Well, A Wolf's Cry is done at last.

Enjoy.

Epilogue

15 years later at the Lycaon Manor. . .

Life couldn't have been more perfect even if Serena had had the power of the Goddess to shape the world to her will. She had everything her heart could ever want, and she wasn't talking about jewels and finery – although she had plenty of both as Darien was constantly showering her with gifts, even after fifteen years together.

Fifteen gloriously joyful years in which Serena hadn't aged a day, to Darien's joy and relief.

Serena had her charming Lycaon mate, her loyal Pack – that still seemed to delight in her very presence in their lives and doted on her at every opportunity – her best friends, and even her brother.

Sammy. Oh, bless him. Sammy hadn't questioned once in fifteen years why she wasn't aging or where she was most of the time. Her brother wasn't dumb, he knew that something about her had changed, but he didn't question it. He didn't care. She was still his sister and he loved her, and as long as she visited him often and answered when he telephoned her, he was happy for her.

And the girls. Oh, how the Moon Goddess must favour her! All three of them had mated with an Immortal and had become immortal themselves! Lita and Amy had mated and married within two years of the day Diamond had been defeated.

Lita, with her resilient woman's confidence and strong will, had swept Nephlite off his feet and they had become hot and heavy straight off the bat. The couple had mated within the month, had married at three months and by six months had forged their own Wolflink.

Amy and Zoicite on the other hand had taken things slow. They had dated and had fallen in love over the course of a year before they'd married and mated. But to Amy's frustration it had taken another ten months for her to shift her first time and another month before they had forged their own Wolflink.

Sadly as it had turned out, mortal born mates sometimes found it difficult to form a matelink. All could communicate mentally when they were in Lycaon form, but forming a true bonding Wolflink between mates was sometimes difficult. It was unknown exactly why.

In Amy's case, Serena strongly suspected that it had been Amy's highly intelligent mind that had gotten in her way. She had tried to shift to the point of frustration, but as she had eventually learned, shifting was all about emotions and trusting yourself and the magic inside of you.

And Mina, well Mina had married Andrew seven weeks after their first meeting at the Anami Mansion, becoming the Anami Princess, but unlike Lycaon mated mortals, to become an Immortal Anami one had to be bitten, but it was extremely dangerous. In all previous cases of an Anami trying to turn a mortal, there was a one hundred percent mortality rate and as a result Andrew had downright refused to even try for fear that he would kill her.

It had taken Mina a year and a half to get him to bite her – Serena still didn't know how but when she'd asked Mina had blushed so deeply that Serena had decided that she REALLY didn't want to know the details – but once Andrew had given in Mina had become an Anami, matelinked to her Anami Prince.

Mina had become the first of the Anami mortal mates turned.

And herself. Well, Serena had been the first to marry her Immortal mate. Only ten hours after the battle that had come to be known to all Immortals as the Battle of Renewal, Darien's parents had arrived with their entire Royal Court and half their army – along with all the members of the pack that Darien had sent away before the battle – with the express purpose of meeting her.

Which Serena had been completely unprepared for due to that Darien's parents had decided to surprise them with their visit.

And of course the Darien and herself had been in bed at the time, recovering.

Darien had woken with a start and had bolted upright in bed, which of course waking her in the process. In Darien's thought Serena had read that he could hear a car at the gate and his parents talking inside.

Serena had leapt straight into panic mode. She had been about to meet the King and Queen of all Lycaon kind – aka Darien's parents – and she was in bed, naked and still a little grubby as she'd only taken the time to wipe herself down before falling into bed for a much needed rest.

It had taken Serena only six minutes to shower and dress in the fanciest gown that she'd been able to find in her wardrobe that Rei had stocked. She had hurried downstairs with her hair still dripping wet from her very hurried shower, leaving the bedroom an epic mess; Serena had thrown clothes in all directions.

But Serena shouldn't have worried so much. Darien's parents had loved her simply because she brought their son peace.

After they had learned that Serena had saved Darien's life during the battle, they had looked at her with stars in their ancient eyes.

And after they had married, Darien had taken her on a four year long honeymoon that they'd spent touring the world. Darien had shown her the places of significance to him and she had seen everywhere she'd wanted to see, done everything she'd ever dreamed of doing before returning to the manor to take on her responsibilities and duties as Princess and future Queen.

And so Serena's life had become better than she could ever have dreamed.

Darien had given her her dreams, after which Serena had come to realise that dreams could change and that love was worth sacrificing a few dreams for. Serena hadn't given up her freedom to be with the man she loved, she was free to do as she pleased regardless of her crown.

So after fifteen years, here Serena sat on a couch beside Amy in the Manor's main library, the room and the manor, were bustling with life and laughter, surrounded by her friends, her family.

The four girls were all there with her – Rei, Mina, Lita and Amy. Even though they all had responsibilities of their own, and Mina lived in the Anami Mansion, the five of them never went more than a few days without spending time together.

They were family, an integrated part of each other's lives, and nothing was ever going to change that.

But other things had changed. For the better.

The crib next to Rei that was well within arm's reach, for instance. A huge expensive one that was the bed for TWO infants, identical twin girls with black hair and ruby red eyes.

Serena still couldn't believe it. Twins. Twins, who rarely had reason to cry, as they always had what they wanted well before they even knew they wanted it. The entire pack was protective of them, they were never left wanting.

As the Pack was with all the children born of the Pack. Rei had been the first of the Pack to bear a child to Jadeite's overwhelming joy. Only nine and a half months after Diamond been defeated, Rei had given birth to a healthy baby boy they had named Malachite, in memory of their Fallen brother.

Six years later, Rei had given birth to their second child, a daughter they named Hope.

And now with the twins birth of the twins – Sky and Amber – Rei couldn't be happier with her loving husband and four children, three of which were girls who would one day become the saviours of three lucky Lycaon men who had most likely waited a long time for them.

That was the hope of every mother – that their daughters would find a loving husband worthy of them.

It was almost as if a curse had been lifted. In the past fifteen years nearly every mated female – and even one or two who weren't – had fallen pregnant and successfully carried to term.

And on top of that, more than one hundred mortal mates had been found between Darien's Pack, Andrew's Clan, and the bordering territories. All over the world, more and more mortal mates were being found every year.

Life seemed to be exploding all around.

Life and hope. They lived in the night, but there were no shadows of sorrow or despair any more, whatever crimes fate had been holding against the Immortal races for centuries had been atoned for.

The Immortal races hadn't known a more prosperous time since retreating from the mortal world. It was as if dawn had finally broken on an eternal night. More and more mates were finding each other, and a lot of the females were from the mortal world.

Serena herself had been put in charge of locating potential mortal mates. It was her main duty as Princess and future queen – even after a decade and a half Serena was still getting used to being a royal.

After years of research into mortal mates, it had been discovered that all of the mates born in the mortal world were from certain bloodlines, and once this had been discovered tracking potential mortal mates had become almost impossibly easy, even though they were scattered all over the world.

Potential mortal mates were offered well-paying jobs in one of the various companies either Andrew or Darien owned and then unattached Immortals looking for their mate were discretely put in close contact with them. And all potential mates were just as discretely watched over and protected.

Once an Immortal and a mortal were matched the courting would begin and eventually after their relationship had become cemented the truth was presented to the mortal and they were then given a choice to join the Immortal world – although the fact that they would live forever was downplayed to prevent the choice being made for the wrong reasons.

So far not one found mortal mate had declined the chance to be with their Immortal soulmate.

Loud happy male voices and the sound of an opening door, brought Serena out of her dreamy recollection of the past fifteen years and she looked up in time to see Darien, Andrew and the three Betas enter the room, their eyes immediately coming to rest on their respective mates.

As was natural for them all, each man went immediately to his mate.

"What are you ladies talking about?" Jadeite asked as he smiled down at the twins and then leaned over the back of the couch Rei was sitting comfortably on and nuzzled her ear affectionately.

Darien followed suit, walking around the couch Serena sat on to lean down over her from behind and plant a delicate kiss on her neck where he knew she loved to be touched.

Rei grinned, exchanging a secretive knowing look with each of the girls in turn before Serena spoke up to answer him, "Puppies."

Andrew turned to her in confusion after having planted a kiss on the back of Mina's hand that he held tenderly in his own.

"Puppies?" Andrew cast a quizzical glance at the crib.

Rei laughed, happily amused. "Not them."

Without looking at Darien, her husband, her alpha, her love, her warrior wolf, a smile spread over Serena's lips, the same deliciously happy secretive smile women had worn for thousands of years when they'd had a secret to share with their man.

Serena had carefully kept her thoughts clouded from him for the last day and a half; not once had she lowered her mental guard. Darien knew that she was hiding something from him but he had allowed her her secret because he loved and trusted her.

"No," Serena declared, her tone subtly playful. "I was saying that I want a puppy."

Darien was nibbling on her neck by this point, as usual not caring who was present.

In his mind Serena heard him decide to hold his tongue about what a terrible and frightening environment this was for a mortal pet; what his mate wanted she received.

"What breed? I'll have it here by tomorrow's end."

As usual, Darien hadn't even hesitated to give her something he thought she wanted. Silly wolf, he already had.

"Tomorrow?" Serena said in a shocked tone, enjoying herself. "And here I thought it took nine months."

Darien froze, in mid nibble.

All the women in the room wore wide amused grins, while all the men were looking at her, stunned into silence.

Careful to keep a straight face and her thoughts clouded and calm, Serena laid her head back on the couch and found herself looking up into the confused eyes of Darien's up-side-down face.

"Nine months?"

Serena gave him a loving smile. "I guess I won't be able to go on the run with you for a while." She said almost regretfully. Serena loved running with him in wolf form in the moonlight, but while she was pregnant she couldn't shift without losing the life she carried; the baby wouldn't survive the radical changes her body had to go through to change forms.

"You're-?"

Serena's smile widened, her hands automatically moved to cover her womb "A miracle." She finished for him.

Suddenly Darien was kissing her with all the love, passion and happiness he possessed, unable to contain it it was so fierce. "You are the miracle, my love."

And suddenly Serena found herself being thrown over his shoulder like he was some caveman intent on carrying her away.

Serena couldn't stop laughing. "Darien!" She squealed. "Where are we going?!"

Darien held her securely to him as he headed for the open doors. "To celebrate."

Serena looked back at her friends from where she was perched atop Darien's shoulder and smiled at them, knowing they were heading to their bedroom. Where there had once been despair, misery and war there now was life, laughter and happiness.

And hope. Hope that shone brighter than any sun ever could.

They all watched them leave, all grinning happily.

Mina sat back in her seat amused and happy, and said, "A Lycaon alpha if I ever saw one."

"Yeah," Lita said with a feminine chuckle. "Serena has him completely at her command. Big, bad Alpha Prince my butt."

"She does have him wrapped around her little finger." Amy agreed with a smile as her love Zoicite wrapped his arm around her where they sat together one of the couches.

Andrew looked down at his wife, who was also with child, only she didn't know it yet; he had just identified the faint trace of pregnancy in her scent the night before. He was waiting for her to find out for herself as he would not deprive her of that moment of excitement and joy when she told him that she was with child. "As do you all."

It seemed age of miracles and prosperity truly had dawned over the Immortals races.

Andrew turned his head and looked out at the window as a wolf's howl echoed through the night beneath the full moon; even nature's wolves seemed to be rejoicing for it truly was the age of miracles.

And it had all began in the least likely of places; with one mortal woman who had risen to become a Lycaon Queen and the saviour of them all.

Chapter End Notes:

If you have enjoyed A Wolf's Cry then check out my new Fanfic, Mafia Legacy.