Epilogue

Something was definitely not right. Sophia had her shirt lifted part way up and was looking at her abs in the mirror. Instead of seeing well-defined muscle, she saw fat. She knew she couldn't be getting fat. She worked out frequently and she knew she hadn't changed her eating habits significantly. When she thought about it, she thought maybe she had been eating a little more. While she hoped she wasn't gaining weight, she also knew it was probably the best possible explanation for what was happening to her.

She stepped out in the hallway, listening to the sounds of conversation downstairs and she heard Gabriel's loud laughter. She couldn't help but smile at how well he fit into the pack. It had been over four years since he had first showed up on her doorstep, but as shy as he had been, Sophia never thought he'd have been so comfortable with the pack.

Her smile faded as she reminded herself she might be mad at Gabriel. Extremely mad. But she still had another couple of minutes to figure that out. It felt like the longest two minutes of her life. She knew she should have gone downstairs and quietly pulled Gabriel aside, but Jason was there with his kids, and Viola would start talking her ear off the moment she saw her. Sophia had grown accustomed to the eight-year-old girl's hero worship, but she simply wasn't in the mood.

Finally, the time was up and Sophia looked at the test. The result was not what she wanted.

"GABRIEL!" she shouted. Instantly, the house was silent. Shortly after, she could hear the sound of hurried footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Sophia!" he cried, rushing into the bathroom. "What's wrong? What happened?" He glanced around, almost expecting to see some sort of threat, but it was just Sophia in the bathroom.

"Gabriel! You tell me! What the hell is this?" She picked up the test she had just looked at and held it out for Gabriel to see.

"A pregnancy test?" Gabriel asked confused. He looked at the blue lines, not sure what they meant, but it didn't take him long to figure it out. Had the test been negative, she would not have been so pissed. "You're pregnant?"

"Apparently! God damn it Gabriel! Why would you do this to me?"

"Sophia." Even though she was yelling at him, he remained calm. He had long since learned that was the best way to deal with her. Getting loud himself would only escalate things. He reached out to touch her stomach, but she pushed his hands away. Ignoring that, he reached out again, this time, without interference.

He put his hands under her shirt and lightly caressed the skin of her stomach. He had noticed it had been getting softer, but hadn't given it much thought. He held back a smile as he let his hand rest on top of the slight protrusion.

"Sophia…" he said softly. "Can I keep it?"

"What?" Keeping it hadn't even crossed Sophia's mind, but now that Gabriel mentioned it, she remembered that he was her mate and it was something they'd have to talk about. She didn't want it, but she could hear in Gabriel's voice that he did.

"Gabriel," she said, a slight growl to her voice. "Did you do this on purpose?" She pushed his hand away from her stomach, thinking about what he might have done.

"What? No! Of course not! Why would I?"

"You want a kid, don't you? Are you sure you've been using condoms?"

"Of course I have! I wouldn't sabotage a condom! Seriously. Yes, I would like a child, but I know you don't. And I am okay with that. Or was. Now that it's here…" He sighed. "You want to terminate."

He pulled her into his arms. As much as he would have loved to have a child, he didn't want Sophia to go through something she dreaded. He didn't need to have his own child anyway. Being part of a pack meant he could help raise as many children as he wanted. With Talon and Melanie's two daughters, Blake and Jason's twins, and Emma and Lukas having one on the way, he knew there were enough kids in his life.

"I understand," he said. "I'll go with you to the doctor if you want."

"Gabriel, don't you want to talk about it?"

"Do I have any chance of convincing you to keep it?"

"I don't know," she answered as honestly as she could. She always imagined that if she found herself pregnant, she would terminate without hesitation. But knowing that Gabriel wanted to be a father, she wasn't sure she could. "I always thought you'd be the one who had to deal with this damn pregnancy stuff."

"It's still not possible."

"It shouldn't be possible that I'm pregnant! Gabriel, how could this have happened? I don't even remember the last time I fucked you without protection! What was it? Six months ago?"

As soon as she said that, Gabriel realized what happened. He knew he had to tell Sophia, but he was certain she was going to be pissed.

"Gabriel? What is it?" Sophia thought he looked a little sick.

"I think you better sit down," he said nervously. Slowly, she headed for the bathtub and sat on the edge, watching Gabriel as he paced back and forth.

"What's wrong?"

"Last time we had sex without a condom," Gabriel said. "It was about seven months ago. There's a chance that… that's when you got pregnant."

"Gabriel, don't you think I'd have noticed before now if I was seven months pregnant?"

"Um… I don't know. The thing with lions. The babies stay small. Really small. Until about eight months in and then they go on a growth spurt in the final two months. Lions are usually pregnant for ten months. But the small size. It allows the mother to shift late into pregnancy."

"Gabriel. Please tell me you're shitting me."

"Sophia, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would ever be an issue. We don't even know if that's what happened. I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility."

Sophia didn't say anything. She'd hardly been able to get over the fact that she was pregnant. She couldn't handle the possibility that not only was she pregnant, but she was closer to delivery than she was to conception. Part of her wanted to scream at Gabriel again, but she couldn't blame him. Even if it had been entirely his fault, she didn't want to be mad at him.

Instead she stood up and pulled him into her arms. "We'll figure it out," she promised him.

For the first time in a long time, Sophia woke up alone. She touched her stomach and knew she really was alone. She sat up and looked at the crib across the room. Soon, they would need more, but they only had two months to prepare and one was the best they could get on short notice. Especially since Sophia had spent most of that time trying to get mentally prepared. If it hadn't been for Gabriel, she wouldn't have made it.

She saw her mate lying on the floor in front of the crib and she immediately got up and went to him. He didn't wake when she gave him a gentle kiss or when she stroked the side of his face. She wanted to pull him into her arms, but a soft grunting noise directed her attention upwards.

Nervously, she stood up and approached the crib and looked down. Three tiny infants were laying there, two sleeping peacefully and the third just starting to wake up. For several moments, Sophia looked at the small creature, not sure what to do. As the baby started to get fussier, Sophia worried about the other two waking up and then waking Gabriel. She knew her mate needed to sleep since he was the one taking care of the babies through the night.

"Sorry kid," Sophia said as she reached down and picked the newborn up. "I have no damn idea what I'm doing." Gabriel had been the one to learn all about caring for the babies and Sophia had been glad to let him take on that responsibility. But now, she couldn't bring herself to wake him.

"Oh, hell," Sophia said as the baby started to get louder. "You'd damn well better just be hungry. Think I can handle that." She removed her top and then looked at the baby. She held the infant to her chest, putting its lips to her breast. For a moment, nothing happened and Sophia started to think it was going to be a lot more difficult than she thought, but then the baby took the nipple in her mouth.

For a few minutes, the baby drank and while that one was feeding, another started to wake up. She held the first baby and reached for the second. As she was starting to bring that one up, she glanced over at the third child, sure it would be hungry soon as well, but she knew she couldn't feed all three at once. Or at least, she couldn't do so in her current form.

She got all three of the infants on the floor near Gabriel and then shifted into her wolf form. Settling herself against Gabriel, she used her paws to get the babies into the correct position. It didn't take long for the third infant to wake and begin to suckle. She relaxed against her mate and closed her eyes, hoping it wouldn't take long.

After a while, she felt an arm resting across her upper body. As much as she wanted to pay attention to her mate, she remained where she was while waiting for the last newborn to finish.

"Sophia," Gabriel murmured as he ran his fingers through her black fur. He shifted enough to see that she had all three of their children with her. "What're you doing?"

Sophia couldn't reply while she was in her wolf form, but as soon as she felt the last one stop drinking, she began to shift back. Once she was human again, she took hold of Gabriel's arm around her and turned so she was facing him.

"They were hungry and I seemed to be the one that's properly equipped to handle that," she said, answering his question.

"You should have woken me up," Gabriel said. "I meant it when I said I'd take care of them."

"I know. But I can occasionally help out I suppose. I don't want you completely worn out." She gave him a quick kiss. "But you can do all the diaper changing."

"How did I know that was coming?" he asked as he sat up and looked at the triplets. He picked up two of them and returned them to the crib and then picked up the third and placed her with her siblings.

"So, what did we end up with?"

"What?" Gabriel asked, confused for several moments. "Oh. One girl and two boys."

"That's what I thought I heard," Sophia said. She was a little fuzzy on the details of the delivery, having only been wanting it to be over as soon as possible.

"You still going with the names you picked out?" Gabriel asked.

"Of course," Sophia said, joining Gabriel at the side of the crib. "It's the standard naming practice among wolves to have nature-themed middle names."

"I believe that part, but your ideas seem… extreme?"

Sophia smiled, knowing that she couldn't argue with his assessment. "Which one is the girl?"

"Closest to you," Gabriel said, looking over at his daughter.

"Raina," Sophia said. "Raina Hellbender. And that makes these two your brothers. Mathias Dragonhunter and Adrian Sabrewing."

"If nothing else," Gabriel said, "there'll never be any doubt who their mother is."

"Damn straight."

"Especially when they learn to talk."