer to the Moon Goddess, thanking her for the mother I have. 
To my dad, I mindlink, ‘Hey, Pops... Just needed you both to know—every scar was worth it if it led me here. I love you both.’
A heartbeat of silence. Then—
The mindlink floods with warmth like a sudden hug. Pops’ voice, rough with emotion, barely a whisper, ‘Damn right, Son. And don’t you forget, I love you. I chose you. Every day since you were knee-high. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.’
A moment later, I hear Mom sniffing. And I fight back my own tears.
“Daddy!” My heart swells as I look down at my little girl, her tiny fingers opening and closing in that eager, wiggly way Daisy does when she wants a hug. The pure, sunlit joy on her face is the kind of magic I wish I could bottle and keep forever. 
My wolf stirs, wanting to memorize this—the way her face lights up before she crashes into my arms. Just one more second. Let me hold onto this before she’s running wild with the pack.