Twisting Her Fate
Chapter 138

"Uncle Oscar"

Ace runs towards the door, leaving his grandmother in his wake as he goes towards his favourite person.

He's lucky enough to have six live-in uncles that he loves more than anything. The uncle he only gets to see once every couple of weeks is such a novelty that he is the favorite. Much to the groups displeasure, the two children may not have a father figure in their lives, but they have such a large group of quality male influences that it makes up for the deficit.

A deep chuckle comes from outside the door and Astrid places Elena on the ground running for outside.

"Aunt Aubrey"

"At least someone loves me. Did you not see me Ace?"

"Of course I did"

A beautiful red-head walks in with Elena cradled in her arms.

"Well, if you are picking favorites, you picked the wrong side because I have chocolate and Elena gets it all now.

Lani and Astrid look at the door shaking their heads. Aubrey's mission is to steal all the affection that Ace gives to Oscar, but she really has no chance.

"You would feed them a large amount of sugar before you go out for the night"

Aubrey laughs as she runs away from Oscar with Elena still in her arms, trying to feed Elena chocolate while Oscar and Ace chase them. Suddenly, it is only Lani and Astrid in the large kitchen.

"How are you feeling?"

"Do you know it has been exactly three years since I left Connor's side. Why does it still hurt? Why do I miss him so much?"

Astrid wipes down the bench as she tidies the area.

"I can't help you with that. I am far from an expert at getting over things. I couldn't get over you or Harris for twenty-one years"

"But he wasn't my child, he wasn't me fated....he was just....I don't know"

"He was your love Lani, and that is okay, just because you weren't fated doesn't mean you aren't allowed to miss him"

It is the anniversary of when she left and she decided that a night out on the town will help her forget, but currently it is just making her miss him more. She is too scared to look him up, she doesn't want to see his and Evie's perfect life together. She wonders if Evie is pregnant again, how Connor's other child is going, if she ever crosses his mind for even a single moment.

*5 weeks after separation*

Lani sits in the large car, her mother on one side and Terrance on the other, Finlay and Hudson taking the front seats. The others are busy doing the work to the house. It was left as a shell after Harris died, thankfully a weather-tight shell, so the original frame was in good condition, there was just no linings and fixings, but it is amazing what the group can accomplish in such a short time.

Lani is the official alpha of the Fusion pack. They named it that in memoriam to her late father, who gave her the biggest gift even though he didn't even live to meet her, he gave them a home and just the thought behind it means the world to Lani. It is tangible love from a man that she never even had the chance to grace the same earth as.

"I have decided to tell Connor, the thought has been going around my head since I guessed I was pregnant, and maybe I am a bad person for wrecking what the moon goddess wanted, but I don't think it is fair for Connor not to be given a chance to know his own child. I don't want to be selfish and have him for myself. Maybe he could just know about the child and if he and Evie are making progress then I will step aside"

Astrid grips her daughter's hand tightly, caressing the back of Lani's hand with her thumb.

"Whatever you want to do"

The boys will keep quiet because, of course, they know that that is the right thing to do. Keeping a father away from their child is not for the best and even if Connor and Evie are making progress to keep the family together, keep the two who are in love together, all this fighting to stay away and no one's happy.

"Yes, I have decided, once I get this scan, once I check that everything is okay, then I will travel to the stormy pack and come clean with everything, and then we will work it all out from there"

Leilani never thought for a moment about getting rid of it. It is not her baby's problem. Her baby has a right to live, a right to see the world.

It is a product of the Lani and Connor's love, even if it was fleeting, even if the time they spent together was so little. It was love and it was fast, furious, passionate, all-consuming love. Leilani rubs a protective hand over her stomach once more.

She is nervous about telling Connor. She is nervous that he will accept the baby and not her. Now that she has come to the conclusion, she is hopeful to have a family, even though the last five weeks will have been wasted mourning over something that didn't need to happen, everything can be set right now and the hurt can go away.

If it works out her way, it is not like she will leave Evie out in the cold.

The light in Lani's eyes that has been dulled these last five weeks reignites as she thinks about the prospect.

In five weeks, the desire to be with Connor has not faded in the slightest. She has not come to terms with the development and everything. Every little feeling makes her regret her decision to walk away when she did. They should have talked it through. She should have stayed and looked after Evie and did it the adult way.

She thought she was doing what was best, but now she doesn't even know what is best. If it wasn't for the baby, then she might still believe that. But now she is just regretting the time she spent away.

While the rest of them have been busy organizing the house ready for living, as currently they are all living in a makeshift setup within the pack border. Astrid has been dedicating all her time on replaceing the right doctor and medical team to look after her precious daughter and precious grandchild.

She has embraced the chance with open arms to be able to be a part of Lani's life and looking at them now. It is hard to believe that they have only truly known each other for a week.

When two people go in devoted and fully open to the relationship, it can develop easily and that was what this was. Lani has always wanted a mother and Astrid has dreamed of her sweet Cora every night for twenty-one years. There is nothing that she wanted more than having her daughter by her side. The fact that Lani is so level-headed and does not hold anything against her is amazing.

Astrid has decided to just stay with Lani and her brothers until they kick her out.

Just taking trips to the Amber pack to attempt to help Oscar through this period. Terrance sits beside the two women breathing a sigh of relief, not being able to tell Connor about how much Lani is suffering without him has been hard, but he was in agreeance at the start. They needed to give Connor and Evie a chance. The union was fated by the moon, no matter how wrong it seemed at the time. But not being able to tell Connor about the baby has been the worst. Terrance knows that Connor would love to be at the first scan. It is a massive relief when Lani tells him that she will come clean. They all pull up to the imaging office. It is after hours, so there is no risk of being seen by others.

Lani lays on the bed. Astrid clutch's her hand and the boys surround the bed, all staring at the technician with the usual over-protectiveness that they can see that Astrid has of course, already warned the man, because she knew it would be impossible to get Lani in a room without at least a few of her body guards.

Astrid would never tell the boys off because she appreciates the role that they have played in Lani's life so much and they are all good boys.

She feels like in the space of a month she has gone from a pitiful woman with a son that lives away all the time and an adopted daughter to suddenly having seven sons and a beautiful daughter and a grandchild on the way. All the pain that was before seems to have faded out in even a short week.

The cold gel is applied straight to Lani's slightly raised stomach. It seems to be getting bigger by the day, stretching out her originally slim and toned stomach but making her look even more beautiful than before.

Astrid has helped a little in the process of getting Lani to eat and the fact that they are working towards repairing her father's house. She has been so busy that she's been eating and drinking and laughing with others. It may be a little hollow, but it is still progress. Lani has been making an effort to eat well to sustain the life growing inside her, so she actually has a slightly healthy glow starting to show on her pale cheeks.

The device is moved around Lani's stomach as the doctor walks into the room. The doctor was from the half moon pack. They bought him in to check over Gabriel after his capture and Terrance and he got talking and that is how he ended up as Lani's primary carer. The doctor has a tight-lipped half smile on his face that looks more like a grimace, but no one even notices, they are too busy focusing on the screen in front of them.

"One little heart beat....we have a little foot here..... another foot.....another foot......wait a minute"

The device is moved again.

"One heart beat......Two heartbeats......You are having twins"

The atmosphere in the room is joyous, Astrid has tears pouring and Lani feels like her heart is going to jump out of her chest. They are going to have twins. There is only one expression that doesn't join the joy, only darkens further with the news.