Sweetest Devotion | ✓

epilogue

"Charlie Boy" -The Lumineers

Five years later...

     "Teddy!"

    The sound of his precious mate's voice and a little boy's giggling was heard from upstairs. Along with stomping.

    Sean was at the microwave with a two-year-old situated on his hip. Her little legs were swinging as her head rested sleepily on her father's peck. The little girl was quiet like her mother, or at least, how Bonnie used to be quiet.

     The little girl was the exact carbon copy of Bonnie Fitzgerald. Same wild light brown waves and curls, dark green eyes that lightened every year she grew older, and the same angels kiss between bushy dark brows. 

     Sean shook his head when the sound of his son and wife running down the stairs was heard. Patrick was stark naked when his feet slapped the wooden flooring at the bottom of the stairs, running from his mother to hide behind Sean's long legs.

    Still giggling wickedly.

    "Sean, control your son!"

    Bonnie wore her pale pink pajama bottoms that she had had since she was a teen and one of Sean's shirts. Her long hair was recently cut because their little hellion of a son decided it was a great idea to give his mama a haircut. Long waves and curls that went to the bottom of her back were shrunken, just past her shoulders.

     "Patrick, I thought Mama told you to get in the bath. Why are you running around here butt ass naked, boy?" Sean said sternly.

    The four-year-old tugged on his father's flannel pajama bottoms, his giggling had ceased and was replaced by a wobbly lip and watering eyes.

    "We were just playing, Papa." The boy muttered.

    Bonnie was about to interject but Sean raised a hand to stop her, to tell her he would fix it, "Now, Pat," Sean sighed, looking down at his son, "you know Mama and I just want you to be healthy so that you can grow up big and strong to be a warrior, just like Uncle Marcus, right?"

    Patrick nodded rapidly, "Then that means taking baths, helping with Lottie, and being nice to Mama."

    The little boy let go of his father's legs, looking down at his feet in embarrassment so Sean hurriedly began to explain so that the boy could understand, "You can always play whenever you want. You know this. But, when you need to take care of yourself and do big boy stuff, we gotta listen to Mama. Just like you listen to me, okay?"

    Sean then instructed him to take a few deep breaths, counting numbers in his head, and listing three of his favorite things out loud. It was a technique used for children who had a problem expressing their emotions and reigning in their anger. It has been a great tool for werewolf children when done right.

    They tend to be more erratic and energetic than humans and other supernatural beings. Their wolf sides were able to easily take over and could become serious problems in the future. It was a bigger shock to Bonnie than it was Sean because the first time Patrick pitched a fit, it was in public and Bonnie had no idea what to do.

    Bonnie herself started becoming upset which sent her own version of a distress signal through her and Sean's mate bond. He was scared out of his mind when arriving at the child clothing store in town, finding Patrick throwing baby toys and Bonnie crying. 

     Whenever Sean remembered the experience, he always felt so horrible. He never really explained how much harder it was to raise werewolves to his mate. Sure, human children can be real antichrists straight from hell, but werewolf children were a whole other breed of difficult.