The Black Alder Series (Books 1-3)

Arabella Pov

It didn’t take us long to get back to the packhouse. We made it back in half of the time, with Ares driving like a bat out of hell. The moment we arrived, I rushed to the hospital.

“AHHHHH, FUCK YOU, KYLE, “I heard from down the hall. Well, sh*t, Sam. I ran to the room. Sam is lying against some pillows and is breathing hard. Kyle is holding her hand with a crazy look in his eye. He looks so relieved to see me. I try not to laugh. Our gamma Clair is beside Kyle, rubbing her shoulder.

“Sam,” I called out to her as I was going to her side.

“Arabella,” she says, tears coming down her face. I grab her other hand and rub circles on it to try to soothe her.

“It hurts. The contractions hurt so much,” she says.

“Rub her stomach,” I heard Royal say. I rub her stomach, and a blue light glows from my hand. I felt Sam relax all of a sudden.

“You just took some of my pain away,” she says. Interesting.

“Selene says she gave me gifts; this must be another one,” I told her. I smell my mates behind me. They are looking at me with wonder.

“You surprise me every time,” Adonis says, kissing me on the head, and I blush slightly. Aunt Lauren came into the room.

“How is our future beta doing?” Ares asks the doctor.

“Very healthy. We’re ready to deliver now. Do you mind waiting outside? She asks us, and we nod.

“NOOOO. NO Kyle and Arabella are to stay. Everyone else can go now,” she commanded. She used her beta voice on my alphas, which doesn’t work on them, but they follow her instructions anyway. Kyle and I stay.

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30 minutes later

“Alright. Beta Sam, give me one more big push for me,” the doctor says. Sam’s forehead has beads of sweat as she does.

“AHHH FUCK!” she yells as she gives one more push, and soon her baby comes out. I feel Sam relax after pushing so much, and I am thankful that her baby is now out. Kyle kisses her head and whispers in her ear. She smiles. He stands up and goes to where the doctor is with the baby. The baby started to cry. After Lauren cleans Sam’s baby and takes her vitals, she hands the baby to Kyle, who comes over to Sam.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“It’s a girl,” he coos, staring at her with so much love. My mates come in and surround him, trying to get a good look at her.

“Hand her to me,” Sam says, struggling to sit up. I helped her so she could lean up a little. Kyle hands her the baby girl. She is a beautiful girl. She has Sam’s curly, dark brown hair but Kyle’s green eyes. Sam’s at her, putting her finger in her hand.

“Hi, my beautiful girl. I’m so happy to have you here. I’ve been waiting a lifetime for you,” she says, and it’s true. Sam used to tell me all the time how she couldn’t wait to find her mate, settle down, and have kids. Her only fear was that we would be separated. I’m so happy it all worked out well in our favor in the end. She turns to me with the biggest smile on her face and tears coming out. She lifts her daughter to me, and I take the little bundle in my arms. I sat back down next to Sam. I can feel myself tearing up from happiness for her.

“Hi, little princess. I’m your aunt Bella,” I cooed at her while wringing my nose in a funny way at her. She reaches out, touches my face as if recognizing me, and smiles, which makes tears come out even more. Adonis comes over and wipes my face.

“Did you see that? She smiled at me,” I said, looking up to everyone, and they all laughed. I look at my mates, who are looking at me and the little girl with so much love. I can tell we are thinking the same thing. Expanding our little kingdom. I gave the baby girl back to Sam and watched her, and Kyle cooed over her. Ethan, Aiden, and Kayla come in sometime later to see them.

“What is her name?” Lauren asks. Sam pauses and looks up at Kyle. I can tell they are mind-linking.

“We were playing around with names. If it were a boy, we would name him Rakeem after Kyle’s grandfather, but she is a girl. She will be named after my two favorite people in the entire world, Sam says, and he looks at Kyle, then up to me with a smile.

“Her name is Kybella Reece.” She says this, and I feel my heart swell. Kybella. Such a pretty name.

“I love it,” I chirped, tears rolling down my face, and I kissed her head.

“Thank you for the honor,” I told her.

“Other than Kyle, you are the most important person to me. This is why I would like to ask, should anything happen to me and Kyle, that you would be our little Kybella godmother. Raise and care for her as if she were your own pup.” She looks at my mates. “We also would like you three to be her godfathers,” she says.

“Yes”! I exclaim, and I hug her after she hands Kyle Kybella.

“I want the three of you to be her godfathers,” she says to my mates.

“Of course, Sam,” they tell her, and I smile lovingly at them. I have so much happiness in my heart for Sam and Kyle right now. It’s a real dream come true.

After we leave, Sam, my friends, and I head upstairs. Once we enter the room, I feel a pang of sadness flow through me. I see Ash staring at me, so I know he noticed it, but he doesn’t say anything. Ares and Adonis head downstairs to go over some packing business. My Luna ceremony is to take place tonight, so I know they will be busy for a while.

Once Ares and Adonis are downstairs and out of shot, I rub my hands through my hair and get on the bed. It’s almost 6 p. m., so I know I’ll need to get ready soon, as my ceremony is at midnight, when the moon is the highest in the sky.

“What is bothering you, Bella?” Ash asks as I lean into him. He started to play with my hair.

“The last time I was in this room, I was coming to terms with the fact with the fact that you were gone. My whole life ended that night. I felt the bond break between each of you, and I thought I would die too, and to be honest, if it were not for Sam, I would have. I didn’t think I could go on, knowing none of you would be here,” I told him. He pushed me back and gazed into my eyes with his beautiful, bicolored ones.

“I am sorry for what you had to go through, but I promise, I will never leave you, Arabella. You have my word on that. Like a phoenix, I will always come back to you.” He says this and kisses me on the cheek.

“But what about when I die?” I tell him. “If you’re reborn, you will have to be without me,” I tell him, and he shakes his head.

We would only be able to die and stay dead if you were dead. Our life cycle ends when yours does, but Lycans live for hundreds of years. In one of our grandmother’s past lives, she and Roland lived for almost 600 years. We will have plenty of time together, but even if we do die, we will be able to spend eternity together in the moon goddess realm,” he explains. Knowing this brings me immense joy. I will have them for what seems to be a very long time. I understand now why she made Royal a lycan too. I nodded my head.

“You said your phoenix is like a wolf’s subconscious, right? I ask, and he nods.

“Can I meet him?” I asked.

“Are you sure?” Ash asks, and I nod. He sits up, and I do too.

“Okay, then,” he says, getting out of bed. He closes his eyes. When he opens them, his eye sockets are on fire, and his body shakes, expanding huge wings made of flames. The flames die down and turn into white feathers. He is stunning. I get out of bed slowly, unsure if he knows me.

“Do you know who I am?” I ask, and he nods.

“You are my mate,” he says in Ash’s voice, but it seemed a bit deeper than Ash’s wolf. More ancient yet hypnotizing all the same.

“I want to know who you are,” I told him, and he smiled. His eyes went from flames to pure white. He holds his arms out to me, and I walk into them. He snuggles me against him. Ash seems warmer, but I can tell it’s supposed to be this way. He pulls me back a little.

“My name is Blaze, my love,” he says. I smile.

“Nice to meet you, Blaze. I am Arabella,” I told him. He pulls me in and kisses me. His kiss is soft and passionate, and my legs feel like jelly. He sits on the bed. I ran my hand along with his wings. His feathers are soft. So beautiful. I sat on his lap and wrapped my arms around him.

“I get how Soren is my mate, as he is mated to my wolf Royal, but how are you, my mate? I am not a phoenix.” I told him.

“We are not mated to your wolf, though we love her just as much. We are matched by your elemental energy. Your energy is so strong. Stronger than my brothers and me. We were all matched with you to balance out your power. Your moon goddess gave you the ability to draw on some of her power, which makes you that much more powerful, but don’t worry, we will teach you to channel it. We have a lot of time ahead of us,” he explains, and he kisses my cheek. I blush.

“Thank you for explaining this to me,” I told him before kissing him on the lips. I feel so safe. So comfortable. He hugs me with his arms and wraps his wings around me as a protective cover to hug me.

“Until we meet again, my love,” he says, closing his eyes. When he opens them, they are back to Ash’s normal color.

“He loves you,” Ash says. “I can feel it.”

“I love him too. I love anything and everything that is a part of you,” I tell him, and he picks me up, laying me against the bed.

“I know you do,” he says, kissing me. Ash is the gentlest of his brothers, and I think that is exactly what I need right now. His kiss turns deep, and I give in instantly. I moan against his lips, and I feel a low grumble form in his chest.

“I could kiss these all day,” he murmurs, and I giggle against his lips. He runs a hand under my shirt and cuffs my nipple under my bra. My back arches from the feeling. His tongue is still dominating my mouth, and it all just feels so good.

“Ash, please,” I begged. I don’t even know what I’m begging for, but Ash knows. He unbuckled my pants and tried to slide them down. I wiggle out of them, leaving my white, lacy pants on. He rubs the outside of my pants, teasing my clitoral area.

“The smell of your arousal is driving me crazy,” he growls, and it makes me cream a little more. He gets on top of me and trails kisses from my neck, kissing my healed marks on the bottom. I take off my shirt and bra as he trails kisses down my stomach.

“Sweet,” he says, inhaling my scent. He uses his tongue and runs it against my flower while my pants are still on. Feeling him through my pants is one hell of a sensation, and I love it. He then tears my pants off.

“You three are buying me new underwear,” I tell him. “You always tear mine up.”

“Okay, but we will just tear those up too,” he says, kissing my inner thigh. I giggle because I know he is right.

He stops teasing me and starts to tongue me.

” Yes. just like that,” I told him, feeling his tongue do his wonders. I would never get enough of this, and I loved it.

After he brought me to orgasm, he moved from in between my legs. He took his clothes off and climbed on top of me, trailing kisses upward on my stomach, to my nipples, and up to my neck, where his mark existed, until he got into my mouth. I could already feel how hard he was. I reached down and gripped him in my hand, rubbing the tip. He moaned in my mouth. I pushed him into my flower, and he groaned. He pulled my hands over my head as he pushed into me.

He was making love to me, and I was all gooey at how sensual he was being. After we reached our highs together, we laid in each other’s arms, calming down. This. This was bliss.