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Chapter Three
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Seven years later...
Raine stretched his legs slowly, smiling at his children next to him. Ivy, Theo, Kevin and J.D. grinned back at him, giving him a thumbs up. He turned to smile at Noelle who held their baby girl, Devon.
"Please be careful!" Noelle said, looking at each of her children, even though she was speaking mainly to Raine. They all chorused they would, blowing raspberries at Devon who gurgled in delight.
"Alright panthers, on the count of three!" Raine announced. "Three, two, one!" he and his four children leapt forward, transforming from humans to panthers. Raine let out a light growl, pleased with his children who had all successfully shifted. Ivy and Theo had been able to shift for a couple years now-since they were six-but it was only Kevin's third time and J.D.'s first. They were seven and six years old and took to shifting just as naturally as Theo and Ivy had.
In all honesty, Raine and Noelle had been pleasantly surprised when the twins had shifted to their panther forms, looking like mini Raines. When asked how they knew to shift they replied that they had seen Raine shift and decided to try it to. Just decided to try it. Like it was no big deal.
Now that they were older, Raine and Noelle figured they would know what Theo and Ivy were. However, they were neither panther nor pixie. They were a mix of the two races. Each could shift into a panther, but Theo could predict the future and Ivy was a nature empath. She could heal, speed along the growth of nearly anything, and had a sense of smell stronger than panthers.
Noelle watched the five of them romp through the forest until they were out of sight. She sighed, content, and kissed Devon on the top of her head. Kevin and J.D. had been blessings, but they didn't have the same powers as Theo and Ivy. They had panther genes through and through. Noelle assumed it was going to be the same with Devon. For some reason, the panther gene was more dominant. Theo and Ivy had been an exception. She didn't want to admit that it had something to do with Réveil or with her being the Vessel. Her children were just exceptionally blessed and unique.
She couldn't believe that Theo and Ivy were already ten years old. They were growing up fast. It seemed only yesterday that she and the women had arrived at Haven. Now, there was never a quiet moment with all the children running around like crazy.
True to Theo's word, Jed and Delilah had a baby boy that they named Bentley. It was Delilah's grandfather's name and she had insisted on it. Soon afterward Bentley, Kelsey and Lindi had been born. Clover and Ryder, to everyone's surprise had twins, Hailey and Farren, explaining the hay and iron Ivy had smelled. Tamsin had recently given birth to Mason, a baby boy, much to Fletcher's joy. He claimed that his hard work had finally paid off, not that he didn't love his two daughters. Finn and Violet had chosen to have only one child, Alexia, and stop there. They were content with one child, because everyone else had enough to overcompensate for it.
Alexia liked to follow Theo around, much to his frustration. She still called him Toe, even though she was only two years younger than him at the age of 8. It annoyed him, which was why she did it. Theo was friends with everyone, flirting shamelessly with all the women of the house and rough housing the boys. He was a natural born leader and would be a great Alpha some day.
Ivy on the other hand was an outsider. She was friends with the children, but she would much rather spend her time out in the garden or orangery by herself. She confessed to Noelle that she felt left out of a lot of things, but she didn't know how to want to be a part of anything. "I like being alone," she told Noelle, "It gives me a chance to think. Besides, nature is the bestest friend I could ever have. I just think the other kids think I'm weird because I don't like playing their silly games."
