The Re- Claim

Epilogue

-One year later-

''Can you believe a year has gone by with no cousin trying to usurp the alpha position? Or not even a vengeful vampire wanting to kill you?'' Charles, being his usual annoying self, throws a gummy bear at me from across the kitchen to where I currently am, sprawled on the living room couch.

''Hmm, thank the moon goddess for that,'' I reply as I chomp on the red gummy. ''Can you imagine, me fighting someone in my current situation?''

''Ha! Let alone fighting, Theo wouldn't let you step out of the house!'' he chuckles to himself and joins me in the living room.

''True that,'' I nod in agreement. ''After what happened last time, I couldn't argue much with him.''

''But you still argued didn't you?'' he cocks an eyebrow at me.

''You know I did,'' I snort, ''wouldn't be me if I didn't.''

''Where is he anyway, it's almost midnight?'' Charles whispers before pausing the movie we were watching.

''He is out on a pizza and ice cream run.''

''You sent the ALPHA, on a pizza run?!''

''and ice cream too,'' I pop three gummies in my mouth at once.

''But he's the alpha!''

''Not mine he isn't.''

''Your cravings will drive him and everyone else in the pack mad, Athena! Chef Perez has lost weight cooking all the different types of dishes you demand. Do you see the irony here?''

''Just a few more weeks my friend, just a few more weeks,'' I pat his head.

'You know what,'' his voice becomes somber and sad all of a sudden, ''after what you went through last year, you know the-uh-''

''It's okay Charles you can say it,'' I smile at him a little. Yes, losing our child last year took a hit on both Theo and I. I stayed in the hospital for two more weeks, since the bleeding would not stop. In those two weeks, the only people I saw and interacted with were Theo, Devin, my mom and Sophie, who was the nurse in charge.

I could not bring myself to face anyone else, not even Ethan. He tried so many times to come over and comfort me, but I just could not do it. It was almost like looking at my father and seeing nothing but disappointment in his eyes. No matter how much my mom convinced me, I couldn't think otherwise.

The whole pack was looking at me with pity the day we left the hospital, and that's what I hated. I didn't need the pitiful glances, I didn't need them to feel sorry for me, because if anything, it only made things worse. After that, I decided to isolate myself further. If it weren't for Theo, who had had enough, and with a little help from Charles barging up into my room a month after the incident and talking me out of it, I would have gone into depression. I even ignored Nightshade and every calls from Leo or anyone else regarding the company.

All I did was sit on the recliner in our room and stare outside the large window. My mind had gone into a dark place, I had once again pushed my mate, my friends and my family away. And if they had not brought me back from it, I would have succumbed to the darkness with no return.

And now here I am today, roughly a year later, back in the light and pregnant again.

This time Theo took all the steps to ensure I was well fed, stress free and taken care of. I worked and often made trips to Nightshade in Toronto accompanied by either Theo or Mila up to three months of my pregnancy, until my husband and I both decided I shouldn't keep on travelling, and that led to Mila becoming the temporary manager at Nightshade. She handles the company well, and I might be considering hiring her full time.