<b>Chapter </b><b>146 </b>


    <b>Xavier </b>


    The house was too quiet without the kids. Envy tried not to show it, but I saw it every


    time she passed their room, or when her hand lingered on the back of the couch where Elliot usually perched like a crow. Maddox paced inside me, restless with the silence, restless with the waiting. So I filled the space with work, patrols, training, and maps drawn and redrawn for the packs defense. But when I came home, my priority was her. Making sure her te was full. That her feet were up. That she knew she wasn’t carrying any of this alone. She tried to brush it off when I kissed her belly each night. But I saw the way her fingers tightened in my hair. Fear and love mixed together.


    <b>Haiden </b>


    I hated the quiet more than I admitted. Talen hated it more. He prowled inside me, snapping at shadows, itching for blood. I let him run long nights to burn it off, but it didn’t stop the tension coiling tighter as Envy’s birthday crept closer.


    She didn’t want a celebration anymore. No cake, noughter. Not without the kids. I got it. But hell, if I was going to let the day pass like any other. So when Levi pulled out the idea, take her back to the ce he’d taken her first, the one she’d called theirs, I agreed before he’d even finished the sentence. A dinner, just us, no titles, no war. I’d fight the gods themselves to give her that.


    <b>Levi </b>


    Details matter. Especially now. I kept the pack steady, the Underworld running, the schedules running smoothly, so there were no cracks for panic to fall through. But under it all was her shift. Each sunrise was a reminder that we were closing in on something bigger than all of us. So I nned. We’d take her to our spot in the hills, where she made the hillse alive with a million little flowers. Where we oncey together and talked about life. When things were as simple as a boy trying to get a girl to love him. We’d take all her, and the babies favourite foods<b>, </b>candles, nkets, a touch of magic and it would be


    perfect.


    <b>Noah </b>


    Hawk and I carried most of the weight outside. Fences, scouts, keeping Zion’s men folded


    170


    into <b>the </b>line. He liked the rhythm, liked the constant movement that kept his teeth from finding something worse to bite. But inside? Inside, it was about her. I rubbed her back when the weight in her spine grew too much. I pressed water into her hands when she forgot. I stayed awake through the night when she couldn’t, just to remind her she wasn’t facing the dark alone. She thought she hid it well, the ache of missing the kids, the fear of what the witches wanted. But I knew. And when she leaned against me on the couch, whispering that she didn’t want a birthday, didn’t want a party, I kissed her hair and let her know: we weren’t asking for a celebration. We were asking for a night with her. Just


    her.


    <b>Envy </b>


    I woke to the smell of cinnamon and coffee. Warmth pressed in all around me before I


    even opened my eyes, voices low, footsteps careful, the weight of love filling the room.


    When I finally blinked awake, they were there. My four mates, grins in varying degrees of


    smug and soft, each bncing a te, a mug, and a flower stolen from the garden.


    “Happy birthday, little mate,” Xavier said first, setting a tray across myp with a flourish. Pancakes, berries, and toast cut just the way I liked.


    “Happy birthday, love,” Haiden muttered, scratching his jaw. “I tried to make eggs.


    Maddox still won’t speak to me about it.”


    Levi rolled his eyes and set down fresh orange juice with a precision that made meugh. “I remade them. Properly. Happy birthday, doll.”


    “Happy birthday my Luna, time to feed the baby,” Noah added, pressing a kiss to the top


    my head before slipping my fork into my hand.


    of


    Before I could even thank them, Noah thumbed the phone screen on, and Elliot and Macey’s faces filled the room. They were crammed together, hair mussed, smiles wide.


    “Happy birthday to youuuuu,” they screeched in unison, Macey off–key, Elliot too serious about keeping the rhythm.


    I pped a hand over my mouth, but the tears came anyway. “Best gift I could ever get<b>,</b><b>” </b><b>I </b>whispered, voice cracking. “Thank you.”


    “Love you, Mumma,” Elliot said solemnly.


    3


    ?


    <


    “Love you too!” Macey yelled, blowing a kiss that nearly knocked the phone over.


    When the call ended, the quiet that followed wasn’t heavy. It was full. I ate every bite they put in front of me, because I knew they were watching, waiting for me to keep my strength. When I finally slid out of bed and stepped into the shower, the steam swallowed Ime whole. Water beat down, hot and steady, but the weight of the day pressed harder. Hands braced against the tile, I dropped my head, eyes closed. My palm found its ce low, over the swell that seemed to grow every morning.


    “It’s okay, little one,” I whispered, voice trembling as water ran over my cheeks. “You’ll be okay. I swear it.”


    The words weren’t just for the pup. They were for me too.


    This work, Goddess of the Underworld by Sheridan Hartin, is an exclusive intellectual property legally contracted with NovelSnack. Any reproduction, distribution, or upload outside NovelFlow, AnyStories, NovGo, and Readink is unauthorized and constitutes copyright infringement.


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