Taken in the Night

Epilogue- Peace

EDITED

--Peace--20 years later--

Looking around the table, I find myself smiling. This is where I belong. Not in the jungle with Nala. Not in the pack house with Taylor. Here. In my own home. In the middle of my two lives.

"How's mom and dad? I haven't seen you since Christmas!" I ask Ryder who's sitting next to me, on the other side at the head of the table is Hunter.

"Their good. They wanted to come today but dad had work," he answers. Dad took over the beta roll again about 10 years ago, but since he's retiring he gets the job of training the next beta.

"Good for him," I smile. A small hand taps my shoulder. I turn to look at the 7 year old staring back at me with her big, blue eyes.

"Can I sit with you mommy? Declan is being mean again," she pouts. I laugh as I let my daughter climb onto my lap. Hunter and I have had 3 kids so far. Nina has her fathers eyes with my hair, skin and build, who is 18 as of today. Declan is the spitting image of his father at the age of 16. And little Amber who also looks like her dad, but with my eyes, she's at the tender age of 7.

We've found out the Nina has a cat and Declan has a wolf so now we're waiting to see if it's a one off or if the girls in our family are all going to be cats.

"Kitty, could you pass the salad?" Hunter asks. I nod and hand him the bowl, leaning my head on his shoulder.

My eyes connect with Taylor's, who smiles at me. I smile back. Honestly, she's the best beta Hunter could ask for. Smart, easy-going, logical, funny. She's not a drag nor one to annoy people in a serious situation. And her mate is lovely as well.

"Who's up for Monsters Inc after dinner?" Hunter asks, already knowing everyone's reactions. Everyone laughs but agrees all the same. Some things you can never let go of.

---

"Thanks so much for coming Ryder, remember to send mum and dad my love and that your all welcome anytime," I inform my brother as he goes to leave. It's about 9 and he has work in the morning, he's a teacher at the high school. Decided to not go down the beta path.

"Will do, see ya later Peace," he says, wrapping me in a hug. Then he leaves, waving as he does so. I wave back and close the door.

The others left about an hour ago, knowing we wanted some family time.

"We should go to bed as well," Hunter whispers, coming to stand behind me. I nod.

"But first I need to say goodnight to the birthday girl," I whisper back, slowly walking upstairs.

I walk up to the only purple door in the house and knock, to be greeted with a familiar voice welcoming me in.

"Hi sweetie," I greet, walking into the room. The walls are purple with the odd poster. The dresser is in the corner. Her bed in the middle. The curtains are forest print. The door behind them leads to a balcony.

"Hi mom," she greets, patting the bed. I shut the door then walk over and take a seat.

"Are you excited about tomorrow?" I ask her, referring to the tradition this pack has. It's where the birthday boy or girl stands in front of all the eligible, unmated wolves and looks around for their mate. Some people find their mate, others don't and it takes a few years. That's what happened to Hunter.

She groans and falls backwards onto her pillow, "don't remind me!"

"Why not honey?" I question, sincerely worried.

"What if he doesn't like me? What if he doesn't like the fact that I'm a cat? What if I don't find him? What if he rejects me? What if the he is actually a she? What if I hate the guy? What if it's Lucas!" She cries. I chuckle. Lucas is her 'school bully', she despises him because he's cocky and popular and thinks he's all this and all that.

"That's a lot of what ifs," I answer.

"You're no help! Send daddy in please?" She teases as she sits up again. I laugh, kiss her head, then exit.

"She's waiting," I inform Hunter as I walk out.

Lol. Yay! So this is the end of Ice, Ryder and Hunter's journey guys. And I know there are lots of unanswered questions, buutttt, you gotta admit, Ice is awesome now. Like super mum or something.

I love all my readers, even the many many silent ones. And I thank you all for reading this and after some major editing I might figure out how to enter the watty's this year. I'll give everyone the additional blah blah blah stuff in the next chapter and if you have any questions I'll answer them in the chapter after that if you 1. Comment or 2. Pm me.

-Wolfy