Epilogue

Koruk and Oz were in their stone form and it gave me the perfect time to do what I needed to—alone.

We’d been together, mated, for a little over six months. I’d moved everything to their castle. They’d changed one of the downstairs bedrooms into an office for me and had been working tirelessly on a greenhouse. One mention of anything I might be interested in and my mates went right to work making it happen. Good thing I wasn’t into gold or diamonds—they would probably buy me a mine.

I’d covered up some of the things I’d been feeling lately. Probably not as well as I’d hoped but until I knew what was happening, I didn’t want to worry them.

They might be giant gargoyles, but they worried like old ladies.

“Here we go,” I peed on the damned test and perched it on the side of my sink, the one in the middle. We’d all moved into the master suite. They’d claimed they kept separate bedrooms in case I wanted some privacy or alone time. I wanted neither. And so, we’d all slept together every night since our first night together.

I walked to the French doors that led to the balcony where my men sat, still as death, on their perch. Couldn’t say I’d gotten used to this part of them, but sometimes they wanted to take a break from their human side. Koruk claimed it was a mini-mind vacation for them.

Honestly, we all needed one of those from time to time.

The timer went off and I rushed back to the bathroom, taking a deep breath before checking the stick. If I wasn’t pregnant, then my body had some serious explaining to do. The throwing up. The nausea. The lack of energy. The snappiness that Koruk and Oz called my sass.

If only they knew that 90 percent of it I kept to myself.

I braced myself against the wall as I eyed the two lines.

Pregnant.

I was having a gargoyle baby. I took a minute to process that crazy before deciding how I would tell my mates.

Just tell them. That was how. We had decided to start working on our family right away. And with the way we mated, it was no surprise to me that I was already carrying their young.

I walked over to the balcony and opened the doors wide and ran my hands down the heads of both of them. That was our signal for them to wake up from their rest. They had only been in stone form for an hour or so, but I knew that my news would be worth waking up for.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Oz asked, standing slowly and moving his thumb across my cheek. He showed me his wet thumb and I pressed my fingers to my other cheek. Tears of joy for sure.

“I have to tell you two something.”

Koruk rose second, even more slowly than Oz. He took longer to adjust to his human form after shifting. I loved watching their wings disappear into their bulky forms. Every part of their existence fascinated me.

“What is it, mate?”

“This.” I lifted the stick up and showed it to them.

“Ah,” Oz murmured. “We were wondering how long it would be before you took a test. We’ve known for some weeks, Malinda.”

I gasped and slapped at his arm. “Explain yourselves.”

Koruk chuckled at my sass but secretly I knew he loved it. He certainly loved it in bed. “We detected the change in your scent a few weeks ago and knew you were pregnant, but we decided that we would wait one more week before tipping you off. Looks like you didn’t need our hint.”

“You’re happy?” I asked, making sure. We had discussed it but a girl had to confirm once in a while.

“We are beyond happy, mate. You have made us the happiest damned gargoyles on the planet. Maybe in history.”

“When do you think it happened?” I asked.

Oz chuckled. “Does it matter?”

I shrugged. “I suppose not.”

Koruk lifted me and whirled me around. “It’s amazing what one drunken night can do, isn’t that right, mate?”

I laughed but had to make him put me down. Whirling a pregnant lady with a queasy stomach wasn’t the best idea. “Best decision I ever made.”