Four years later...

Life was good, it was as simple as that. It was a midsummer night, and the pack was having a huge party and bonfire to celebrate the successes that they'd had over the last few years. The pack had been formed by four groups, the original pack, the rogues, the tigers, and the South Glade folks, and they had gelled together well. It didn't help that none of the original groups had it easy, so finding others that wanted to make a good pack, and were willing to work at it, helped a lot. Even the tigers, who had all worked on learning to speak English, now felt at home among the wolves.

Unsurprisingly, over the years there had been a few more stragglers approaching them and becoming a part of the pack. They now had a pair of witches that had joined them, and a small family of werebears that had lost their previous home. Whenever they went to the yearly conclaves, they were now known as a pack that could bring in those who needed homes, and Nicholas had reported that the Spring Shadows were doing the same thing to good effect. It was nice to see times changing.

The pack was now almost 200 strong, which was huge compared to where they had been. Many of those were babies, as new mates from all of the packs had been found, marked and consummated. Two of those babies were Maria and Reece, the little girl and boy that Kenzie had given birth to shortly after Aliza married her. Maria had been first, and named after Eliza's mother, and then Reece was named after Kenzie's father a year later. She was pregnant again, and if it was a boy then they planned to name it after Eliza's dad too, though they had lots of girl's names to choose from.

Melashka was pregnant as well, though the threesome had waited for a bit because she had asked Hazel and Karano turn her into a hybrid with them so she could live with them as long as possible. They had done just that, and now after getting used to her new abilities, she was pregnant with a sibling for Lucia.

Other newly mated pairs might add to that total, as some of the teens finally hit their 18th birthdays. For instance, there were a lot of cheers when Jack found out that Esther was his mate, and then more when Emerson turned out to be the mate of Melashka's kid sister Verka. They'd all been through so much, but now they all had smiles that were almost permanently on their faces.

Many of the other pack members had come into their own as well. Four had gone off to nursing school, and returned to help out the pack doctor, who was thrilled with the help. In addition, several of the tigers had extensive first aid knowledge, as they had done their own medical care and been midwives in the camp, since they'd been provided no doctors. Kenzie's mother Julie made things easier for the mechanics by pointing out that if they just learned how to fix one vehicle, and we got rid of the rest and bought a dozen of the same kind, we would be in better shape from both a maintenance standpoint, and a spare parts standpoint, as we wouldn't be servicing a bunch of different types. Instead, the pack put the old cars on a car hauler, and sent them to the South Glades pack, which was thrilled to have them, and then bought a dozen Jeeps that would be perfect in the cold winters.

Even from a social standpoint, things were working out well. With so many backgrounds, people were learning new music and songs, as well as taking music lessons online so they could make little bands among themselves. Several of them turned out to be really good, and they had a lot of weekly concerts for entertainment.

So, yes, things were going well. Not perfect mind you, there were always little things, like worries of humans stumbling upon their secrets or Gavin deciding he wanted revenge for his missing arm, but nothing that couldn't be overcome. Speaking of Gavin, he hadn't even gone back to the conclave since the duel with him, as his Luna went instead. She was much easier to deal with, and assure them that he wouldn't be an issue, as he was in semi-retirement. They just hoped he stayed that way.

"We have a beautiful family," Karano said as she sidled up to Eliza. They were watching Kenzie compare baby bump with Melashka and Hazel was the unofficial measurer. Lucia was holding little Maria, while Kenzie was breast feeding Reece. The funniest part was Lucia and Maria talking to the baby bumps, trying to tell them to grow faster because they wanted to meet them.

"We really do," Eliza agreed. "It looks like we're going to have a lot of new additions too. Kenzie was hoping for at least one more after this, maybe two. How about you? Are you having more?"

Karano nodded slowly, smiling at the scene. "Yeah. Mel wants at least one more. The number of tigers is low, so having more would be a good thing."

"She's not exactly a tiger anymore." Eliza had to snicker at her adoptive mom, because Melashka might be the most fearsome creature she'd ever met. Once they turned her into a hybrid, she'd grown immense, to the point that she was twelve feet tall in her bipedal form, and even in her tiger form she was as tall as Eliza in her bipedal form. That just meant better rides for Lucia, of course, because Mel would give her rides through the trees in that form. Well, she had before she was so pregnant anyway. Lucia still loved seeing all the tigers racing through the trees though, and she hoped one of the young tigers would be her mate when she was older.

Karano just shrugged, though technically Eliza was right. "The tigers think of her as one of her own, much like the wolves accept me and Hazel. But really, it doesn't matter. Sooner or later, we'll have a lot of cross breeds here, and who knows what the pack will look like in a few generations."

Eliza snorted in acknowledgement. "True. I really want to know what happens when one of the tiger wolf mating children gets their animal, or animals. That could be a whole new species!"

"Judging by the size of Mel's belly, that might be a new species too!" Had they not done an ultrasound and seen only one baby, she would have sworn that Melashka was carrying twins, but it was just a large boy who was very close to the due date.

"I heard that!" Melashka called over with a smile. "I'll have you know that he's just very healthy, and a chubby baby would be very cute!"

Eliza snickered as she pulled Karano over to their various wives and kids, and then sat on the ground among them. Karano quickly pulled Lucia into her lap, while Eliza did the same with Maria, and tickles caused both of them to giggle wildly.

Hazel leaned over, kissing Karano before Melashka did the same thing. Eliza didn't want to disturb Reece's feeding, so she made the move to kiss Kenzie softly on the lips. They were all in heaven, as was the pack. Looking around the celebration, it was hard to believe that this was the same downtrodden pack that they'd come back to after the first conclave, but it was. The smiles and laughter were contagious, and they knew that the pack was now well on its way to being one of the best in the country, if not in the world.

Their families were the same, growing and becoming stronger and happier, which rubbed off on all around them. When the Alpha, the Luna and their families were always so positive and cheering people on, it was infectious.

As time progressed, they would all grow even more, and that would in turn lead to more successes in a positive circle of cause and effect. Life was good. The pack was great. Their mates were the best.

***

A/N - Yes, it was a little short, but this was mostly a fluffy werewolf story, which I hope was okay! In any case, if you enjoyed it, feel free to check out my other books!

-Lo