"it can happen to the best of us." bjornolf winked at her. he admired the small arsenal of weapons she'd gotten him.

"to keep you alive if i'm not there with you," she said with a smirk.

"if you can't be with me, i'm not going. haven't i already told you that?"

jessica was smiling at them, nestled in nathan's arms. "i love how they talk to each other."

"this was the best christmas ever," anna said, cuddling with bjornolf. "the best ever."

it wasn't the gifts, but the thought behind them. she loved that bjornolf was so concerned about her ruined clothes that he'd gotten her replacements, and in different colors, too. and that nathan and jessica wanted her to have the mints she enjoyed so much.

who said you had to have little kids to enjoy christmas?

"yeah, it's been the greatest," bjornolf said, kissing her head, "and the best is that it's only the first of many."

nathan looked contemplative as he stared at all the discarded wrapping paper on the floor. "about the murder-mystery board game..."

everyone raised brows at him.

"okay, so is it time to eat?" he asked instead.

later that afternoon, bjornolf wrapped his arms around anna, and they watched as nathan and jessica played tug-of-war over the dried-out wishbone.

jessica won and nathan swore she cheated because she'd been doing it more often than he had, but she had a gleam in her eye as she looked at anna and said, "but i get my wish."

then the call came from hunter to bjornolf. "i can't get hold of finn to let him and meara know. i'm on my way to the hospital with tessa."

tessa was having her babies on christmas day, and hunter was coming unglued. bjornolf called the pack members, and meara and finn hurried over to the hospital, followed by anna and bjornolf.

nathan and jessica opted to stay home, and anna knew what that was all about.

the twins were born half an hour after hunter got tessa to the hospital. no wonder he had been panicking!

tessa was one tired momma, but the babies were crinkly and well, and hunter was one proud wolf of a father. little name tags on the bassinets declared that one was ryan and the other blaine greymere.

bjornolf stood with his arm over anna's shoulder as they looked through the viewing window at the babies. she was happy for tessa. truly happy. even if she couldn't have any children, she would love tessa's like her own because of wolf-pack rules and a wolf's natural nurturing instinct. maybe her parents had been the same with her when she was that little. if not, it didn't matter. she knew now she would be.

rourke joined them to look at the babies. "they could have been mine."

bjornolf and anna looked over at him, wondering what he was talking about.

"i dated her once."

bjornolf shook his head. "a seal always wins." he smelled a male red wolf approaching and turned to see a man stalk toward them that he didn't recognize. the man stopped to look at the babies and smiled. "two boys." he looked over at bjornolf. "leidolf wildhaven, pack leader of the red wolves of portland."

"bjornolf jorgenson and anna johnson recently of the oregon coast."

"ah, a seal and a female undercover operative. carver told me the teen giving him trouble mated with another teen she-wolf."

"yeah."

"hunter said you're both mated now and staying with the pack."

"yep." bjornolf and anna continued to watch the babies.

"i'm not sure i like that."

they glanced at him.

leidolf smiled. "seems hunter's bringing his whole seal team and a she-wolf operative into the pack. if i ever need your services?" leidolf held out his hand.

bjornolf shook it, then anna followed suit. "you've got it," bjornolf said.

"good. tell hunter i'll check on him and tessa later. i'll be shipping gifts for the babies tomorrow." then leidolf strode off.

anna snuggled with bjornolf. "seems to me we had no pack and now we can be part of two."

"a red, a gray, and all we need is to belong to an arctic pack."

"none around here."

bjornolf didn't say anything.

anna looked up at him.

"i've heard there's a pack of newbie arctic wolves trying to find a home somewhere in the great northwest."

she chuckled. "that would be the day."

three months after tessa's babies were born, the wentworths were being prosecuted. all of them were being held without bond.

anna was on the phone with hunter and so thrilled that she could barely contain herself when bjornolf came up from the beach with another stack of logs for the fire. she put the speakerphone on as soon as she shut the door for bjornolf and he dumped the wood in the bin. "hunter, go ahead. tell bjornolf the news."

"roger wentworth recovered enough from his injuries to give details about william's involvement in illegal drug shipments. he also told them about william murdering jessica's parents when he thought they knew about a new species of plant that would make him even richer. feeling set up by his older half brother, roger murdered the dea agents and tried to cover his tracks by attempting to eliminate anna. you were next."

"and dottie and helen?" anna asked.

"verdict's still out on them. dottie swears she didn't know that the couple was murdered. only that she had to raise the baby. sounds like a lot of bs to me. helen is being charged with aggravated assault. but it appears she was clueless about william and roger's business. jeff's an accessory to the whole thing. dna on dottie's toddler proved william was the father, not roger. they're still looking for the nanny who was involved when the toddler was killed by a hit-and-run driver. that's the end of our involvement until we get another mission."

"sounds good," bjornolf said. "we decided on a house plan for finn's old property, and construction starts next week. kids have picked out the style of place they want and it'll be built next to ours."

"we couldn't be happier for you," hunter said.

"we've got to go," anna said, all smiles, glad roger had pulled through and would help to nail both his half brothers. "give tessa and the babies our love."

wanting to shout to the world, she hung up on him and then put her arms around bjornolf's neck. "jessica's wish over the turkey bone has come true."

bjornolf smiled down at her, his hands stroking up and down her back. "that we'd have the houses started by this time?"

anna gave him a devious smile. "no."

"ah, yeah, that roger made it. i told you that you weren't at fault for shooting him where you did. you were drugged and barely able to-"

anna shook her head, smiling even more broadly now. "we're having triplets."

bjornolf looked stunned, and then he grinned. he grabbed her up and swung her around and howled for the whole oregon coast pack of wolves to hear. he was one happy seal wolf.

the rest of the wolf pack would be just as thrilled. sometimes belonging to a pack and not being a lone wolf was worth everything in the world. with babies on the way, missions would be close to home, but if bjornolf and anna had an assignment later, they had tons of wolves who would step in and help out.

"triplets," he said, looking all misty-eyed.

and anna knew she was just where she belonged-with her sparring partner and lover, who was one sexy seal wolf.