Chapter 60

TWO MONTHS LATER....

HUDSON

"Well?" I asked Boston as he marched into my office.

"Nothing!" He threw his hands up in the air with frustration, "Her lips are sealed!"

Matthew looked up from his corner of the room, "You two are so impatient. You only have to wait a couple of hours to find out."

I rolled my eyes and got up, "Matthew, if your mother hid the gender of your pup from you, would you be sitting still?"

He paused and let out a short sigh, "Probably not."

Boston plopped on a chair, "This is all your fault, Hudson. If you hadn't agreed to let Alexis do this gender reveal, we wouldn't have this issue."

I had an urge to roll my eyes again but refrained. It wasn't exactly my fault – I was only trying to be a good mate. When Alexis asked me about it, I couldn't say no to her.

FLASHBACK

"Hudson, could I ask you something?" She asked in that innocent, sweet voice of hers.

I turned away from the pan and eyed her curiously,"Sure, baby. What's up?"

She bit her lip, "I don't know if you'll agree or not."

I turned the stove off and leaned over the counter to pull her chin up, "I promise to do whatever it is you ask."

Her eyes darted back and forth before she nodded her head slowly, "Okay, well in a few weeks, we'll be able to find out the gender of our pup."

"Yes," I dragged, not understanding what she was trying to get at.

"I was hoping to have a gender reveal for the whole pack. That way everyone finds out at once."

"Right...." I said, hoping she would get to her request quickly.

"That includes us."

I blinked, "You want us to find out at the gender reveal?"

She nodded again, "It's a special moment, and I don't really want to find out in a hospital room. I want it to be a moment we can remember forever."

"So someone would have to find out the gender before us so they could do whatever it is you want to do."

"I was thinking our mothers could find out first. We could have the pack doctor write it down for them. Then, we could let them decide how they want to reveal it to everyone."

I nibbled the inside of my lip, "We could do that. It shouldn't be too hard to wait a little longer."

END OF FLASHBACK

I. Was. So. Fucking. Wrong.

The moment I saw the doctor hand the envelope with our pup's gender to my mother, I was anxious to find out. The thought that someone knew and I didn't was killing me inside. It was all I could think about this past week, and it didn't help that there were several bets running through the pack about whether their future Alpha would be male or female.

I was so close to marching to my parents' house and tearing up the place until I found the damn envelope. But according to my father, my mother had the paper shredded as soon as she communicated the results with Luna Malia. He also mentioned that they had everything planned already which just added to the excitement.

Thankfully, the day of the gender reveal couldn't have come any quicker and in a few hours, I would be celebrating for my son or daughter.

I gazed at the clock and watched the second-hand move at a pace that nearly had me crying inside.

I had a feeling these few hours were going to feel like a lifetime.

***

The rate my heart was beating at would probably be considered dangerous. It was definitely above 100 beats per minute but I was trying to keep it together for Alexis. A high heart rate was not good for the baby so I was working on making sure she was calm and collected while I internally freaked out.

We were walking towards the lake where the pack was slowly forming a large crowd. Alexis squeezed my hand as we made our way to the edge of the lake where we could see two canoes making their way to the center of the body of water.

Luna Malia and my mother had decided the best way to reveal the gender so everyone saw it was with fireworks so now we had to wait for a blue or red explosion in the sky.

"We are not going to do this for our next pup," I muttered to Alexis as I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Let's first see how we handle one pup," She said, rubbing her bump lovingly.

I pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head, "This pup is giving me gray hairs and he or she is not even out of the womb yet."

She rolled her eyes in amusement and turned to talk to Gracie, who had just walked up with Boston in tow.

"I'm surprised Max showed up," he said quietly, looking at the man with curiosity. I followed his gaze and looked Max up and down. He wouldn't meet my gaze but I could tell that he knew I was watching him.

After the whole drama, I had stripped him of his tracker title and forced him to the bottom of the ranks where he would have to work his way up and gain my trust again. He had apologized and said that he was only angry about his sister's broken heart. Little did he know, Maisie's heart wasn't broken for too long.

A few days after our night in the cabin, Alexis's brother came to visit us on his twenty-first birthday and to everyone's surprise, Maisie was his mate. Luckily, the two of them got along great, and Alexis happily accepted her new sister-in-law.

Everything had fallen into place. No more griffins. No more avenging brothers. Just peace.

And I couldn't be happier about it.

"Hudson, do you want to say a few words before we start?" My mom asked, gesturing to the picnic table.

I got on top of the table and stared at the massive sea of wolves.

"Thank you all for coming today," I said loudly, giving the crowd a few seconds to settle down. It was pin-drop silent as the hundreds of wolves eyed me with excitement.

"This moment is not just big for my Luna and I but for all of you as well. You will find out whether you will have a male Alpha or a female Alpha. But as a reminder, regardless of their gender, I promise you that they will be trained to have the pack's best interest at heart. They will definitely exceed your expectations."

There were a few cheers and whoops before I nodded at my mom, "We're ready."

I got off the table and ran over to Alexis, who was wringing her hands together.

"This is it," she breathed so quietly that I almost missed it.

I squeezed her hand and stared up at the clear night sky.

There were low whistles as the fireworks were launched.

There were several explosions that nearly made my eardrums pop.

Sparks flew.

And all I saw was blue.

ALEXIS

The moment I saw the firework explode, my heart nearly burst with joy. I had one hand clasped to my mouth in shock as my eyes flooded with tears, and another gripping Hudson's hand like it was my lifeline. I couldn't say a word while my wolf was just howling with happiness.

A baby boy. My baby boy. Our baby boy.

I didn't even realize that I had blocked out every other noise until Hudson's hand was ripped from mine. I turned my head in time to see him tackled to the ground by Boston and Matthew.

I couldn't understand what they were saying over all the noise, but whatever they said had the grin on Hudson's face widening. He was practically glowing, and there was this look of pride on his face. I could only imagine what he was thinking.

Before I knew what was happening, I was being pulled into my mom's embrace as she squealed in my ear with excitement about her first grand pup. Once she let me go, my dad leaned over to give me a quick hug, "You know, Horris is a great name for a pup."

I chuckled softly and decided to humor him, "I'll add it to the list."

"Don't forget Lewis. I think Lewis II or Lewis Jr. is a wonderful name for a pup," Hudson's father chimed in as he hugged me.

"What about combining the two? Like Hewis? Or Lorris?" My dad hummed.

I pulled away from Lewis and stared at my dad to make sure he wasn't actually serious. But from the way he was scratching his chin and nodding his head along with Lewis in approval, it was clear the two to-be-grandfathers liked their idea of combining names. I decided to let them have their moment and not burst their bubble by saying they sounded like ship names.

"It's a good thing you didn't think of combining names when I was born. I probably would have been named Doris or something," Hudson interrupted, tugging me closer to him.

"What's wrong with Doris? My mother was named Doris," My dad said, narrowing my eyes.

"Nothing's wrong, Alpha Horris. It's just that Alpha Doris doesn't exactly sound threatening."

"Oh, and Hudson does? If you take out the 't' in Riveter, you would be Alpha Hudson of the River Pack and the laughing stock of the Alpha community."

I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my laugh at the look on Hudson's face. He must have realized there was no arguing with my father and instead nodded his head slowly in agreement, "Touché. Now if you'll excuse us, I just want a moment with my mate."

Our fathers shrugged and went back to coming up with names that no sane person would name their pup.

Hudson pulled me away from the crowd just as another firework went off. We both looked at the sky simultaneously with large smiles on our faces.

"I bet he's going to be a mommy's boy," Hudson said quietly, running a hand over my bump.

"He could also be a daddy's boy."

"I doubt it. I mean, you're going to be an amazing mother."

At those words, my heart warmed. It all felt so surreal, and just the thought of our little family had me tearing up. I turned my head to look at him and smiled slightly as I saw the reflection of the blue sparks in his gray eyes. He looked like he was at peace, and that made me happy to see.

"Thank you," I whispered, just for his ears.

He cocked his head in confusion, "For what? Getting you pregnant? I'll have you know that that–"

I rolled my eyes and slapped a hand over his mouth, "Thank you for everything. You do so many sweet things for me, and I can't emphasize enough how much I appreciate it."

He smiled and pulled me into his arms, "Well, I don't mind a kiss to show your thanks."

"Of course you don't," I muttered, getting on my tiptoes.

Our lips crashed together in their own explosion as my heart pounded in my ears with the boom of each firework that went off. It was just the two of us in a moment we would never have again in our lives, and it felt beyond heavenly.