And Then There Were Four
Chapter 85

Ivy

After the entire thing with the girl in the store, whose name I couldn't remember, I went on a shopping spree like you wouldn't believe. From paint to furniture and clothing. Even toys that lord knows the babies wouldn't be able to enjoy for quite some time.

"Holy shit!" Hale said as Talon jumped out of his pickup truck. "Did you buy the entire store?"

Laughter escaped me as I stood at the back of James' car with my arms crossed, staring at the two men looking over the large haul I had gotten today while James and I were in town. There were so many things I had picked up that half way through the trip, James had to call Talon to bring his truck to help us. The sight of Talon in a baby store was more than amusing because the man's eyes went wide with the variety of items there were to choose from.

His questions were cute, but at one point, he picked up a breast pump, and I had to question whether or not he was all there. The man had placed it in his mouth and asked if it was a breathing machine or a net pot device for the baby's noses.

To say the laughter wasn't in short supply would be an accurate statement, and I was glad I had my phone on me to make sure I caught a photo. I would use it later to show the kids, when they were older, the things their dad did.

I wasn't exactly into scrapbooking, but my mother did it, so honestly, it couldn't be that hard... right?

"Will you guys stop fvcking complaining about how much stuff I bought and just take it out of the truck and put it in the living room, please?" I replied with a smile as I rolled my eyes at them.

They were ever so dramatic, and watching them fuss over the stuff they had to move was entertainment on its own.

"Oh, look. Damian has joined us," James said sarcastically as he grabbed boxes and bags from the car and started making his way towards the front door.

"Put it in the living room!" I yelled at him, not hearing the mumbled comment he made that was undoubtedly sarcastic.

By the time Damian stood beside me with his hands in his pockets, he was almost speechless. "Uh-holy shit, Ivy. When James said he was taking you shopping, I didn't think you would make us go bankrupt." "Seriously?" | scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest with a smug expression. "Well, Damian. Purchasing things for a baby is expensive, and it's even more expensive when you're purchasing for two." "Yeah, but you don't even know what they are yet. How do you know that what you bought will fit the gender of our children?"

Slowly casting my gaze from the twins unloading to Damian, I raised a brow and smirked. "I already know what they are, Damian."

"No, you don't. The appointment is in two days... how would you know what they are? Did you replace out without us?" he asked with a shocked expression that was nothing but humorous. "Calm your tits, Damian. I would never do something like that. Just call it mother's intuition, okay?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, he stood a little straighter, watching every item go past him. "So, what do you think it is?"

"Oh! So now you want to know... hmm, not sure I should tell you."

"Ivy -" he groaned before a ball hit him in the back of the head, causing him to turn around quickly with his fists clenched and a scowl permanently etched into his brows. "What the fvck, Talon?!" Looking at Talon, I couldn't stop laughing. He threw his hands up in the air as to say 'what the fvck are you doing' and gestured to the shit that still had to be brought in.

"Stop talking and start fvcking helping, mister big bad Alpha."

- "Go fvck yourself, Talon," Damian snapped as I gripped his upper arm gently and shook my head no.

"Stop it... help your brothers, please."

He wasn't pleased with the fact Talon did what he did, but letting out a heavy breath of frustration, he moved towards the truck, snatching things off of it as I watched on. "Damian, be careful. Your daughter and son won't appreciate their shit being broken." Stopping in his tracks, he looked at me for a moment, and the frown he wore slowly became a smile. "You think it's one of each?"

"Yes, now help, and we can talk more about it later."

Every day my stomach grew more and more, and as I rubbed my hand over my growing stomach, I couldn't help but imagine how in a few months, they would be welcomed into this world of chaos we all lived in. "Hey, Ivy," Damian said as he came walking back with Hale. "Why are we putting shit into the living room?"

"Because I need to paint the nursery, and I also had taken into consideration something that I wanted to speak to you about."

My comments made him hesitate for a moment before his shoulders sagged in defeat, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know that I'm going to regret this. But what is it exactly that you want to do?" "Well, you know the large bonus room that you have upstairs that you guys use for gaming and guys' nights and all of whatever it is that you guys do...."

"Yes..." he replied as he stared at me. "What about it?"

"Well, since we have two babies coming instead of one, I thought it would be a great idea to turn that specific room into a nursery. After all, it is big enough to support both of them, and it's right next to my room, which means we can put a door between them." Both Damian and Hale's mouths dropped at my idea. The mixed emotions that crossed their face in that moment were priceless, and I had to hold myself together as much as I wanted to burst into laughter.

"You can't be serious," Hale replied, speaking for a speechless Damian who didn't seem to know what to say.

"Oh, come on. It isn't that big of a deal, guys. Our family is expanding, and the house needs some renovations. Plus, that is the largest room upstairs near the bedrooms. It will be perfect for the kids."

- In the end, I was the one who would push the two of these children out, and considering the fact I planned on breastfeeding; I was going to be the one that would have to get up in the middle of the night to feed them unless there was milk stored away for the guys to help. Regardless of even that, I knew the guy's schedules were hectic. With Talon and James running patrols and training, and Hale running between patrols and the hospital, I was going to be on my own quite a bit. Not that I was complaining.

I understood how important everything was and how it worked, and I wouldn't change it for the world. But I wanted a space that could fit me and the children perfectly.

"We all have to make sacrifices, guys. Honestly, this isn't that big of one."

"Hey, Talon!" Hale said over his shoulder as Talon and James came walking towards them. "Ivy wants to take our man cave and turn it into the nursery."

"What?!" Talon all but shouted. "Absolutely no way. Any other room, but not that room."

"Oh, my god..." I groaned in irritation. "Y'all stop being such babies over this. I'm the one pushing out two watermelons from my vajay now, not y'all. Plus, I have a solution to all of that..."

"I'd like the hear it," James replied, walking around to my side and kissing me on the side of my head.

"Of course you do," Talon sneered. "You're so damn pvssy-whipped you do anything she says and agree with anything she says."

"No, I don't!" he exclaimed, feigning a hurt expression. "I'm offended you think that?"

The rest of us glanced at James with small smiles as he looked between us all. "James, I love you dearly, but you are the path of least resistance to this lovely relationship we all have."

Rolling his eyes dramatically, he crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "Well, I still want to hear the idea. Never know, it may be a good one."

It was times like this when I realized how much I loved James. He always stood up for what I wanted, no matter how crazy the idea was. It wasn't because he was a pushover, because I knew firsthand when things got crazy, he would be the one to say no. "Well, the basement is massive, and I thought we can have it done up, so half is the gym, and the other half is your man cave. You can put a bar down there and anything else you want, and it would be solely yours."

The four of them stood quietly for a moment as they contemplated the idea, and Damian shook his head with a sigh. "So you're wanting to do construction?"

"Essentially, yes," I replied sweetly. "It would be beneficial for us all, and with the crazy shifts you're working, you can relax down there without waking the children by being noisy upstairs."

A moment of realization crossed them, making me internally chuckle. They opened and closed their mouths, taking the time to look at each other. As if wanting to object but knowing they had no solid reasoning behind their objection. A converted basement would literally give them twice the room as the current room they were using.

"Fine," Damian sighed, causing Talon to smack him in the arm.

"Seriously?!" he exclaimed as Hale laughed. "I can't believe you gave in to her, Damian."

"Look, she has a valid point. Plus, happy wife, happy life, or however that stupid saying fvcking goes. Look... I can call my contractor to come look at it tomorrow. We have to get it done soon with the babies coming."

Jumping up and down slightly, I clapped my hands in excitement. "Yay! This is going to be so much fun."

Leaning up, I quickly pressed my lips to Damian's before kissing the rest of them and pushing past to walk inside. He had given his blessing, and the last thing I wanted was for Damian to run the chance of changing his mind. Lord knows he did that often.

"Finish bringing the rest in, please!" I called over my shoulder happily. "Looks like rain."

Everything was going according to plan, and I finally felt happy about my current situation. For the last few months, I had felt nothing but dread because I was so worried this pregnancy was coming at the worst of times. Now, though... I wasn't scared about them coming.

Of course, I feared the actual labor, but it was becoming clearer and clearer every day they would be with me and support me one hundred percent.

Stepping inside, I skipped merrily towards the living room and searched through the many many bags that littered the area. I seriously had to sort through things and put them into piles so I could wash all the clothes I bought. Organization was key, and even though I wasn't organized... I had to learn to be.

Thirty minutes into my search for the matching female bear to the male bear, I had the phone in Damian's office ring. Looking out the window, I saw he was struggling with the twins to pull the oddly shaped crib beds out of the truck to put them in the garage and answered the phone myself.

Thad never answered Damian's office phone, but I was Luna. So I would assume it would be okay. "Hello?"

"Hello, this is Elder Jenny Harrison. This must be Ivy. How are you?"

"Oh, hello, Miss Harrison. I am doing well. Thank you for asking. Were you looking for Damian? I'm afraid he is preoccupied at the moment." The voice I used was very sweet and Luna - esque. I wasn't entirely Luna material, at least not in my opinion. But they didn't need to know about everything that went on.

"Well, I just wanted to call and check on you all. I'm actually going to be heading down that way for a few days to take care of business in another pack. And I wanted to see if it would be all right with you if I stopped in for a couple of days. I'd love to catch up with you and see how you're do Ling in your pregnancy."

The idea of having anybody from that Council come to our pack was not something I really wanted to do, especially being pregnant. However, I didn't want to be rude and draw suspicion from an elder counsel that originally wanted to get rid of my mates. so I did the one thing any good Luna would do. "Of course, that would be fine. We are going to be going through some construction, though. I just want to make you aware of that. We have a lot of renovating before the new arrivals, so I will have the guest house set up for you to stay in."

"Oh, that would be lovely. Thank you so much, and please, I completely understand. I remember how it was when I had my first pup. Don't go to too much trouble. I'm just going to be taking care of a few things. And like I said, I just wanted to stop in and check on you."

As pleasant as the woman sounded, I was pretty sure from the conversation there wasn't anything to worry about. She was the new elder everyone had been talking about and perhaps it would be a good way to show the council that we weren't a threat. "I will see you in a few days, then," I replied quickly; hanging up the phone. The only thing left to do now was break the news to the guys.

We would have a visitor, and it would be one that wasn't wanted.

At least not by Damian.