Helanie:

Few Years Later:

"I heard about you and Gavin," I told Lucy as we stood together, watching the happy couple in front of us.

Lamar and Jenny had a beautiful wedding. They had just finished saying their vows and marking each other, and now they were being presented with gifts. Lamar was going to stay in her pack, and I'd heard Penn wanted him to become his royal beta, which was honestly the best thing ever. We had finished our academy too, and the new students would be enrolling soon.

"Yeah, it was odd," Lucy admitted, shyly looking down.

"So, what is the plan?" I asked, and she started smiling widely.

"Actually, I'm not sure right now. I mean, we've been working together. We spend more time together than ever these days." She went on, mentioning that both of them had decided to go rogue and work with my husbands as their warriors.

"Give it a thought. You two look cute together," I told her, and she nodded.

"And we're mature now. We've moved past all the grudges. And this relationship we're building is much more grown-up. Gavin earned my forgiveness. So, yeah, we'll see," she said, smiling ear to ear.

I looked ahead and saw my little babies running around. They were such a peaceful sight to me.

"What are your plans?" Lucy asked, elbowing me.

"Well, I'll keep doing what I planned," I replied. "I'm a trainer at the academy."

I watched her smile wide. My husbands had been crowned Rogue Kings of the North, West, South, and East, and I had been crowned Alpha Queen of the North. It was amazing.

The last few years have been spectacular. We rebuilt the mansion together, all the broken pieces were replaced. Thankfully, the X-Codex no longer existed, but new threats did pop up now and then. We handled them together and got rid of them.

I checked on Darcy once in a while. I heard that every few months she tried to end her life because the suffering was too much. She'd been asking someone to just put an end to her life, but that wasn't happening.

Dalton got engaged two or three months ago, we were all invited. Penn and Sage were only getting stronger. They were going to mark each other very soon and officially get married.

My little sister was now studying in the South at the biggest academy, more like a fashion academy. My half-brother was doing very well. He'd found a mate too. I was happy for them.

And then there was Lucy. It was crazy that she found her second-chance mate in Gavin, crazy how it all played out. They were supposed to break up so they could learn to grow apart and realize that even if they wandered away, they'd come back to each other.

Gavin stood next to Lamar, looking much happier than before. It took him time to heal, but he healed with Lucy. Ever since, the two had been really, really good together, not teen puppy love this time, they were mature.

I smiled at my mates. My mother and Lord McQuoid were living in the mermaid land, ruling it together. My mates walked over, smiling at me.

"Can we steal our mate from you? Everybody's dancing and we want to dance with her," Emmet asked, holding his hand out to Lucy. She smiled and gave him a head nod.

Gavin was already moving to ask her for a dance. I accepted Emmet's hand and stood. We all reached the dance floor and slow-danced while the others waited their turn.

"Congratulations," I said to Lamar as I kept dancing with Emmet.

"I am the happiest ever," Lamar said, and I knew what he meant. After what we'd been through, each of us had thought we'd never be happy again. Time and a good mate beside you heals everything. It's true.

After I danced with Emmet, Norman came over and we danced for a few minutes. Then I danced with Kaye and Maximus. When the dance ended, we walked into the woods to spend some time together.

They sat on the ground while I lay between them, my head resting on Emmet's chest, my right hand on Norman's chest and my left on Maximus's, my legs bent over Kaye's stomach. They made a perfect square around me.

"You know, it's time we plan more babies," Kaye suggested, and I rolled my eyes, laughing.

"Really?" I asked playfully.

"Yeah, it'll be just one or two months' pregnancy for you, won't it?" Norman joked, pointing out how strong I was.

"I mean, I'm ready," I shyly replied. As soon as I said that, I watched them get up and drop to their knees.

"Hey, stop it," I laughed as all four tried to unbutton their shirts.

We'd arranged a schedule where I spent specific days in everyone's room. It was odd at first, but we'd gotten used to it. There was so much to do that none of us wanted to waste time on jealousy. We were mature now.

As Emmet lowered his face to kiss me, our little devils came in.

"You guys left us behind!" Devon screamed, pouting as he rushed over to Kaye, his father, and climbed on his back. Kaye gave me a very sad look and I laughed.

Those four little angels would not let us have one minute alone. So whenever they went to sleep, we sneaked into the guest room to have fun. Whenever they were around, they kept an eye on us. Norman once joked that it seemed like one of our enemies had unleashed them on us.

Hale came in next, pouting at Emmet, his father, and climbing into his lap. Demi was always the shy one, she hugged her father Norman, clinging to him. Miranda, the gentlest soul, hugged Maximus.

"Okay, so everybody gets hugs while I sit here all alone," I complained, hands on my hips.

"Yeah, you can play with your other babies you were talking about planning," Maximus teased. The kids gave me a look.

"You're gonna bring more babies? Are we not enough for you?" Devon hissed, hands on his hips.

"No, I did not," I protested, laughing as I grabbed a fistful of grass and threw it at him. The kids jumped down, grabbed grass, and threw it at each other. Demi hugged me while the others clung to me.

"We can play with you during the day, but most of the time we're our mommy's kids," Hale told Emmet. Emmet gave him a look and nodded, realizing how cunning they were.

Then it was just a mess. We played in the grass, giggling and laughing, before we got up to go back home, the home we'd built together. It was a happy ending for me.

But once in a while, when I went to bed late at night, I'd open my eyes and see the terrifying faces of those alphas staring at me. Trauma heals, but sometimes it lingers in the subconscious.

THE END…..