My Happily Ever After

The days immediately following the birth of their six children had been full of exhaustion and rest for the ash and snow queen of Fenmyre. Though her labor and birthing had gone normally, pushing six very large little boys into the world had been an ordeal, but it was one she would have suffered through time and time again if she knew she would have the half dozen bundles of love and joy currently tucked up against her belly at the end of it. Aliana lifted her head from the mattress and furs, aquamarine eyes blinking back the sleep from the brief nap she'd caught amidst feeding her children and peered down at her sons nestled against them, almost all of them now conked out for an afternoon nap. All except for Morendo, who was busy trying to climb over his snoozing brothers with little mewling cries. Aliana watched them with the warmth in her smile only a mother could have, eyes shimmering with pure love as her heart soared. How she loved her children so, so much... perhaps even more so knowing she had these little darlings in the wake of all the pain and darkness that haunted her memories of her first litter.

Morendo began to cry louder, and Aliana gently shushed her son as she curled closer to nudge and nuzzle him back into position against her warm stomach, tucking him in amongst his siblings while he tried to fight back a nap. Eventually, the pup settled, his chest rising and falling rhythmically and nearly in sync with the five other boys. Ali watched them all slumber for a while, just savoring this moment and committing it to memory. One day, when she was old and gray—grayer than she was now—she would look back on this time of her life as the happiest she'd ever been. She had been freed from a life of slavery, given luxuries she'd never imagined, revered as a queen, had three wonderful lovers and the most amazing mate to care for her, a beautiful home on a tropical island paradise and a pack all their own. If this wasn't heaven, Aliana couldn't think of anything that would make her life more perfect than it was now.

Laying her head down on the bed again, Ali quietly watched her pups, still in disbelief that she had helped create such beautiful creatures. The boys clearly took after their father's good genes and would be handsome heartthrobs of princes. Oh, the world would not be ready for any of them!

"Aliana"