83. Caleb

*Ready for the HEA?*

**Caleb**


I brush the hair out of her forehead. "I know. Just breathe! You are doing great!" I try to calm her.

Conon is silent for a moment, and I wonder if he thinks I am crazy. Truth be told, I don't blame him. I acted like a madman for the past eight months. Red screams again. "How is it even possible?" Conon babbles.

"Caleb, I need help! I don't think I can do this on my own!" Red whimpers. I stroke her hair, trying to soothe her.  

"You closed the portal, you fucking moron! Even if I let Reyes know what you asked, there is no way to get her to the palace in time!" Conon snarls at me after a few moments.

I rub my temples, remembering doing that once I got to where the Rogue Village once was. I didn't want anyone else to follow me and ruin my plans.

"How long until you get here?" I ask.

"Half an hour, maybe a little longer!" Conon replies. 

"Just hurry! And bring blankets with you!" I say before hanging up and giving my full attention to Red. 

She is pushing, and I try to remember what I read in the books about labor. "You are doing great!" I say while I move in front of her. 

She pushes for a few more minutes, and it is obvious she is in great pain, and my panic transforms into fear. My instinct tells me something is not right.

 A portal opens next to the grove, and Tatiana and Reyes come out of it.

"Katherine called me!" Tatiana tells me before I have a chance to ask anything. 

Reyes rushes to Red and checks her. "We need to get her to the Royal Clinic right now! The baby is breech!" 

"Caleb!" Red says. She sounds scared. 

"It will be alright!" I say, hoping to calm her down.

I lift Red in my arms and get her through the portal. Once we are at the Werewolf Palace, I rush with her to the clinic. Reyes and Tatiana are right behind me. I get Red to the delivery room, and two nurses are already waiting for us. 

Reyes enters a second later and starts getting ready to help Red. "I don't think I have time to turn the baby, so I am going to guide you so you can deliver the baby safely!" he tells Red.

She shakes her head. "Just perform a C-section or something! The pain is too much!" 

"Trust your body!" Reyes says. 

Raven growls in my head, the pain and fear Red is feeling makes him act like a feral wolf, and I am left with no choice but to block him until he calms down.

Many tears and curses later, and Red breaking almost all my fingers, the first baby is born—a little baby girl. She looks so tiny and beautiful. So damn perfect. Tears fall down my cheeks as Reyes lets me cut the umbilical cord. The nurse places her on Red's chest, and I look at my soulmate and my daughter, and I wonder if I did kill myself and I ended up in Heaven. 

I feel Raven has calmed down, and I stop blocking him.

**'How dare you block me? I missed the birth of our pup because of you!'** he snarls at me. 

*'Calm down, or I will block you again! There is another baby to be born, and Red needs you!'* I say, and Raven stops talking and just observes.

A nurse takes the baby a minute later to clean her and weigh her while Red starts pushing our other baby out of her womb. It takes only two minutes for the second baby to be born—another girl.

I don't think I have ever felt happier in my entire life. I not only got my soulmate back, but our babies are healthy.

I kiss Red's forehead. "Thank you!" I whisper to her. She smiles when another contraction starts, and I look at her, confused.

"Time to get the last baby out!" Reyes says. 

**'We are having three pups!'** Raven says, and I feel him faint. 

I feel lightheaded as well, but Red snarls at me. "Faint on me as well, and I am going to kill you!"

I push my shock to the side and hold Red's hand while our last baby is born—a little boy.

The nurses finish cleaning my pups, put them in the hospital bassinet, and bring them to the bed before helping Red put on a hospital gown. Reyes makes sure Red is well before leaving us alone with our newborn pups. 

The babies start crying, and I go to them, wanting to calm them, but when I see how small they are, I am afraid to pick them up, not wanting to hurt them. 

Red looks at me and laughs. "Put one hand under the head and the other under the diaper. You will be fine." 

I swallow hard before doing as she told me, and I take the firstborn in my arms and stare at her for a few moments before giving her to Red so she can nurse her. 

While Red is nursing the girls, I am rocking the boy in my arms and marveling at how perfect he is. 

Raven, who meanwhile came to his senses, also stares at our son.

"I tried so hard to get back to you!" Red starts saying, and my eyes immediately turn to her. She stares at me, her green eyes shining with unshed tears. I wait for her to tell me what happened from the moment the Leech Queen pushed her inside the portal. "I did not end up in the Demon King's realm but in a place between realms and worlds. There were a lot of doors in that place and also the spirits of my parents. They healed me and saved our babies before trying to help me get back to you. They were not sure which door was the right one, and we spent quite some time trying to find the right one. I ended up visiting many worlds. I have seen you and me in so many lives. In some worlds, we have never been abused, and in others, we have never met." She looks at the little girls in her arms who are nursing peacefully, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I was getting desperate, thinking I would never find the way home, when my father finally found the right door, and I ended up in the magic grove. I went into labor moments later."  

Suddenly I remember the last line of the prophecy. *If Fate is merciful, the innocents will live*. 

"I am to blame for what happened to you!" I tell her while I switch the firstborn girl with the boy, so Red can also nurse him. Luckily the nurse tied a delicate pink ribbon around her wrist so we can know which girl was born first. "Tatiana and Naomi have tried everything they could to open the portal again in the hopes that you were fine. Each day they would make promises to me and..." And my heart would break more and more. I look at the bassinet and I am not sure how we will handle so many babies, but I have no doubt everyone from the pack will want to help us. "If only I had been faster or made the right decision—"

"Caleb," Red says, and I stop talking. "I don't want to spend my life thinking about 'what ifs.' I am here, and I am alive, and I want to spend all the moments I have with you and our children!" 

I put our sleeping baby girl in her bassinet, go to Red, and kneel next to the bed. I kiss her while taking care not to harm the babies. "I thought I had lost you forever! These eight months I spent without you were pure hell! I was about to—" I shake my head, not wanting to tell her what I tried to do, when I heard her screaming in the forest. 

Red's eyes go wide. "Eight months? It felt like days for me! But I could be wrong. I didn't feel the passing of time in that place. No wonder I was so shocked when I got into the magic grove and went into labor! Wait, what month are we in?" 

"September," I reply.

"September," Red repeats. "So much time has passed. What about Sky?" 

"She must be at school. I will bring her later for a short visit. Thank you for returning to me!" I say and kiss her. "You have no idea how I've missed you. Being without you... I don't think I can go through that again!"  

"I also missed you like crazy! I would have returned to you no matter what!" Red tells me. "Thank you for waiting for me!" 

**'We almost didn't!'** Raven says, and I hope Red didn't hear him. 

"I love you so damn much!" I say before kissing her.

The babies finish nursing, and I put them in their bassinet. I have so many questions I want to ask Red about the place she says she has been in, but I feel how tired she is. I haven't felt the mating bond since the night she fell in the portal.

Red closes her eyes and takes a nap. I bring a chair close to the bed, not wanting to be apart from her because I am afraid she and the babies will disappear the moment I leave her side. 

Conon and Katherine come to visit a little later, bringing Sky with them. Sky had missed Red just as much as I did, her silver eyes being sad all the time. But as she looks at her new sisters and brother, I can see happiness returning to Sky.

Red is still sleeping, and I tell Conon and Katherine what happened to my soulmate from the moment we last saw her. I ask Katherine to go to Sarah and make a list for me of what I have to buy for the babies. Sarah already had her baby, a beautiful little girl.

By late afternoon everyone knows that Red has returned, and a party is being planned for when she is feeling better. 

Many pack members want to see Red, but I send them away, telling them to wait until Red is ready.

At the end of the day, Reyes lets me take Red and the babies to our suite. A few things have been bought for the babies, including cribs. Elton and Kevin help me put the babies in their cribs while Red goes to the shower. 

Tristan and Emma stop by, and I ask them to help me with Sky for a few days until Red and the babies settle in, and I learn how to juggle the babies and a nine year old daughter. To my relief, they agree. 

Half an hour later, Red is in bed, nursing the girls while I gently rock my son. 

"We need to give names to our babies!" Red says. 

I look at my son. "How about Oliver?" 

Red chews her bottom lip. "I like it." 

It wasn't that simple for the girls, but we settled on Dawn for the first girl and Elin for the second one.

When Red and the babies drift off to sleep, I stay awake, watching them, making sure they are real and not a product of my imagination. I keep touching her while I think about all the things I want to ask her. But there is no rush, I have time. And I want to make sure I get to spend each second of the rest of my life with her.

Each time my fingers brush her skin, she leans into my touch. 

During the night, I help Red with the babies, and when morning comes, I am right next to her. 

"I love you! Don't you ever leave me again!" I tell her as soon as she wakes up.

"Never!" she promises me. "I love you too! And our little family!"

I chuckle for the first time since that dreadful night. "With four children, I think we have a big family!"

She smiles back, emotions flashing in her gorgeous eyes.

I kiss her, feeling that my heart will explode with happiness. 

Dreams do come true, and I have all I ever wanted—a soulmate and pups.

**'You do know that we have to build Red a new house, right?'** Raven asks. 

*'Later! We have plenty of time!'* I reply as I keep kissing Red.


*I want to thank all those that gave this story a chance. Rain and Caleb suffered so much, but they finally have their HEA! There will be an epilogue, and I will put it* *tomorrow. If anyone is interested in future stories I will have, you can join my FB group - Amy T Stories*