Epilogue Lyndon

2 Years Later

The knock came in the middle of the night. It always did in these kinds of situations.

I could hear Darcy singing quietly to Aeli in the other room, trying to get the poor kid to sleep. In the two months since the social worker had shown up at our door, it was rare for him to sleep through the night. He was plagued with nightmares, and we were at a loss at how to help him. Darcy's singing miraculously seemed to calm him, at least for a little while, which blew all our minds since he was completely tone deaf.

There was another knock. Groaning, I climbed out of bed.

The visions the goddess had sent us hadn't gone as planned. We'd bought the old Victorian house long before any child had graced our lives. We'd just known it had to be livable much earlier than we'd seen. The sanctuary town, Hearts Haven, was still a pipe dream, but we had a meeting later in the month that had us hopeful that maybe we were finally going in the right direction.

I left our bedroom and peeked into the nursery, where Darcy had the toddler draped over his shoulder. He smiled tiredly at me. "Another one?" he mouthed. I nodded. I couldn't imagine what else it would be.

If three years ago, someone told me that not only would I have a mate, but I'd be the go-to foster dad, with my mate, for all special cases, parahuman children who had nowhere else to go, I'd have laughed.

Before heading down the stairs, I stuck my head in the partially opened door where Rylan, the infant wolf shifter we'd taken in just weeks ago, slept soundly. At least he managed to sleep through the chaos.

It was no surprise to see Ann standing there, as she seemed to end up with all the parahuman children. She was human but wasn't a bigoted asshole and truly cared for these kids. She tried to find them good homes, which was how she ended up here.

"Got another one for us?" I couldn't see a kid anywhere, but that wasn't that unusual. Shiloh, the five-year-old Nephilim boy who, as a surprise to all of us, had been our first foster child, had been in such bad shape, he'd still been in the hospital when she'd asked us to take him in.

Ann shifted awkwardly. "Is Darcy here?"

"He's upstairs with Aeli. He's still having nightmares."

Ann frowned. "I'd really rather have this conversation with both of you. This is a difficult one."

I almost wanted to laugh. They all were. That was why they ended up here. But Darcy was born for this role, and surprisingly enough, I loved it too.

"Hit me with it, Ann. You know we're not going to say no."

"This one was unusual. I didn't know they existed . . ."

"Ann—" I warned. It was the middle of the night. We were all sleep deprived and there was a poor kid somewhere that needed to get settled. I just wanted her to get on with it.

"He's an incubus. Half incubus. His mother was a human. He's not quite three, so he doesn't have any abilities yet. But no one will take him. I didn't know what else to do."

Well, okay then. I looked up at the ceiling like I often did when talking to the goddess. This time I wasn't cursing her though. I was thanking her for all but forcing me into this wild, crazy life I wouldn't change for a minute.

The End

Want more of Darcy, Lyndon, and their lovable family?

Welcome to Hearts Haven, a place where all parahumans can go to feel safe and be themselves without fear or persecution.

A fire witch who can barely control his fire.

A jaguar shifter who sees the world a little differently and has spent his life being trained to kill.

A past secret buried so deep that's threatening to ruin everything.

It's all bound to result in bloody hearts.

Bloody Hearts: Book One in Hearts Haven coming 2025

Aeli and his fosters brothers are all grown up and ready for love.