Chapter 90|Harmony.

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**THREE MONTHS LATER


**Isabelle’s P O V

Alexander and I, and the whole pack got the shock of our lives at the news of Francis being mated to Boris Mallory’s youngest daughter and accepting her without scepticism.

Everyone knew Francis to be the optimist but no one thought he could be that impulsive. I, though, felt very happy for him and Damon surprisingly shared my feelings. He teased Francis at the dinner table the night after Alexander and I returned from Alexander’s private beach.

We didn’t get to meet the girl until a day after our return and frankly I found no fault in her appearance and personality and when she accepted my hug I let myself feel the sincerity in her, feel what good she had in mind considering who her family is and what they were punished for.

Athena was quite petite, I was taller and of course Arabella was way taller. As a trio our appearances were stark opposites from how our skin tones, hair colours and body stature varies. Francis related to us that he accepted her instantaneously as his because he felt her disapproval of him in her, in her eyes he saw how she was ashamed at being mated to one of the men who coordinated her family’s punishment and when we got to converse with her and when she loosened up and became comfortable with us she explained her reasons for nearly rejecting him and they were valid and logical.

She felt like accepting him meant betraying her whole family. True. She felt ashamed being mated to someone whom her family betrayed. True. She was also overwrought with so many feelings and emotions that she felt so vulnerable at that period.

The first few days that passed after their bond was realised she lashed at him, she fought with him at every end, made his life hell. Later on we realised it was her coping mechanism. She felt like the world had turned against her and didn’t believe or care that everyone was happy for her, she became jaded without knowing that everyone was actually happy for her, that she got the best man around. Francis had her staying at the pack manor with Old Bea doing her best to ease her pain by making her comfortable with the environment.

After our return she decided to leave, Francis was desolate and successfully hid it from everyone but me, I understand him a bit too much than everyone else does. So, I approached him for a talk and advised him to give her wings, she needed it. She told me herself how staying in the pack knowing everyone whispers behind her back about her being one of the traitors made her feel claustrophobic. She needed the air to clear her thoughts and understand her feelings better.

He didn’t want to because in his words, he couldn’t risk losing her when he just found what he was yearning for. I assured him that letting her go to her comfortable zone wouldn’t be letting go of her permanently. She needed the respite, the time for the pain to go away or lessen because it was too much for her to bear. She didn’t need the bond rejected.

Francis took her himself to the airport the following day, we waved until she was out of our sights and returned home feeling gloomy. He feigned nonchalance, tried to prove that he was doing very fine and true I only found him deep in thought once, all the other times he was the cheerful Beta that everyone adores.

Alexander and I decided to have our wedding before our baby comes. We made plans and agreed on lowkey ceremony and my coronation as Luna comes later. Wedding plans from the outside seem like some amazingly interesting and cool thing but when you’re the bride and you’re needed for everything it’s totally different. There’s the dressmaker’s shop for fabric selection, style, measurements, fittings for one, I loathe that part because the child in me seems to be growing at a rapid pace. We didn’t want to risk having the wedding clash with a surprise labor like mine did with my mother two months before her due date so Alexander suggested August and right now we’re in July and I’m five months along.

Lucas says my belly races me and wins all the time because its shadow precedes me in entering a room, then the long belly (his words) before the human storing the child in the belly.

Speaking of baby, this De Luca baby is a very active one, Lucia says it took after Uncle Lucas who wrestled in her womb all the time. Lucia dropped the flag after Alexander slipped the ring into my finger, being one who is literally obsessed with event planning we let her plan our engagement party and it lived up to its name, grandeur.

We invited our closest allies, our families and friends and it was splendid.

She flushed with joy at everyone’s compliments whenever I assured them it was her hard work, after the party she decided to be a full blown event planner and appointed herself as our wedding planner. At this point Arabella intervened and in polite and kind, charming words she explained how we needed someone much experienced and assured her that she could put her hands into so many events before she and Lucas ties the knot because they had appointed her as their own wedding planner. She was ecstatic.

Lucia was her most charming and generous throughout the week she got that assurance and now she’s not only putting her hands into events within Staten Island, she goes beyond Manhattan and we’re all glad she’s found something worth keeping her occupied and satisfied.

Did I say anything about the wedding cake tasting? The menu selection? The theme?! The number of guests we wanted on our list? Invitations? Tedious. They suck up my blood and energy like a bug and I’m on the verge of screaming at the top of my lungs that I was done, tired, exhausted and totally drained. But then I remember that I’m the bride then feel all revved up again until Alexander calms me down. Together we plan our wedding because according to Lucia It’ll be the grandest event of the century.

Last month Francis decided to follow after Athena because she had spent two months away already. He promised he wasn’t forcing anything and when he returned two weeks later her scent was all around him and there was a lightness in him that was newfound and could only be the result of marking your mate as yours mind, body and soul.

Now, she’s planning to return to Staten Island for her mate.

Everyone was delighted.

Arabella and Lucas are two shameless lovebirds that can’t take their hands off each other no matter where and when. We’ve all learnt to take our eyes off their pda at all times.

Damon seemed to be happy living alone, it wasn’t written on his face that he was envying what his friends shared with their mates or wishing for the same thing himself but then no one knows what’s truly in the heart. I cannot wait for the day love sweeps him off his feet.

My bridesmaid were a very few, Arabella, Athena and two more friends I made in Staten Island, Maria and Selina. One human the other a werewolf.

Leah was still at the psychiatric and there was no hint of danger lurking around. Alexander upped his game at protecting the pack and leaving no room for mistakes of the past.

And who am I? I am a happy and content woman with a child who none-too-gently reminds me that its in my belly. It loves best when Alexander and I are spooning or cuddling in bed. It’s more active then or when Alexander whispers words of love to it and places several kisses on it every morning and night.

I love that part best. We all three do, mother, father and child.