79

Sunlight danced on the back of his eyelids, drawing him from his dreams. He was reluctant to wake up, until he remembered his reality was even sweeter than any daydream his mind conjured.

Malachi gazed down at his sleeping mate, her small body tucked perfectly against him, his arms tightening to draw her closer still. He never tired of waking up with her beside him. Most mornings, she had found a way to snuggle into him during the night, despite the fact he was a light sleeper and moved around many times. She seemed to understand him, even in sleep, and reached out just when he needed her touch.

The nightmares had stopped, for now. They both understood the significance of their dreams, how God had showed them important things through visions, and were open to receiving any further messages He chose to give them. But for the last month, their dreams consisted of beautiful images of their future together, leading their pack, and raising a family.

Ariella shifted in his arms, her breath coming out warmly against his neck and sending shivers across his bare skin.

He brushed the hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. "Good morning, my queen."

She smiled lazily up at him. "Good morning, Alpha. Have I told you how much I love you?"

He responded with a heated kiss to her lips.

After a few minutes, she pulled away and trailed her fingers over his forehead, his cheeks, his lips, and down his neck. "I had the cutest dream. I dreamt I had a little brother, can you imagine it? He had curly dark hair, bright blue eyes, and I think his name was Elias, or something like that. Mom was so happy—the happiest I've seen her in ages."

"That's a nice dream. If only it was real. I understand how much your parents wanted a child of their own," Malachi mused, liking the wistful look on her face, but knowing that any false hope about this would only result in more disappointment.

"Hmm," Ariella hummed, the vibrations from her throat seeping through Malachi's own chest and setting his heart in an unsteady rhythm. After a month together of being fully bonded, even the smallest things could still catch him off guard and flood passion through his veins.

"We should really get going," Ariella pushed herself up on an elbow and gave him a stern look. "We told my parents we'd be there for breakfast."

She looked like an angel in the soft morning light that shone through the billowy curtains. The window above the bed was perfectly situated to allow light in while giving them a view of the valley and creek that traversed the territory surrounding their log home.

"We did, but at the time I didn't realise how beautifully amazing you'd look this morning, with silken honeyed hair and a glow on your face that outshines the stars. Nor did I know how much I'd detest crawling out of bed on so cold a morning, and breaking this lovely enchantment we seem trapped in," he ran a hand up her arm, over her slender shoulder, his fingers gently trailing his mark above her collarbone before he cupped her cheek.

She angled into his touch, pressing a kiss onto his palm and each one of his fingertips. "Have you been reading a thesaurus again? And one of Asa's books of love poetry?"

He laughed, pulling her closer until she fell against his chest. "You still don't believe I can string a few poetic words together, do you? I'm not just a big frightening Alpha who's more brawn than brain."

"I know you are very good at many things. But you are also a man of few words. However," she tapped him on the nose, giving him the carefree smile he loved the most. "The words you say are very well chosen. And romantic. And as much as I would love to listen to more sweet nothings you want to whisper in my ear, I really think we should get going," Ariella gave him a regretful pout before kissing him once more, quickly, longingly, and with the sweet promise of endless more to come.

"If you say so, my queen," he surrendered, and it didn't take them long to get ready for the day.

Packing the sugar-free banana muffins Ariella had made the night before, they locked their front door and walked briskly down the hill behind their home and across the river that led to ForgedHearts territory.

The walk wasn't far, and they had done it many times before, but Malachi insisted on hoisting Ariella onto his back and carrying her. She protested at first, but when he reminded her of the reason for this particular visit to her parents', she gave in with a little sigh.

She'd come to learn there was no use arguing against him when it came to his protectiveness of her. Especially now, he didn't take any chances with her safety, but had managed to keep her tucked by his side every moment of every day. And when he couldn't, he arranged an escort of his strongest warriors to remain close should anything happen.

There was still the threat of rogues and demons, and neither of them could let their guard down just because life felt like it was going favourably. Ariella had filled sketchbooks with winsome drawings of the pack, people laughing and smiling, babies born and pups growing, love in the eyes of mates and families.

But not every picture was perfect. In the background of most was a dark cloud, the awareness that not all was right, that they would always have to be alert and ready for the evil that lurked through the land like a dormant cancer.

It was stressful despite the tender moments they shared, but he knew they weren't promised a perfect life. God had given them the sense and strength to fight whatever came their way, and they understood they had a long road ahead of them.

Already, they had demoted an elder for his actions that went against everything their pack now stood for. He had been accepting bribes from a few pack members, turning a blind eye to their mistreatment and controlling behaviour towards their mates and children.

Malachi, as Alpha, enforced the rules of kindness and fairness no matter who was breaking the fundamental tenets of common decency. He was firm and strict with the crooked wolves, yet gentle and understanding in every other way. He had the compassionate human touch that his father had lacked. His pack now respected and followed him as their honest and wise leader.

"My two favourite people in the world!" Lexi squealed and bounded down her cottage steps as she saw Ariella and Malachi approaching. Charles followed shortly after, a surprised look on his face directed towards his expressive mate. "Okay, well, two of my favourite people," she amended. "You'll always be my main man, Charles honey bunny pumpkin pie smoochy boo," she placed both hands on either side of her mate's face and squished his cheeks together before kissing him on the lips.

Then she turned her attention back to their daughter and son-in-law. "You're late! I've already eaten all the bacon and eggs I cooked for breakfast. So sorry, you'll have to come back another time," she joked, but Charles nodded seriously.

"I had to wrestle the plates of food off her before she really did eat it all! Then when I turned my back for only one moment, she raided the pantry and was eating Nutella straight from the jar. Am I going to have to place locks on the fridge next, Alexis darling?" he tickled her waist, causing her to gasp in shock, then poke him in the ribs for revenge.

"I can't get over how cute you two are," Malachi began saying, then lowered his voice for Ariella's ears only, "for your age."

"What's that, young man?" Lexi whipped around from glaring at Charles. "I'll have you know, I am younger than Alpha Asa, and have you seen the way he behaves with his mate? They still act like the cutest, most love-struck adolescents in existence even after thirteen years of being mated," she threw up her hands for emphasis.

"That'll be us down the track, won't it, Mal?" Ariella looked up at him with a contented smile, one he never grew tired of admiring.

"It totally will," he pulled her close and kissed her, moving to deepen it but being interrupted when Charles cleared his throat.

"So, what was it you two wanted so badly to tell us, that it couldn't wait till later tonight at Emerald's party?"

Ariella looked shyly at Malachi, before turning with a wide grin to her parents. "Well, we didn't want to take over from Emmy's birthday celebrations, so we thought we should tell you now."

"We are—" Malachi began.

"Wait!" Ariella held up her hand to stop him. "Why are you grinning like that?" her eyes crinkled in question as she watched her mom hop from foot to foot.

Lexi bounced on her toes, clapped her hands, then threw her arms around Ariella. "My little girl all grown up and having a baby of her own! I am so excited! This is the best news ever!"

"You knew?" It was Malachi's turn to be shocked.

Charles gave a small smirk, the unusual expression on the normally serious Beta's face causing Ariella to wonder. "Well, it wasn't hard to figure out. Put one and one together, and what do you get?"

"Hey, that's my joke!" Lexi slapped him across the belly then continued hugging and kissing the young couple. Malachi didn't protest when she squeezed him tightly then poked a stern finger in his face. "Don't you go messing this up, you hear? Claiming our daughter is one thing. Raising your child properly is another thing entirely, and you'll have to contend with a very angry grandmama bear if you mess this up!"

"Yes, ma'am," he nodded respectfully. "Loving and caring for Ariella and our child is the greatest privilege and honour I've been given, and I don't intend to give them anything less than the best of me in return. On my honour, I swear to protect them with my life every moment I breathe."

"Good boy," Lexi reached up on her toes to pat his head.

Ariella giggled. She knew how much Malachi hated to be called anything less than a mature masculine Alpha. She took his hand and squeezed it, sharing a knowing smile with him before she turned back to her parents. "Now, is there something you want to tell us? Neither of you can seem to wipe a silly grin off your face."

Lexi bit her lip as she stared into Charles' adoring gaze. Both seemed lost in each other for a moment.

And in that moment, the truth dawned on the perceptive Luna.

"No way!" she gasped and slapped her hands together in a deafening clap. "No way!! That's incredible! You can't be serious..." she trailed off, her mouth grinning too widely for any more words.

"What? What's going on?" the clueless Alpha tugged on his mate's hand for clarity, but she could only shake her head as tears trailed from her eyes, before she buried herself in her parents' arms.

"How?" was all she could ask when they'd finally pulled apart, all wiping their eyes and taking deep breaths to calm their overloaded emotions.

"We think it was when you were resurrected. Remember that jolt, like a zap of electricity, when Lexi hugged you first?" Charles began explaining in his no-nonsense manner.

"Yes, and I was so shocked, I was afraid I'd hurt you," Ariella nodded, remembering the lightning that seemed to arc from her very body to her mother's as Lexi pulled her close in the mud and dirt, disbelief on both their expressions as the impossible occurred on that cursed night.

"I felt something not only in my soul, our bond reconnecting after your death, but something else happened," Lexi sniffed, continuing with her own story. "I can't really explain it, but I felt a change in my body, an uncoiling of something twisted, a straightening of something destroyed. I think you healed me, Ariella, and I finally became pregnant after all these fruitless years. I know nothing can replace the baby we lost, but this is a miracle we stopped praying for years ago." She clutched her mate closely, and both seemed once again lost for words.

"This is incredible. But it wasn't me. I was powerless. It was God, I'm sure of it. No one else could bring the dead to life, or the broken to be healed." Ariella's tongue was thick with emotion, her eyes still blurry with the joy of it all. "Now we'll both have our babies together, and they can grow up as...cousins?" she turned to Malachi, who just shrugged, equally amazed and dumbfounded.

"Have you picked names yet?" Lexi suddenly asked. "Because Charles and I have decided on Elisha for a girl, and Elias if it's a boy. There you go. We got in first on those names, so no stealing."

Ariella laughed. "Elias sounds nice," she raised her eyebrows at her mate. "You can definitely have first dibs on that name. We'll have to think of something else for our baby, won't we, Malachi?" Winking at him, he didn't have trouble guessing what she was thinking.

He squeezed her hand, acknowledging how, once again, her dreams had proven more than just figments of her imagination.

Who could have guessed that after all these years, Lexi would have a child of her own? That the devastating and permanent injuries to her body would be made whole, and she would conceive the child of her mate? Even demons didn't have that kind of power to heal someone. Their Creator was truly powerful, and Malachi could only imagine the future He had planned for this miracle child's destiny.

"We also have something for you," Lexi said as they all went inside and sat down for breakfast. Charles handed Ariella a box, and upon carefully opening it, she gasped in surprise.

"My grandmother's violin! But how did you fix it? Seneca completely destroyed it," she turned the fine instrument over in her hands, inspecting the flawless way that it had been pieced back together, the timber fastened again.

"Alpha Kaiden knows someone on his side of the pack who is a very skilled woodturner. Dylan was able to source the same kind of wood and put it together again. You'll have to play it to find out if it will sound the same," her dad replied.

Ariella was too thankful to find words, so she played a few notes and was astounded at how beautiful it sounded.

"Dylan also found this inside, taped onto the back plate," Lexi handed her a faded piece of paper, yellowed with age, and thin with handling.

Ariella carefully unfolded it, and read the handwritten words while holding her breath. They didn't make sense at first, until she saw the name Amariah at the bottom of the page. She recognised it as her grandmother's, the mother of her own biological mother Aliyah.

The edge of the page looked torn, as if from a personal diary, and Ariella folded it carefully again to study more thoroughly later. She wanted to understand every word her ancestor had written, and piece it together with her own experiences to better make sense of the time she lived in.

"And we have something for you," Malachi said in return to Charles and Lexi. "Well, to your pack as a whole, but we thought it would be best to give it to your safe-keeping." He handed Charles an object wrapped in black leather.

Charles unwrapped it, and palmed the dagger that had both sides sharpened to a deadly point. The handle was etched with the DoubleEdge insignia—a mysselfolia bloom wrapped in its protective shield of leaves, and a winged karalax encircling the flower with fire blazing from its mouth and down the blades.

"This is to formally symbolise our alliance with your pack, and to show our trust in you as neighbours and friends," the Alpha said, gripping forearms solemnly with the former Beta. "May we always be there for each other in times of peace and in need."

"Likewise," Charles replied with a firm nod and grateful smile.

Later, on their way home, the young couple took a detour to the top of the cliff they had visited a few times previously.

"You know, I watched you from this cliff. I could see you as you wandered in your favourite meadow, or sat by the trees to draw in your sketchbook. Many times I would come up here and just dream about what life could be like with you," Malachi reminisced as he sat on the ledge and held Ariella in his lap. "Always, a darkness would tug me back, back to the hopeless situation that was my life. But you changed everything the day you crossed my border and stepped bravely into my life."

"That was a crazy moment. I was so scared of what you meant to me. I saw you up here too, so serious and contemplative. You looked for all the world like you would jump, but I knew deep down there was something holding you back and protecting you from such a desperate move," Ariella twined her fingers through his. "I knew that even if you fell, the angel inside you would fly to safety. The demons didn't have full control of you just yet."

"Are we still speaking metaphorically?" Malachi brushed the hair from her face that the wind kept insisting on blowing everywhere, then kissed her cheek.

"You tell me," she turned her head and trained her caramel brown eyes on his azure blue ones.

He smiled secretively, rose to his feet and kept her safely tucked in his arms. "Would you like to find out?"

Ariella looked over the cliff, at the steep drop down to the rocky outcroppings below. Trees stretched their limbs towards her, like arms begging to accept her if she happened to tumble over.

"You know, it's not only my life I would be entrusting to you. We have someone else to think about," she laid her hand over her belly, over the new life growing securely inside. Though strong Alpha DNA flowed in the baby's veins, he was still vulnerable and completely dependent on them for survival. This was the most critical time in his new life, and Ariella wouldn't risk it for anything.

"I know," Malachi said with a steady voice, the deep timbre reassuring Ariella. "I'm confident in my abilities."

"Isn't every Alpha?" Ariella said, lifting an eyebrow as she remarked upon the typical cavalier attitudes of Alpha males.

"But I'm not just an Alpha, you see," Malachi gave her a teasing smile, before scooping her up in his arms. With her body securely tucked against his chest, he lifted his face to the dazzling sky and filled his lungs with the intoxicating lavender scent of his mate.

She watched as feathered wings, translucent like silver glass and lithe as a hummingbird, unfurled from his shoulder blades. Never ceasing to be amazed at the transformation of her mate into his angelic form, she kept her eyes on him even as he stepped from the cliff.

Immediately, she felt the rush of air swirl around them as his wings beat slowly and surely. In graceful arcs, they matched the rhythm of his heart in his chest, and took them soaring over the tops of the trees and the river below. Malachi held her tightly, gliding down before swooping up and banking to his left. He flew back up over the cliff and towards home.

From the vantage of the sky, they could see for miles. Billowing cumulus clouds graced the horizon, lined with golden sunshine; green forests stretched over untouched miles of land; mountains rose in defiance of gravity to the north; and below, new roads and houses streaked and dotted the land that rested in peace and harmony between their allied territories.

Despite the natural beauty, pockets of shadows slinked between some trees, and they didn't have to wonder at the nature of the darkness. Sharing a glance, the Alpha and Luna felt their stomachs tighten at the danger that lurked in their land. Though they wanted to swoop down and get rid of them all, they knew that now was not the time to confront ever enemy out there.

Ariella tightened her arms around his neck, and he responded with a kiss to her forehead.

"You once fell to the very depths of hell for me, Ariella. But I've got you now, and I will never let you fall again," he promised, his words soaking into her soul like a soothing balm.

She nodded, trusting him with all her heart. Tearing her eyes from the marred land below, Ariella lifted her gaze to what comforted her the most. Surrounding them, perched on the throne of the atmosphere, was a host of shining angels. They encircled the allied territories, each spirit dressed in dazzling white with golden swords and knives strapped to their muscular bodies. Ready for action, they were always alert and poised to strike when commanded.

"They'll always be on our side," Malachi whispered in her ear against the loud rushing of the wind. "No matter how dark it may get, nothing can overcome the light. No scheme of the demons, no plan they concoct in the blackness of midnight, no weapon they forge in the fires of hell. God promised me that He will win. Victory is His."