Order of Protection Ch. 79-82

Ten Months Later, Moscow Pack Building

I felt like a milking machine lately.

Ivan Brian Pearson, named after two of the men who had died protecting me, was latched on to my right breast and sucking hard. He was firstborn and Alpha heir and was eating like he wanted to be full grown by tomorrow. He was six pounds ten ounces at birth, and the four-month checkup had more than doubled that weight already. Loud, demanding and dominant, he was exactly what I expected in an Alpha Male baby.

On the left breast, Ekatarina Isla Pearson was sucking leisurely at my swollen nipple, content to be close to Mom. She had been named after my mother and John's mother and looked like a mini-Me with her dark hair and eyes. She had been just over five pounds at birth, and had doubled her weight as well, she just didn't eat like I was going to take it away. I leaned back in the slider chair, pillows arranged around me as I tried to get a little rest. The pair had just started sleeping through the night, and I hadn't caught up yet.

John smiled at me as he finished working at his desk for the night. He came over and picked up Ekatarina, who had him wrapped around her tiny finger from the moment he had her in his arms. It wasn't just him, though; she was a happy baby who was loved by all. The nanny, a young woman named Talisa, was standing by to burp Ivan as he finished. "The driver is waiting to take you to the Oblamov," John said as he set Ekatarina down. "How many ladies are meeting you for tea?"

"Luna Kaylee of the Big Horn Pack is bringing four with her, and Luna Margaux is bringing three from the Chamonix Pack in France," I replied. The gift of healing that I had could not be explained; I did not know how I did what I did, and John couldn't do it either. I just knew that I could let a little healing power flow into the lower abdomen of a shewolf who was having fertility issues, and the power just took care of things. It wasn't just the infertile, in the months since I started doing this, I had helped dozens and dozens of women with problems ranging from sterility to fertility to difficulty carrying to term. Even shewolves who were past their fertile times were sometimes granted one last heat.

When the guy was infertile, I sent him to John. I don't know what he did or how, I don't need to know if he was touching their junk, but at least two babies were named after him now.

As word of my power spread among the Lunas, I got more and more requests for help that I just couldn't meet. I was pregnant, John and I were crash-learning Russian language and culture, and we had to prepare to take over a major Pack. There was no way I was making a world fertility tour.

John suggested I bring them here instead. The center of Moscow, like most big cities, was a neutral site for werewolves. With the surrounding lands in the control of Alpha Javier, Alphas were willing once more to let their people visit, and that is how the High Teas began. The Oblamov Restaurant was a mansion with authentic cuisine and comfortable surroundings, perfect for ladies to sit and talk. Along the way, I would heal each of the women before they continued their tourism. It was close enough that I could do it in two hours, and we set a schedule for Monday afternoons at two. We were currently booked three months out.

Talisa wheeled the babies out to the nursery for their nap while I got up and walked back to our bedroom to change. I loved dressing up and meeting all these ladies, becoming friends with many that I hoped to visit later on when things calmed down. John came in as I was finishing my makeup. "Ready?"

"Yes, I'll be back by five."

"Take your time, Jessie. The babies have the extra milk, and there is nothing on the schedule tonight. Have fun. I'll take care of everything."

"Thank you." I kissed him deeply, and as he walked back to his office I went to the elevator. Zeta's ears perked up, and she looked up from the dog bed in the outer office as her twin female pups climbed over her, wrestling with a play rope. "Hi Zeta," I said as I scratched her ears and she licked my hand. Larry walked over, standing next to his mate as the babies came over and rolled onto their backs so I could scratch them. "How are Mercy and Faith doing?"

He picked up his daughter and laughed as she licked his cheek. "Good. They like playing in the snow," he said. We had no idea what would happen with Elizaveta, now a security dog named Zeta, after her human had been taken away. She had no form other than her wolf now, and her babies developed like a wolf pup would. They were born as wolves, with their eyes closed, and only when they were three months old did they shift to human form while Larry was giving them a bath. The shifted seamlessly between the two now, depending on which parent was watching them. We hadn't let them leave the private Pack areas without being commanded to stay in one form, though.

Zeta was heartbroken when I left, and a month after we returned to Moscow I got a call from Larry. Zeta had bonded with me, looked to me as her Alpha, and needed to be in my Pack. I couldn't turn him down, but I was worried about how she would be received. The Pack was wary at first, but soon found there was no reason for it. Wolves weren't duplicitous or sneaky, they were loyal and loving and Zeta soon became a valued member again. Larry was now one of my bodyguards, so one or both were often with me depending on where we were going. "Behave, you two," I said as I handed the rambunctious pups back to their mother. I brushed the dog hair off my jacket as Larry called the elevator.

As we waited, I looked at the portraits hanging on the wall. Every Alpha of the Moscow Pack, going back to 900 AD was on the wall except one. In Yevgheny's place was a portrait one of our Pack members made of my mother from her dancing days. I put my fingers on the frame and said a prayer for her before the doors opened.

We exited at the parking level and the driver was holding the door for me. As I got in, it struck me how events had repeated themselves. Twenty-one years ago, my mother had left the Alpha offices after being assured that everything would be taken care of, then traveled down that same elevator to her death. Now I was taking charge, and Yevgheny was just a bad memory.

Mom would be proud.

The End