Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

Bronx's POV

It’s Sunday. I call it our “lazy” day. In other words, Kas and I! don’t leave the apartment so James and

Marco can have a day off. Most of the time, we are anything but lazy. Kas catches up on homework,

tests recipes that I get to taste for quality control, and does chores she doesn’t want to have omegas

take care of, like laundry and cleaning the kitchen. I always tell her that is what they are there for but

she says she is happy to do it so! let her be. : For me personally, it is a good time to catch up on pack

matters and relax in front of the television. Kas likes to write any essays she has due on Sundays, so

she gives them to me to read over when she is done. '

It is late afternoon when she is finished with her homework and other busy work, so she comes over to

hang out with me on the sofa. She drapes her legs over my lap and looks hesitantly at the reality show

about fishing boatsIam watching.

“Sweetheart, can we talk about a couple of things?” she asks, trying to sound casual but I see right

through it. It’s rare for Kas to say she wants to talk about whatever's on her mind, so when she does, I

give her my full attention. I have been able to sense something has been bothering her for a couple

days now. I knew she would come around at some point, but I need to let her do it in her own time.

“Of course, Baby. What’s up?” I shut off the television, “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I was just thinking. Now that Codi is born, maybe you should try to quit smoking. Do you want

her to remember your scent as cigarette smoke?”

“Excuse me?” The tone of my voice betrays my body language. This is about my bad habit? I start to

feel a bit defensive.

“Well, yeah, I mean. Nothing about it is good for you and now that you have a niece who you will spend

time with, I think maybe you could consider quitting,” she looks at me as if it is just that easy to quit

smoking. Just snap my damn fingers and it's gone.

“Call her bluff,” Saint taunts. His mood swings have been so wild since he came back in December.

After I died in Blood River and was able to be resuscitated I thought it would be kind of like a reset

button for him, but it wasn't.

“Saint, this is our mate. Don’t be an ass,” I scold him.

“Okay, gently call her bluff,” he tries to bargain. He’s got a point, actually. °

“Alright, tell you what. I will quit smoking if you tell me what this is really about. Because I don’t believe

for a second it is simply about me, Codi, or about me quitting smoking,” I look her in the eye, making

her drop her shoulders in defeat.

“Fine,” she sighs, her mood immediately changes to be more serious, “you know how earlier you asked

if I wanted to have a baby sooner?”

“Yeah, I remember,” my heart hits a hard beat. Is she changing her mind about waiting?

She clears her throat and avoids making eye contact.

“Uh oh. Something’s wrong,” Saint growls.

“When I was in France, Lady Camille said she had done some research about my lineage. At least for

the lives she knows about. And uh, she says there is a possibility that I won't be able to have children.

She isn’t quite sure because of how unique our situation is,” She says with a little frown. My sweet little

mate sounds like she is going to cry and I’m not sure how to stop it before it starts. She looks at her

hands while she explains the circumstances and potential solutions she and Lady Camille discussed.

When she finishes, she looks up at me and there they are, all the tears. My heart starts breaking at the

sight, so I reach over and wipe them away, then pull her onto my lap.

“Baby, hey, don’t cry. No. Hey, if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.

We're in this together forever, remember? We can try the things Lady Camille suggests if you want or

we can always adopt or something. It doesn’t matter to me as long as I have you. Little shack in the

back of the territory, remember? You don’t need to cry. Please don’t cry,” I reassure her while I hold her

close to my chest. AsI say it, I realize I am not just reassuring her, I'm reassuring myself as well. : I

clear my throat and wipe my own eye once I'm sure she is more calm. “Thank you for understanding,

Sweetheart,” Kas says, kissing my hand. I want to ask her so many more questions, but I can feel how

bad this hurts for her to talk about, so I decide to drop it and change the subject. “Now, what else did

you have on your mind? Hopefully, something not as heavy,” I ask.

“No, not as heavy at all,” she says witha smile. She then tells me about Lady Camille’s viewpoints on

finding her sisters.

“Kas, how is that not heavy? Darkness? Not accepting their fate?” I ask, "That's not heavy? Seems like

lead weights to me.”

“Bronx, I want to at least research and see who I can find. Safely and carefully,” she justifies to me. She

sounds so confident.

“Okay, so how do you want to do that? What have you thought of in that beautiful head of yours? I can

tell you have had a lot on your mind the past few days, sol am glad you are finally telling me what's

been brewing up there.”

She looks at me and smiles, “Thank you for your patience, Sweetheart.”

She gets up and grabs her laptop, then sits down beside me. She has a page of notes typed up. My

little researcher. “Well clearly, a bunch of people need to agree to this but hear me out, Mister CEO of

MasonCo. What if Lenora creates a position for Musu in the International division of MasonCo and we

give her a special project where her responsibility is to search out the Menae? It could be funded by the

Werewolf Historical Preservation Society since it is technically research about the Moon Goddess and

her offspring. That way there isn’t even that much coming out of your pocket. Once the bakery is

making money, I can help fund the research also. Whatever isn't covered by the Society,” she looks at

me and smiles proudly.

“Not to mention, it’s like, a perfect fit for Musu. She's smart, well-traveled, friendly, and she already

speaks seven languages. She can do the research through the company and when she gets a lead,

she brings it to us. From a security standpoint, you and Lenora can decide how we proceed. If you

don’t think it is safe to contact the person, we move on. I mean, we will have to fill Musu in on all the

details of my history but she seems like she would be the perfect fit. Besides, she’s going to need a job,

right? Why make her search for one, when we can offer her one?”

I sit back and look into the distance with a smile on my face, “How the Hell did you get to be so

cunning?” I look back at her to see her smiling broadly.

“I learned it from this weak old wolf I know,” she teases.

That's it. Tickle fight. I pull her into my lap and start tickling mercilessly so I can hear my favorite sound

in the world.