Alpha Betrayed: A Dark Shifter Romance
Broken Kingdom Epilogue

Ford

On the other side, I wince and squint into the sunlight, so much brighter than the dusk we just came from.

“What's wrong?” I ask Juliet. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine," she says.

“But you—"

“I just need to get to a phone.” she cuts in, releasing my hand.

As my eyes adjust, I see our people spread out across the remains of an old mini-golf course, I vaguely remember from wher I was a teenager. It was already abandoned back then and a good place to go if you wanted to drink and make out without being interrupted by older pack members.

It's only about a mile from our winter territory and close enough to Hermione’s base of operations that she should be able to get here in fifteen or twenty minutes, tops.

When I turn back to Juliet, she’s already commandeered a cell phone from somewhere and is making the call. Leaving her to it, I shift my attention to the people closest to the portal. I'm about to tell them to clear the area, so I can get men and women with weapons up here to fight back in the event one of the dragons tries to come through behind Coralie and Gillian. But before I can speak, the portal vanishes, winking out of sight in the blink of an eye.

I'spin to Juliet, who's still on the phone, to see her eyes sad as she says, “Thank you, Hermione. We'll have the injured gathered together and ready for transport as soon as you get here.”

She ends the call and sighs.

“She said something to you on our way out, didn't she?” I ask as I come to stand beside her. “Your mom?”

“She told me she was proud of me," Juliet whispers. “And that Gillian couldn't be trusted...and that I won't see either of them again”

I curl my fingers over her shoulder. “I'm sorry.”

“Me, too," she says, lifting her chin with a deep breath. “But she made her choice and a sacrifice for the good of our people.” “She didn't give two shits about Zion," I say gently. “She did it for you."

Juliet nods slightly, her eyes shining. “Yeah.” swallowing, she meets my gaze. “Il may want to cry about it later. But not now. Now, we're going to take care of our pack.”

“We are,” I promise. “And later, I'll take care of you."

And I do.

Itake care of her that night as we make plans to bring our pack home to Anderson Island and later that summer as we testif in the trial against Beck and the New Lupine Brotherhood, nodding our grim agreement when the jury sentences them to hang.

Itake care of her as summer gives way to autumn and our changes to Zion bring out the best in our people. I take care of he as Layla and Catherine announce they'll be returning to Lost Moon to finish their studies in January and other friends seek sanctuary with our pack.

Itake care of her as we pass our first winter on the island after selling our Wyoming property and through the purchase of a private island even farther from the Washington coast.

I care for Juliet and Juliet cares for our people, but she also cares for me.

Through the passing years and the birth of our two children—twins we name Luna and River—i never doubt that I am loved. It's love that keeps us going, love that gets us through the hard times and makes the joyful ones even sweeter, and love that makes Zion even stronger than it was before.

By the time I have gray in my beard and the kids are starting middle school, no one talks about the world we knew before. Like she said she would, Juliet has erased Hammer's violent legacy, and her father’s name, from our history and our hearts. We have a good life here. A really, really good life.

50, when I suggest a twelve-year gap between kids isn't really all that much when you think about it, she doesn’t immediately blow me off.

She rolls over on her beach towel, showing off every delicious inch of her summer-gold skin and slides her sunglasses dowr her nose. “Really? You want to start all over with babies and diapers, right when the kids are old enough to take care of themselves while we go out to dinner?”

“By the time the next one's born, Luna and River will be old enough to babysit," I say. “Problem solved."

She snorts. “Luna and River are the best, but I'm not leaving two thirteen-year-olds alone with a newborn baby. No way." “Then we hire a nanny part-time so we can have date nights and a new snot-nosed brat to love all at the same time,” I say, skimming my fingers up her bare hip, loving that she never wears a bathing suit in the summer. “Best of both worlds."

Her gaze softens even as her lips part in that certain way that lets me know my touch still drives her crazy, even after fifteen years together. “Well, you are an amazing father”

“The best,” I agree. “Luna tells me so every time she wants another vintage vinyl record only daddy's money can buy."

She grins. “And you were very sweet the last time I was pregnant. I could get used to foot rubs again every night."

As she leans in close to kiss me, I whisper against her lips, “I'l rub your feet anytime. You don't have to be full of my baby." “But it helps, doesn't it?” she asks, kissing me with the words as she slides her hand up the inside of my thigh to tease beneath my balls.

Instantly, I'm hard and dying to be inside her. “It doesn't hurt. You just look so sexy pregnant, with your breasts swollen above your cute little belly and that weird stripe you get below your belly button.”

“There was nothing cute or little about that belly. Or that weird stripe,” she says, but she’s stroking my c**k now and I'm starting to feel very good about my chances of coming inside her on the beach. “I looked like a beached whale."

“You were beautiful” I cup her breast in my hand, dragging my thumb over her nipple, making her breath catch. “And I love you and our family more than anything in the world. I love you so much that I want more. More love, more fun, more babies..." I kiss her deep and slow as I roll her nipples between my fingers, making her squirm before I add, “But if I'm being greedy, just tell me. I can let it go.’

“Don't let it go," she says, pulling me on top of her on the big beach towel. “Don’t ever let go. I want to make all your dreams come true.”

I nudge her legs apart and settle between her thighs, groaning low in my throat when I feel how wet she already is. “You do, Growly. You always do.”

“But only one more baby,” she says, wrapping her legs around my hips as I kiss my way down her throat. “One more sweet baby and then we're done, and we can concentrate on raising the ones we have and continuing to get really good at "x

I grin against her nipple before flicking my tongue out to circle the puckered skin. “You don't think we're good at it yet?” “Hell yeah, we're good, but we can always get better,” she says, smiling and stretching like a cat as I continue to kiss my way down her sun-warmed skin. “Il mean, can you make me come twice in five minutes like the last time you kissed my p***y, or have you lost your touch? These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night, old man. Forty-three is around the age when men's testosterone levels start to die a swift death, right?”

“I'm going to make you die a swift death, brat I promise, and then I eat my wife's sweet, juicy p***y until she comes so hard she’s practically pulling my hair out as she begs me to put my d**k inside her.

“Sorry, baby," I say, hitching her legs over my shoulders and pinning her thighs in place with both hands. “No crotchedy old man dick until I make you come again. I was issued a challenge.”

“No, don't withhold my crotchedy old man dick," she says, giggling and squirming and whimpering for more all at the same time. “I need it. I need it so bad.’

“You need to learn not to hold up red flags in front of bulls," I say, and then I suck her swollen c**t into my mouth, slip my thumb of her tight little as, and violate my wife in all the ways I know she likes best.

And then, when she’s thoroughly mouth-f****d, with desire dripping down her thighs, I rise over her and impale myself with one swift stroke. I push to the end of her, echoing her groan of relief as we're joined together again.

“It's always like going home,” she says, clinging to me as we ride each other with the familiarity of two people who have made love thousands of times, knowing exactly how fast and hard we like it. “I love you, Ford. I'm so glad you're mine." “Love you so much, baby girl" I say, my voice rough and my throat tight. “I couldn't ask for a better life or a better wife or a better place to make a baby with you."

“I might not get pregnant the first time,” she warns as her skin begins to glow the rosy pink of a phoenix shifter about to get off on her husband's d**k, confirming why pink will always be one of my favorite colors. “We might have to try for a while. You might have to come inside me again and again.’

“Devil,” I say, pumping faster, harder. “You know that’s going to make me lose control.”

“I hope so,” she says, meeting me thrust for thrust, her breath coming faster as her 0***m gets closer. “I want you to come inside me so bad. I need it, Ford. I need you. Always."

“Always,” I echo as I pump deep and cry out, riding the wave of pleasure as I shoot everything I have into her p***y.

Several minutes later, as we're catching our breath, she moans and arches into my c**k, still semi-hard inside her. We're still 50 close that I can feel the telltale flutter in her pelvis as she whispers, “Oh, shit.”

I grin down at her, so happy that phoenix shifters have special skills in the “knowing exactly how knocked up I am” department. “Already? You feel it already? Is it a girl? I love our boy, but you know I'm a sucker for a baby girl

Juliet's eyes go wide as she says, “Yes, it’s a girl” Then she hits me on the shoulder. Hard. “And another boy."

My smile stretches wide enough to make my jaw hurt. “Twins? Again?”

She hits me on the other shoulder, making me laugh as she adds, “Yes. Again. What the actual f**k, Ford?”

“What?” I ask, still laughing as she rolls me onto my back and straddles my hips. “It's not my fault"

“It is your fault. It's your stupid super s***m,” she says, slapping my chest with both hands.

“Guess my testosterone levels are just fine them, huh?" I tease, grabbing her wrists and pinning them to the blanket on either side of my head, bringing her lips into perfect kissing range. “No more hitting. We can do this. We've already done it once and everything is easier the second time around.”

She sighs, her breath sweet on my lips as she mutters, “And then you're getting a vasectomy, the kind with magical accompaniment that not even multiple shifts can heal”

“And then we can f**k without protection or pulling out ever again,” say, lifting my hips, letting her feel what the thought does to me. “Sounds amazing’

“You're amazing,” she murmurs, brushing her nose against mine. “How are you hard again? Didn't your dick get the memo that he's old and crotchedy?”

“Guess not," I say. “But if you ride him again, he might learn the error of his ways."

She starts to move, stroking her hips up and down my c**k. “You think so?"

“No,” I admit. “He's never going to learn, but...maybe that's part of what you like about him?”

“What I love about him,” she corrects and then she proves it, making me pretty sure I'm the luckiest man on earth.

Then we head back to the house to welcome our kids home from school and make the most of the late summer warmth, grilling out on our big back deck with the view of our new private island, filled with people who have proven they share our dreams and vision for Zion.

And yes, the world outside our bubble of safety and inclusion is still, in many ways, a shit show. Alphas fight each other for territory, the path to a united shifter world has been rocky, at best, and everyone who was trapped in the Parallel when the portals collapsed is still lost to us. Variants are welcome in more places than they once were, but there are parts of the country that are dangerous for our friends who aren't wolves and vulnerable shifters are still sold into slavery far more oftey than anyone with a conscience would like.

But here, at Zion, we're getting closer to the kind of world we want for our children.

And when Fray and Freya are born nine months later, we're just a little closer still.

As Juliet and I sit propped in the birthing bed downstairs with our swaddled little miracles, our friends and loved ones call t congratulate us and wish us well, and I'm reminded of how far we've come. There was a time when we had almost no one— no family, no pack, not even each other—and look at us now.

“We've done okay for two people who hated each other's guts,” she says when I mention it. Then she grins and adds tiredly, “Glad I didn't shoot you that first night at the motel”

I'smile, sweeping the hair from her forehead. “Me, too.”

“Us, too,” River and Luna say from the door, Layla right behind them.

“Sorry, guys,” Layla says as our first set of twins comes to meet our second. “I told them it was too late, and they could see the babies in the morning, but they insisted.”

“It's okay," Juliet says to our dear friend and the pack’s favorite pediatrician.

Layla decided against being a pharmacist and did the extra years in school to get her medical degree. Shes been practicing here on the island with us—and her wife, Hermione—ever since. Turns out sixteen years wasn't a deal breaker for either of them, once Layla turned twenty-eight and made it clear she wouldn't take “Ym too old for you” for an answer anymore. “Get some sleep, Layla,” Juliet continues. “We'll get them back to bed in a bit. Thank you for sitting with them tonight"

“Any time, guys," Layla says, her dark eyes filled with love. “And congratulations on the new babies. They're lucky to have parents like you."

“Oh, they're so beautiful,” Luna coos, bending her blond head over to stare into her little brothers and sister's faces. “Look, River”

“Kind of squished and red,” River says with his signature mischief-maker grin, the one Juliet insists is all me, but always reminds me of her. “But pretty cute for wee naked goblins."

Juliet yawns. “You were a wee naked goblin once and look at you now. Big and handsome and strong enough to go grab me : diaper, wipes, and a fresh t-shirt from the laundry room. I think your baby brother just peed on me."

Luna giggles. “Aw, good job, buddy.”

Juliet mock-glares at our first daughter. “Excuse me?”

“I just meant peeing is good, right?” Luna asks, still grinning as she adds, “It means he’s hydrated, and everything is working just right”

“Just right,” I agree, enough proud papa in my voice that Luna rolls her eyes and says, “Oh my gosh, Dad. You're so sappy.” “And you love it," I say, kissing both the babies’ heads before reaching for Luna and dragging her into bed, too.

I kiss her forehead while Juliet promises to pee on all of us if we wake the babies. Then River is jumping into bed, too, carrying Juliet's fresh t-shirt and wearing one of her bras on his head like a hat, and I am surrounded by my embarrassment of riches.

My fierce, clever, best friend of a wife, my big kids, my little kids, and years stretching out ahead of us to grow as a family... Iam the luckiest man in the world.

Of that, I have no doubt.

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