Chapter 328

“It hasn’t even been that long since I left them,” I tell Archer as he and I ride side by side in the back of a truck away from the border lands and back towards home. “But everyone’s so anxious.” I can feel it through the bond.

“Can you blame them?” Archer asks. “Their mate is living a life as a warrior.”

The first woman warrior. It’s been a wild ride to the top, proving myself not just to the world but also to my four mates who are so very protective of me.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m a warrior in name only. Though I have seen some combat, it’s never been at the farthest of front lines and it’s never been without Archer as my personal bodyguard. And it’s only been for three years.

These were the compromises we made. They wanted me to fulfill my dreams, but I could feel their stress inside of me, tugging at the mate bond.

Honestly, I miss them too.

Archer knows how capable I am and even he feels anxious when I put myself into too much danger.

Maybe, for all our sakes, it’s time for me to retire.

But only if Archer retires too.

I glance at him sideways, wondering if he will. Being a warrior wasn’t just my dream, after all.

He holds my gaze as I look at him. “If you have something to ask, just as it.”

There’s another secret I’ve been withholding. Another reason I might want to retire ahead of schedule.

The truck takes us to an airport and then we are in the air.

At the airport in our hometown, Beau meets us. Seeing me, he bursts through security and grabs me in his arms. Lifting me, he spins me around.

“That’s enough of that,” Archer says at once. Placing his hand on Beau’s shoulder, he makes him lower me back to the ground.

“Don’t ruin our picture-perfect reunion,” Beau says and kisses me. Breaking the kiss, I glance behind him, half-expecting to see paparazzi there. Instead, Beau himself is the one holding the camera. He quickly snaps a photo of me.

“I would have thought you’d be tired of cameras by now,” I tell him.

Beau, after graduating, decided to go into acting and proved to excel at it. If every female werewolf in the pack wasn’t already in love with him, they certainly are now, after seeing him as the main love interest in the lasted blockbuster romantic comedy.

“Beau will never tire of cameras,” Archer says.

“Never,” Beau assures me. Subtly, he reaches up and places his hand over the mark he left years ago on my neck. I lean into him a little, letting him know that his touch is welcome.

“Where are Neil and Steven?” I ask.

“Steven has a lecture,” Beau says. “But he’ll meet us at the Alpha King’s office.”

“You can call him Neil,” Archer says.

Beau rolls his eyes. “Where’s the fun in that? The man has earned the title. Let him have it.”

Neil spent a few years avoiding the political life, but it always called to him.

“I want to prove myself a better man than my father,” he told me when I asked if he was sure.

“You don’t need to prove anything,” I said. “You already are a better man.”

“But there’s more good I can do.”

He kissed me, and submitted his run for office the very next day.

Steven was now a world-renowned scientist, who was often called all around the world to give talks and lectures. His heart was with his research though in his laboratory. Well, and with me.

Archer and I follow Beau into the parking lot where he leads us to his motorcycle. I look at it with interest, but Archer quickly veers me away. “No. Absolutely not.”

“You stand at our girl’s side while she runs into battles, but you won’t let her on a bike with me?” Beau asks.

In a flash, I see Archer’s glance drop down to my stomach. As quickly, he looks away. “No.”

Beau seems oblivious, but I am sure I saw him look. Does he know my secret?

How?

Is that why he pushed for this time off so soon after we just returned?

Archer waves down a taxi, then urges me into it.

“I’ll meet you there!” Beau calls through the window as he mounts his bike.

“Archer…” I start, but I’m still not sure. I don’t want to ruin the surprise. After all, he could just be guessing.

The taxi pulls up in front of City Hall. Stepping out onto the sidewalk, I’m immediately bombarded with the flashes of cameras and the shouts of questions.

“Mrs. Hayes!” the call for me. “How long are you in town?”

“Are you happy to be back with your mates, Mrs. Hayes!”

All of their questions are innocuous and make me smile a little. There was a time when the press despised me. When they learned I was in a very rare case of being mated to all four Hayes brothers, everything changed.

They couldn’t get enough of our story and our love. Honestly, neither could I.

Archer guides me up the stairs. Just inside the door, Angela stand with Debbie and Tide, all three of which give me quick hugs.

“What are you doing here?”

“We saw you were in town and couldn’t resist seeing you,” Debbie says.

“Chloe,” says a familiar voice that makes my heart sing. After promising my friends to reconnect with them soon, I turn toward the voice and see Steven standing there.

He gives me a shy smile and I rush toward him. His arms wrap around me. He kisses me so hard that his glasses go crooked.

Breaking away, he smiles as he says. “Neil has a surprise for you.”

Hurrying now, especially as Beau catches up, racing to join us, the three of us move to Neil’s office. I start to knock on the door, but Beau pushes it open and walks right in.

“She’s here!” Beau announces.

At once, I recognize Carrie standing there. But if she’s here… then?

“Chloe!”

Mia, four years old and filled with childlike wonder, rushes towards me. Immediately, I fall down to my knees to catch her in my arms.

“Oh, Mia…”

When the Hayes brothers’ parents were disgraced, Carrie returned to town and worked hard to prove herself. It was a difficult decision to restore the mother and child, especially after some of Carrie’s more questionable decisions. But the two obviously loved each other very much.

With time, reconnecting them has proven to be the right choice.

As I kiss the top of Mia’s head, I watch as Neil walks around his desk, coming closer to me.

Standing, I quickly matched Neil’s hug and his kiss.

Finally, all my family in the same place.

Satisfaction courses within me. Without even realizing it, I press my hands to my stomach.

Mia watches me curiously.

“Chloe. Are you having a baby?”

I freeze. Archer, as suspected, doesn’t seem at all surprised, but the other three Hayes brothers certainly do.

“You’re pregnant?” Beau asks, his eyes wide. “Since when?”

I clear my throat. He should remember very well the last time I was in town. The four of them could barely keep their hands off of me. And vice versa.

Honestly, with how much we made love at every possible opportunity, I am more surprised this hasn’t happened already.

“When you were here last,” Steven says, and adjusts his glasses. He’s blushing so hard, even his ears are red.

Neil touches my lower back. “Are you happy?”

“Yes,” I say. “Though I understand this means I will have to retire…”

I glance at Archer.

He steps closer away from the wall. “I’ll retire too.”

Neil exhales. “Good. Then I won’t have to worry anymore.”

“Sure, but now we’re having a baby,” Beau says, sounding on the edge of panic. He’s excited too though; it brightens his eyes and his face.

“Don’t worry,” Neil says, smiling. “I know how to take care of a baby.”

“Me, too,” Steven adds.

“And me,” Archer says.

“Well, I suppose I do as well,” Beau says, looking at me. “After all, we had the world’s best nanny to train us.”

Looking at the four of them – my loves. My mates. The fathers of my child. My heart was entirely full.

We’d start a new adventure now, one filled entirely with joy and laughter.

Once a Nanny, now a mother. A mate. A woman who has achieved all of her dreams.

“I love you,” I say, looking from Archer, to Neil, to Steven, to Beau.

They reply to me in turn, “I love you, too.”