Epilogue

Drin finished sourcing for the latest of Litha’s projects. She heard laughter from the far side of the house, and that meant that Vikor was home. The party could start.

A knock at the door and her eighteen-year-old nephew leaned in the doorway. “Auntie Drin, they are going to start barbequing and want you there.”

Vaken looked just like his father and uncle. His skin was crimson, eyes a dark blue, but he could fly and lift as much as he wanted to, including a box filled with all his cousins.

“Okay. I am just going to lock up, buddy.”

She locked her computer in her desk, so she didn’t come back to it coated with jam again. Twice had been enough.

She came around the desk, and Vaken offered her his arm. “Thank you.”

“Auntie, why don’t you age?”

She was amused by the question she had been asked a lot over the last twelve years. “No idea, buddy. It’s being studied. How are the team trials?”

“Great. Half my class wants to meet you. It isn’t awkward at all.” He snorted.

“They can meet the guys first if that would make you feel better.”

He cackled. “Oh, they would love that. I will have to ask them.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to have your eighteenth at Klauz’s?”

They walked down the stairs, and the place was swarming with twelve- and eleven-year-olds. Kimi and Kala were in the kitchen with their dad. Their brother Kyan was trying his new activation and trying to figure out what people wanted.

He looked at her and grinned. “Okay, Mom. Cake it is.”

She laughed.

“And Vaken wants a steak with a pasta salad, fries, and that barbeque sauce you put together.”

She smiled at her son. “It is in the back of the left fridge marked poison. Third shelf.”

Kyan grinned and went to get it.

Vaken was laughing. “You mark it poison?”

“Klauz drinks it. He adds it to vodka and uses it for shots.” She smiled and looked around. “Huh, hard to believe that I am related to all of this group.”

“Yeah, um, about that. Mom is going to ask you for a favour. She told me about the egg.”

“Ah. I did wonder if she would.”

“Well, since she and Hekker are pretty enthralled with each other, she was thinking about having another baby, and she has the same issue now that she did then.”

She looked him in the eye. “So, she told you?”

“She did.”

“I will sign the release for one of those eggs. She can have it. You get an official sibling.”

He looked around the writhing yard with the gate around the pool and the play structures out back, and she saw what he saw. Family chaos. “I like the unofficial ones just fine.”

She grinned. “I am glad. It was always her information to share.”

“She did. I am glad she did. It explains a lot.”

Drin looked at him. “Oh, what?”

He reached up and pulled out his contact lenses. Drin covered her mouth. “When did that happen?”

“Well, I am no longer a virgin if that helps you make a guess.”

She blinked and shrugged. “Oh, wow. I didn’t know it was a thing that could be inherited. And you get used to the sexual energy thing.”

He grinned. “I plan to.”

Drin paused. “If I hear that you have been seducing women randomly, I am going to boot your ass out.”

He sighed. “I have been neutralized and am not going to create a wave of grandkids for you. I want to have what you and the guys have. What my mother is developing. A partnership.”

Drin smiled. “Did you also figure out that your eyes go rainbow when you are happy?”

He blushed a little. “I didn’t know that, but now I remember that you used to be all brown, and your skin was yellowish.”

“Yeah, I still have my dual tags when I go into work, just in case the guys really upset me.”

He chuckled. “My eyes are the only thing that’s changed.”

“If you really like her, maybe your ears will get pointy.”

He brushed his hand over his dark hair, and the point was already evident.

She smiled. “I am going to have to meet her one day.”

“She should be here within the hour.”

Drin grinned, and she knew she was sparkling. “I look forward to you defending her from your cousins. Tevyn and Techai are experimenting with their long-range searches.”

“Oh, man. You have a lot of kids, Auntie.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I do. And since two of them split into twins, there are two more than calculated.”

Vikor’s voice came to her, and she heard the tone he reserved for his parents. “And there are your grandparents.”

Vaken smiled. “Do you mind if I go?”

“Send your Uncle Vikor to me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He hugged her and went to greet his grandparents.

Drin watched as Vikor turned toward her. He was dressed in a tee and jeans, and he lumbered over toward her. The side effect of five males that rotated through her bed was that they all worked out. Each one of them. Folks thought it was her energy that bulked them out, but if they weren’t her patron for the night, they were with the kids or working out.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him. “Vaken knows.”

“Ah, I thought she might mention it. She asked me if you would consider donating an egg to her for her next child.”

“You didn’t think to tell me?”

“The kids were turning your face into a pretty butterfly at the time, and the others were sculpting your hair. It was makeover night.”

“Oh, right. She was tense last month.” She pressed her face against his chest. “Is she here yet?”

“Yeah, she came in after my dad and mom. I think she’s hiding.”

“Why didn’t she just ask?”

“I believe she thinks she has taken enough from you. This is one step too far.”

Drin turned her head and saw Vaken with his mother, and Shisha got a sudden beaming grin. Drin gave her a thumbs-up, and tears came to her friend’s eyes.

“You honestly don’t mind, Drin?”

“I don’t mind. You aren’t the first to ask; there are still a few left over from my first donation. You are welcome to two, but the kids will have to know about their siblings so that the genetic lines don’t cross. Are you good with that?”

“Absolutely. Hekker and I would be honoured to raise your egg into a person. The first one was beautiful. Have you seen his eyes?”

“Yeah, he showed me. So, he has a girlfriend. She’s sweet.”

“She’s a heavy hitter. They get along so well. Both top of their class to join the program in the capitol.” Shisha was a little dazed. “I am so proud and terrified at the same time.”

“I understand. I am looking to the future and seeing the same thing. The sheer amount of grad gifts is going to make me cry.”

Shisha laughed. “Yeah, I can see that.”

Hekker was talking with Techor across the way, his dark blue skin striped with darker blue. The Hyreno was a telepath as well.

“I hope you two are very happy.”

Shisha looked at Hekker. “I think we will be. Why do he and Techor get along so well?”

“They are both Hyreno.”

“What?”

“Beneath his dress shirts, Techor is just as striped. The underwater sex takes some getting used to, but as long as he breathes for you, things get pretty fun.”

Shisha’s expression was shocked. “Hekker’s place has a pool, but I never thought about it.”

“Lubrication is an issue, but you can get around that if he’s inside you before you go under.” She chuckled. “I want you to have fun. I hope your time with him has the kind of joy that I have found. You aren’t just Vaken’s mom anymore. You never were. You are Shisha, and you deserve your own life.”

Shisha looked at her and smiled. “When did you get so confident?”

“It came over me over time. Every time I finished a degree or completed a work assignment, I got stronger. Each time the guys all had a night in with me, watching movies and rubbing my feet, I felt better, but I guess it was when I cared for myself that I saw others caring for me. That was when it happened.”

Shisha hugged her, and they compared parenting notes. Drin’s notes were short. “A good nanny or three. I like the nannies. Yaiel, Eval, and Neiuth are lifesavers.”

“Was there a reason you went with male nannies?”

“The children were going to activate, and we needed people who liked children but had seen combat.”

Shisha laughed high and bright. Techor touched Drin’s mind, and he started to laugh. He passed it to Hekker, and they were both chuckling. When Hekker’s eyes got hotter, Drin started to giggle. “He might be bringing up the underwater thing sooner than you would think.”

Shisha turned scarlet. “How do you think he will bring it up?”

“Oh, with the normal suggestive line. Wanna get wet?”

Shisha burst into laughter and met Hekker halfway.

Drin watched her sister-in-law, for all intents and purposes, as she cuddled up to her new mate, and they whispered to each other softly.

Ekron wrapped his arms around her. “So, you are determined that everyone around you be happy, hm?”

“Of course. I spent so much time being unhappy that now happy is all I am shooting for. If I can spread it around, it makes me happier. I am still embarrassed by the eyes and ears, not to mention that it is a trait that is passed on.”

“Oh, dear. Is that why Vaken’s eyes suddenly sparkle?”

“He and his girlfriend are getting along very well.”

“It is sex-related?” He kissed her neck. “I always thought it was because you were happy.”

“Sex makes me happy.”

He laughed and hugged her as he looked out over the party. “Then you are one of the happiest women I have ever met.”

She giggled quietly as she looked out over the party, the kids, the birthday boy and his girlfriend, who were dancing slowly.

Eighteen years ago, a little shrivelled boy was born and turned her world around. Without him, she wouldn’t be here today. She was going to have to add money to his trust fund. He had made her happiness possible, even though the start was a little rough. She had the hang of it now, and things were only getting better.