Her left hand rests on her bump as she brushes through her hair with her right, exhaustion apparent on her face as she fixes herself for her meetings.

Putting the brush down onto the dressing table, she slowly hauls herself up from her stool, wincing as her back aches at the sudden movement.

Roman can hear movement from where he is in the bathroom, and he quickly hurries out, his eyes widening as he spots his very pregnant mate moving around.

"Ave, I told you to call me!" He scolds, and she scowls at him, slapping his hand off her arm.

"I'm not an invalid, I'm just pregnant," she scoffs, waddling around the room to find a hat.

"Yes, very pregnant," he reminds her with a frown, grabbing a tan wool hat for her.

It matches the only coat she wants to wear nowadays, so he figures that she can't be too upset at his pairing of the two.

She stares at it for a moment, taking it off him gently and cramming it onto her head roughly, glancing at the time.

"I can drive you if you give me two minutes," he offers, combing through his soaking wet hair.

The towel around his waist is hanging precariously, and Avery is entirely focused on his back muscles as he moves his arms.

She loves just watching him do his day-to-day tasks, and watching him move around after his shower never gets old - there's something about his muscles and him glistening with water that really fascinates and delights her and Sonya to no end.

The wolf rears her head at the sight of Roman, and Avery has to stop herself from grinning.

Her wolf has taken a beating during the pregnancy, trying to stop the ridiculously strong Alpha pup from sapping all of their energy and strength.

Even still, Avery has lost weight from their child taking her nutrients and energy.

It'll all be worth it, Sonya groans wearily, equally ready for it to be over.

They haven't shifted in almost four months, and it's killing both of them since they used to shift at least once a day to spend time in harmony.

Whoever said pregnancy was a beautiful thing hadn't dealt with Avery's pup, who seemed intent on playing football in the middle of the night, every night.

She was near her due date, and she didn't have time for the pup to come early - she had meetings literally up until the day before the pup was due to be born.

The dissolution of the former Council had left her with a lot of work to do, and everyone was working from dawn to dusk to try and organise what had been left in ruins by the last ruling party. Avery herself had been elected to the Council, which she would have loved any other time, but with the impending due date, she felt even more stressed than usual.

"Okay, I'm ready," Roman nods, picking up Avery's fur-lined trench coat, holding it up for her to slide her arms into.

She detests how much help she needs at the moment, but she knows that Roman is doing it out of love.

That doesn't make it any easier for her to give up so much of her independence and freedom, but she's working on it.

She was terrified of having this child, and she wasn't talking about the birthing process - she knew that would be bad, all of her friends had children, and she had witnessed more than one birth.

She didn't want to ruin this child, and she was terrified she'd do something wrong.

She had tried to talk to Roman about it, but he refused to listen to her, instead insisting she was going to be brilliant straight away.

She feels miserable as she leans down to try to grab her bag, one hand on her back to try and balance some of the pressure.

"I'll get that," Roman murmurs, kissing her cheek as he swoops down and grabs her bag, putting it over his shoulder.

They had the same meetings today, so Avery knew she had someone with her the whole time in case anything happened.

She was increasingly scared of losing the pregnancy after what had happened before, and she had barely moved since her pregnancy had been confirmed, not wanting to risk anything.

Everyone had to come to her, or it was a video call - she wasn't taking any risks at all in flying or driving for too long, and even though her doctor said it was okay, she didn't want to do anything she had convinced herself could harm her baby.

Closing her jacket as they walk down the stairs, she rubs her temples, feeling a mild headache coming on again.

She hasn't slept properly for the last two months, and she's exhausted - when the baby is born, she's warned Roman that she's sleeping for at least nine hours in a row.

She feels like a teenager again with the exhaustion, but she has responsibilities now.

Including this meeting.

Roman drives carefully, one hand on hers to try and soothe her.

They don't speak for the drive, but his wolf is troubled by Avery's emotions.

He can feel them through the link, and he's concerned that she's in pain.

Roman glances over at his mate, who seems to be asleep.

He makes a note of this and takes care to drive even gentler, turning the radio off and avoiding any bumps he knows are in the road.

This meeting is for the new Council, and he had to attend as the official peacekeeper, while Avery was actually sitting on the panel.

He was beyond proud of her, but he was upset that she didn't have the opportunity to enjoy it.

She didn't like pregnancy, and he knew it was because their pup was difficult.

It killed him to see her in pain, and that was all she had seemed to be in since they found out she was pregnant.

The excitement had lasted for a day, and then she had been rushed to the hospital for a blood transfusion.

She had been visiting her doctor every two days for the last few weeks to make sure everything was alright, because the doctor expected their child to make an early entrance into the world.

She thought they were on the way to a meeting, and she had been stressing all morning about that when in reality, they were on the way to her baby shower.

He had been working secretly with all of her friends from the pack, and from other packs, to make sure it was as perfect as can be.

The entire packhouse is decorated with her favourite flowers and Christmas decorations, and everyone is in on it.

The winter holidays have started, and all of the children are off school, making the atmosphere that bit more excited.

He's terrified she'll hate it, but he's just hoping that it helps to relax her a little.

He reorganised her schedule, with Zephyr, Scott, and Katya's help, so that after the next two days, she has two weeks off before the baby comes.

She needs time to relax, even her doctor said it, and she'll get it in bucketloads after this.

He has everyone working together for once, even people she isn't friendly with.

Alpha Carlton even pitched in with sorting their meetings out, which surprised Roman - that man really hates Avery and everything she stands for, but he does love children, so Roman thinks he's doing it out of respect for their heir.

Roman wasn't sure if Avery wanted to do a gender reveal, so he got two cakes - one for the gender reveal, and one plain.

He pulls up to the packhouse, parking right outside the door and turning off the engine.

He leans over gently and undoes Avery's seatbelt, tapping her gently.

She slowly opens her eyes, blinking in confusion until she realises they're at the packhouse.

"I thought you'd want me to wake you up instead of carrying you into a meeting," he grins, and Avery stares at him, shaking her head.

"Let's go," she grumbles, and he quickly jumps out of the car, hurrying around to her side to help her out of the vehicle.

She allows him to help her, knowing she can't get out of the Jeep and land on the ground with her balance.

He walks her up the two steps, and he turns right, causing her to frown and grab his sleeve.

"Where are you going? We need to go to the meeting," she protests, her eyebrows raised.

"We're early, let's grab a snack. We don't want your sugars to drop," he shrugs, and she sighs.

"I suppose your right, let's go," she nods, appreciating his thoughtfulness.

As soon as they walk into the dining hall, balloons fly at them, which Roman thought was safer than everyone screaming suddenly at the heavily pregnant woman.

Avery frowns, furrowing her brows, as she pushes one of the balloons out of the way of her sight.

Her jaw drops open, and she clutches onto Roman for support once the balloons rise to the ceiling.

The room is gorgeously decorated, and food lines the tables.

Every cuisine that people thought of had been made, and it sat out, ready to be eaten by anyone who wanted to try it.

Most of her pack is there, and some of his is too.

Her eyes land on a group of smirking Alphas, and she releases a gasp, shaking her head as she turns to Roman.

As she turns around, she realises she missed the most prominent decoration of all, which is a gigantic banner reading 'Congratulations Alpha'.

Her eyes start watering, and she starts sniffling, causing Roman's eyes to widen and him to kneel down beside her.

"What's wrong, baby?" He whispers, the entire room quietening down as Avery starts to sob.

"You did this? For me?" She mumbles, tears streaming down her face as she throws her arms around him tightly.

"For you and our gorgeous pup," he smiles, kissing her forehead.

She cries harder, pushing her face into his chest as she continues to bawl.

Roman gives the Alphas a thumbs up, and looks of relief immediately spread across their faces.

"So the meeting was fake?" She whimpers, looking up at his eyes.

"It was a lie. It was the only way I could convince you to leave the house," he murmurs, gently kissing her lips before pulling away.

"Do you want to do a gender reveal?" He asks in a hushed tone, and she nods rapidly, hugging him.

"I want to share the moment with the pack," she whispers, and he grins.

"I planned for everything," he chuckles, helping her to her feet.

"Thank you," she nervously announces, looking around the room.

Almost everyone she knows has shown up, including her brother.

He usually avoids pack functions, but he made sure to show up with Persephone for the occasion.

She starts to cry again as she looks around the room, and Louisa hurries over, drawing Avery into her arms.

"You're going to be an amazing mom," she whispers into her sister's ears, squeezing her tightly.

"You're going to push this baby out of me," Avery giggles through her tears, hugging her sister back.

"She's right, let her go," Lexus notes, untangling the sisters and pulling Avery into a hug of her own.

"I'm very proud of you," the woman murmurs, and Avery kisses the woman's forehead.

Lexus has become a mother figure to her, always making sure she takes time to relax for herself.

Marie has two other children, and a career to look after, so she can't always be there if Avery needs anything, but Lexus makes sure she's always available.

She held Avery's hand during her blood transfusions and shouted at the doctors when they weren't listening to Avery. Her dedication and her loyalty bowled her over - she had never appreciated someone as much.

"You're going to make me cry again," Avery sniffles, brushing her hair back.

"My first grandchild," Lexus croons, grinning down at Avery's bump.

"Yes, you've got that right," Avery beams, resting her hands on her bump.

"Could I use your name for the middle name?" Avery asks quietly, making eye contact with Lexus.

The older woman's mouth opens slightly, and her bright eyes start to water.

She brushes her perfectly curled hair back and sniffles, tilting her chin into the air.

"I'd be honoured," she chokes out, clearing her throat, "Now don't you dare make me cry in front of all of these people. I won't show weakness to these vultures."

Avery releases a laugh at the woman's prim ways, stepping back.

Everyone has started to walk around the tables with their plates, filling up on whatever they want to try.

She and Roman had discussed at length what to name their child, and they had decided to use the middle name, Lexus, purely because that woman would be, without a doubt, the child's fiercest protector, after them.

She saw Avery as a daughter for the last three years, and she had fainted when Avery had told her that they were pregnant.

It was hilarious, and everyone reminded Lexus that it was the most emotion she had ever shown in front of their pack.

She took the teasing well, letting it go.

Roman leads two people out of the kitchen, wheeling a massive cake on a moving tray.

"Okay everyone, it's time for the gender reveal," he announces excitedly, grinning at his mate.

They didn't know the gender either - Avery had initially wanted it to be a surprise, which Roman was fine with, but a week or two ago she had said she wished she knew so she could buy some coloured clothes.

Her wish was his command.

She claps a hand over her mouth at the sheer size of the cake, and he shrugs a little at her.

"I wanted everyone to try it," he mumbles, his cheeks turning slightly pink as he wheels the cake towards her.

"Before I cut it, I just want to say thank you to all of you. The last three and a half months have been hard, and I don't need to tell all of you that. I've never been so proud to call you my pack," Avery announces, and the pack members clap for her, everyone focusing on the cake.

Roman hands her a knife, and she lowers it to the bottom layer of the cake, grinning up at him.

"Help me with it," she encourages, moving her hand so that he can hold the knife, too.

He obeys, and together, they push the knife down.

They cut a slice, and Avery inhales deeply.

She doesn't care what gender it is - she really doesn't, she has excellent names for either.

She knows that Roman doesn't mind either, and they slowly lift the slice onto a plate.

Avery shrieks and Roman quickly puts the plate down before she jumps into his arms, happy tears streaming down her face.

He's almost frozen in shock, barely noticing her weight on his front.

Lexus peers at the slice and grins, keeping her mouth shut until the two announce the gender.

Zephyr and Katya are holding hands in anticipation, holding their breath.

Avery stays hugging Roman for a moment before she climbs down, a smile almost reaching her ears.

"It's a girl," she booms, sending the same message across the mindlink.

"Hallie Lexus Lancaster," she murmurs, looking down at her bump.

"Hallie," he repeats softly, kissing her temple as he rests his hands on her bump from behind.