This is the last chapter of this fic, thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing! I have tried to reply to everyone who has an account because I do appreciate every review. Thanks to the people who reviewed as Guests, I wish I could reply to you as well.

Several of you have asked me to keep writing about the Wolves, and I will! I have a couple more fics already in progress. I am far from done with our Wolf pack.

The Importance of Family

As John predicted, Finch did hurry. In no time at all, he discovered that the Reverends Peltier and Scott were in on the plot to kill McCarthy and take over the lucrative ministry. He supplied Fusco with the evidence he needed for an arrest within 24 hours.

Once Fusco had the fallen ministers in custody, Finch asked everyone to meet at the safe house. As he explained to John over the phone, "I some information I think everyone will find most interesting."

So the entire team was assembled at the safe house shortly after. As they sat down at the huge dining room table, Joss could not help but notice that Shaw was looking mighty smug. Joss shot the ex-op a questioning look, but Shaw uncharacteristically did not spill the beans for once. Instead Shaw just winked at her.

Once everyone was seated, including their number, Finch took a document out of his briefcase and pushed it over to McCarthy. "Do you recognize this?'

McCarthy picked it up and looked at it. "It's my birth certificate."

Finch smiled condescendingly at the pastor. "It's not the original certificate, is it Mr. McCarthy? It's an amended certificate."

McCarthy's attitude immediately changed, he hunched his shoulders and glared at Finch, "So what?" he snapped.

Finch's smile vanished and his face became that hard mask that Officer Simmons had seen when Taylor had been kidnapped. "Oh, come now, Mr. McCarthy; you know exactly why this is relevant."

McCarthy glared at Finch but didn't say anything.

Finch pushed another piece of paper across to him. "Here is your original un-amended birth certificate. Showing a very different father; a father you never talk about or acknowledge. Your biological father was Wolf, wasn't he?"

McCarthy pushed the paper back at Finch forcibly. Joss didn't think McCarthy could surprise her anymore, but she was startled by the blazing hate she saw in his eyes. "He was no father; he was a sperm donor, nothing more. He abandoned my mother and me when I was a baby."

Shaw interrupted, "No, he didn't."

McCarthy glared at her. "What would you know about it? He said he was leaving to find work. My mother waited five long years, but he never even called or wrote."

Shaw put both of her palms flat on the table and leaned into McCarthys face so they were nose to nose, "Unlike you, I actually bothered to find out what happened to him. He left your mom and you to go find work because all the assholes like you in your Podunk town wouldn't hire a Wolf. He didn't abandon you, he was murdered when he intervened in fight in a homeless camp where he was living."

McCarthy snarled, "You're lying."

In response, Finch pushed a picture, obviously an autopsy picture, across the table. Joss and John looked at it and found the family resemblance was unmistakable.

"Ms. Shaw has talked to your mother; she positively identified him from this picture and the description of a tattoo on his arm. There is no doubt that this man was your father. Your father did not abandon you; he was killed before he could return to his family. Because he was 'just another Wolf'," Finch put air quotes around the last three words, "the authorities failed to do their due diligence in searching for his relatives. I find it ironic that you have spent your entire life believing that your father abandoned you because of the same exact hate that you now preach. I submit that the true tragedy of your life is not that you lost your father, it's that you chose to live a life defined by who you hate, not by who you love."

But McCarthy was not a man given to introspection, and he was not equipped to give up the hate that had permeated every aspect of his life for so long. "Stuff your pity, Wolf lover," McCarthy snarled. "I don't need it. I know the truth."

"Damn you!" Every head in the room turned to regard Joss with shock as she hissed at the minister. "Damn you to hell! I watched a boy commit suicide because of your kind of hatred. He was a child and he thought he was evil. No child should feel that way, ever. Damn you!" Joss got up from the table abruptly and walked over to the window to collect herself.

Everyone sat stunned by Joss's outburst for a few minutes. Finch recovered his composure first. "There is a car at the entrance to the building. It will take you back to your church. It should be safe for you to return now. Do not forget that you owe your life to those you would destroy."

McCarthy rose wordlessly and walked to the door. He opened the door and turned back to the Team. He looked like he was about to say something, but then he thought better of it. He left, firmly closing the door behind him.

Fusco growled deep in his throat, "Thank God that's over. Say goodbye to the world's only living heart donor."

Shaw rolled her upper lip, showing some fang. "What should we do about the fact that he's part Wolf?"

Finch smiled. "Nothing, for now. The network people John and Joss saw at the church have decided not to televise his sermons after all and at the rate his ministry is bleeding members and money, I doubt he'll be in business much longer. The tide seems to have turned against him."

Fusco's nose twitched. "Do you think he learned anything?"

Carter, still at the window, turned to the rest of the team and sighed, "Doubt it. He built his entire life around hating us. If he gives that up, what does he have left?" John walked over to her and slipped an arm around her.

Shaw snorted. "Well, you know you're in trouble when St. Jocelyn gives up on you."

Carter wearily leaned her head against John's shoulder. "Sorry to ruin my reputation, but I'm over the Reverend McCarthy; karma can have him now.

"Besides, I have a more immediate problem. We have to find Taylor a new school before the school year starts."

Finch's smile widened. "No you don't."

Carter looked at Finch in surprise. "What? Zoe was able to convince the principal to change his mind?"

Finch shook his head, "No, Principal Hartwell proved to be most recalcitrant. I simply threatened to withdraw my rather generous financial support, and Ms. Morgan let other large donors and the members of the board know why. Ms. Morgan hinted that I also intended to leak the news to the media. Once the board realized they had a possible public relations debacle on their hands, not to mention the loss of considerable funds, Principal Hartwell was swiftly replaced and Taylor's expulsion has been withdrawn. We should get the official notice tomorrow."

Joss looked surprised, "Wait, I thought we weren't going to go public because we might blow John's cover?"

Finch looked smug. "They don't know that. Ms. Morgan plays a rather good game of poker."

"Don't I know it," John grumbled.

Carter stared open-mouthed at Finch while he grinned back at her with a twinkle in his eyes. It took Carter a few tries before she was finally able to speak.

"I don't know what to say, or how to thank you, Harold…" while a tear rolled down her cheek.

Harold waved a hand indicating that no thanks were necessary. "I do not tolerate prejudice, especially when it impacts my friends, Jocelyn. I am very fond of Taylor and I was more than happy to help."

"You're a good man, Harold." Joss kissed him on the cheek.

A few days later, the New York State Legislature voted to officially recognize Wolf matings as legitimate marriages. It was close, the measure squeaked by with only a single vote to spare. John and Joss, cuddled together on the couch, watched the proceedings on TV with great interest, while Taylor played with Cali and the floor in front of them.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Reese," John said quietly when the vote was done.

"Mrs. Reese? You sure you're not Mr. Carter?" Joss teased as she rubbed his nose with her own.

"John Carter was a lousy movie, Mom." Taylor protested.

Joss laughed, "OK, I get that." Then she gazed at her mate with a smile and dreamy eyes. "Maybe I should be Mrs. Davis?"

John gasped at the mention of his real name. Then he smiled, "You will always be Carter to me."

Joss nuzzled her mate, "I guess that means we remain the Carter-Reese family then."

"As long as we remain a family, I don't care what we call ourselves," John said touching his forehead to hers.

"Don't worry, I'm not letting you get away," she said softly as she looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes.

"I'm not trying to get away," John purred. He hugged Joss close while he watched Taylor bounce Cali on his knee. Nope, he thought. I will never leave my family.

Later that night, John was in bed, lying on his side, propped up on one arm while he watched Joss perform her nightly bedtime routine. She brushed her teeth, moisturized her face and body, and was in the process of tying her scarf over her hair when she noticed John watching her intently. "What?"

To say that John was not a talkative man would be an understatement of epic proportions. Despite his laconic nature, he often found himself wishing he had Finch's eloquence, and now was one of those moments. He wanted to tell her that he loved her to insanity. He wanted to tell her that she was the most incredible woman he had ever met. He wanted to tell her she was beautiful inside and out. He wanted to tell her that she was the best mother, best mate and best Alpha bitch a Wolf could hope for. He wanted to tell her that he had never been happier, and it was all because of her.

But all he could say was, "I'm a lucky man." His voice was barely above a whisper.

Joss knew there was so much unspoken behind those four simple words. She could see the unspoken feelings in his expressive eyes and feel them through their mating bond. She understood what he was trying to tell her, and she was a bit overwhelmed at the love she saw in his face and felt emulating from him. Not for the first time she wondered how a man could go through everything John had and retain his huge heart.

"I'm a lucky woman," she said softly in response.

John lifted the covers and she slid into bed next to him. He pulled her to him and kissed her. It was a tender kiss, so full of love that Joss melted into her mate. She felt loved and cherished and she hoped she made John feel the same.

She did. John often had trouble believing that it was all real, that he wasn't going wake up in a few minutes, alone. But Joss here and she was real. He could feel her body responding to him and he felt her love through their bond. Gently he ran his hand over her torso, his fingertips barely brushing her skin under her tank top. He brushed his lips lightly across her mouth and cheek, up over her eyes and forehead. Her hand rested on the nape of his neck urging him on. Her breath hitched as his lips brushed the sensitive skin under her ear.

John made slow, gentle love to her, if he couldn't tell her what she and the she family gave him meant to him, he was determined to show her. Joss, of course, understood the message and returned it in every way she knew how.

At the end they climaxed together, each with the other's name on their lips. They settled together in the center of the bed, with Joss's head on John's chest and his arm around her. In short order Joss was fast asleep, secure in her mate's arms.

John stared up at the ceiling, listening to her breathe and stroking her hair. "My anchor," he whispered as he dozed off.