USELESS?

EPILOGUE

FIVE YEARS LATER

The sound of childish giggles echoes through the pack house as seven children, three boys and four girls, run through the halls, being chased by their daddies. Hunter, Archer, and Joseph run after the children, trying to get the mob ready for their first day of kindergarten.

"Phoenix Emery and Dakota Hayden, if you want your snacks after school, you will get your tiny butts here RIGHT now. Don't make me call your Papa."

A little boy with black hair and dark blue eyes and a little girl with silvery blonde hair and bright green eyes stop dead in their tracks. They duck their heads and drag their feet as they make their way over to Hunter. The other five stop as well, having lost the leaders of their rebellion, and make their ways to their daddies.

A pair of identical girls with ash blonde hair and hazel eyes hold hands with a little boy with dark brown hair and ice blue eyes. They make their way to Archer, and stand quietly, eyes on their untied shoes. Archer stands, looking down at them as he catches his breath.

The last two children both have bright green eyes. The bolder of the pair, a little girl with beautiful red curls, looks up at Joseph defiantly, as her black-haired brother bows his head as the others are doing.

"Elizabeth Ann, Micah Andrew, and Nicole Leeanne," Archer barks at his triplets, "let me tie your shoes, then go brush your hair and teeth. We have 20 minutes until it's time for the bus."

"Luckily," says Joseph, "Ashlynn Marie and Kaden Michael had a head start on getting ready. They just need to grab their backpacks that we set by the front door last night."

"I think that's what happened with my two," Hunter says. "We got them ready too early, and now they don't have anything to do but wait for the bus. I'm sorry, Archer."

"Alright," Archer yells, making all the children jump, "I want all the kids who are ready to go to sit on the stairs, boys in the back girls in the front. We're going to play the quiet game. Whoever can stay quiet the longest gets a special surprise when the bus comes."

Four children rush to follow his orders, taking seats on the stairs. Archer calls a pack member to watch the little ones, and he, Joseph, and Hunter each kneel in front of a little one to tie their shoes. Then, each picks up a child and carries them to the Beta suite to brush teeth and hair. Five minutes later, three more children join the quiet game in progress on the stairs.

They thank the pack member and send her on her way, then pick up backpacks and distribute them to the children. Minutes later a horn honks outside, and the men usher the children up and out the door. As they go to step into the bus, Archer tells them, "The winner has a prize in their backpack, but you can't tell anyone else that you got it, or we can't play again."

Little do the children know, each backpack has a special surprise in it, a traditional pack gift for a pup's first day of school: a metal beaded bracelet with their name on it. The inside of the bracelet is inscribed with their pack name, and a special message from their parents that is for them to discover as they get older.

As the bus pulls away with the miscreants aboard, the three tired fathers slump into chairs in the pack dining room. "It's only 8am, and I'm already wishing I was back in bed," grumbles Hunter.

"What are we going to do when there's MORE of them?" Asks Joseph.

"What do you mean, more of them?" Archer says suspiciously.

Joseph blushes, "Victor and I are expecting again," he admits.

"Same." Says Hunter. "We've been waiting for the right time to announce it."

"Well, hell," Exclaims Archer, "and I thought I was the only one!"

The three of them look at each other for a few minutes, then burst out laughing. As their hilarity subsides, Joseph scratches his chin and says, "Our mates are just going to have to start helping out with more than just creating the little monsters," he jokes, which spawns another round of laughter.

"One thing is for sure." Hunter declares, "our lives may be busy and all around crazy, but I wouldn't change a single thing!"

The other two look at Hunter, then each other, before grinning and saying, in unison, "Me, neither."

The trio continues laughing and joking through their late breakfast before going on about their lives. And Hunter takes a minute to think about how far he has come...was he ever, truly...Useless?