Epilogue

NINE YEARS LATER

Cos and I were walking through the grounds with Dare, checking the borders and making sure nothing was amiss in the woods. Even so many years later, we still regularly checked the woods in and around our land to make sure no one had been walking too close or casting spells. I would call it paranoid, except we’d been attacked in our own home once before, and I planned to never allow that to happen again.

Yes, there hadn’t been any witch activity in at least eight years, since it took about a year to really clean them out after I killed Anderson and the Supreme Rose. And no one had taken over the Supreme Rose position, either, thank the goddess. But time didn’t stop the memories—the nightmares—of that night from creeping in. It made everyone feel better for us to do regular checks, and it was actually nice going for a walk with my mate, so I didn’t mind at all. I slept better knowing we were doing everything we could to protect our pride.

When we made it back to the yard, I snorted at the sight. Dare was in his tiger form with a five-year-old and a toddler climbing on his back while he tried to chase Kealoha, who was also in his tiger form. A very pregnant Eva yelled something at the kids and her mate.

I shook my head. “Those two really have their hands full.”

Cos draped an arm around me. “Dare’s always wanted a lot of kids.”

“Do you think they’ll stop after Eva has the baby? Four seems like a lot.”

“Nope. I think they’ll have…” He thought about it for a moment. “Seven.”

“Seven? Good goddess, that’s insane.”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, baby, I’m okay with only the ones we already have.”

“I don’t believe that for a single minute.”

With another laugh, he kissed my temple. “We better find Jude. He’s probably ready to hand the kiddos back over to us.”

“Probably.”

My dyad loved the kids as much as I did, but I could admit they were a handful right now. Twin toddlers were… a lot.

About eight years ago, Cos and I officially adopted Teo and Elzanna. We wanted to adopt Haiden, too, but he was already an adult and told us that he didn’t need the paperwork because he already knew. So he was ours, no matter what anyone else said.

I’d never forget the day the adoption went through. Cos and I had hugged our little cubs in a group huddle for so long, all four of us crying. And even when Cos and El went to get a snack, little Teo had latched onto my waist for even longer.

Our two little cubs were so damn sweet.

And then last year, Cos and I adopted twin tiger cub shifters. Their parents were killed in a car accident, and their pride was very small and had only just moved to Fairview City.

When we’d heard about the accident, Cos had reached out to the pride and found out that the mother of the children had been their alpha. Of course, my wonderful mate being who he was, he invited the rest of the pride to join ours. It took some time to build the trust, but they did indeed join our pride.

And when it was obvious that the twins needed actual parents and couldn’t keep being passed around between pride mates—they were too young and needed stability—Cos and I had a talk. And then we’d talked to the others, and voilà, we adopted them.

It was a lot more complicated than that, but as soon as we had the go-ahead from the twins’ original pride mates, we’d treated them as our kids, even if it took a while for the paperwork to catch up.

Sometimes, I still couldn’t believe I was an actual dad.

Me, a dad.

Who would’ve thunk it fifteen years ago?

We walked past the line of cottages we’d had to put in when our pride outgrew the main house and the small house—not that it was actually small, but it was comparatively smaller, and the kiddos started calling it that years ago. The name stuck.

Our pride had grown so big we’d had to install five cottages along one side of the property, and Cos was in negotiations with the owners of the house on our other side. They were moving out, and we wanted to buy their place and all their land. We honestly needed the room.

Our pride was growing all the time. Not only with new members coming to join us, but with cubs. It seemed like at least one person was pregnant around here at all times. Which was amazing.

Getting to watch our children and all their pride mates grow up in such a loving environment, getting to grow up in a time where equality was the expectation, where they’d never have to know the fear and hurt that we did, it was the most amazing thing I’d ever experienced in my life.

And I was so freaking grateful for it.

And thankful for my sweet, adoring mate.

None of this would’ve been here without him.

I wouldn’t be here without him.

I stopped him and gently pulled his neck down so I could plant a big kiss on his lips. He smiled against them and returned my kiss without hesitation.

When I released him, he asked with a smile, “What was that for?”

I shrugged. “For… just being you.”

He lifted a brow, then shrugged and threw his arm back over my shoulders, keeping me close as we headed into the pride house.

Our kids still had the threat of the veil tearing, and of course, of the taragorians, but there wasn’t anything we could do about that. And thank the goddess that witches were a thing of the past.

I could hear my dyad’s voice along with my kiddos giggling and yelling in joy before we found them in the playroom.

I found River and Kulani first, both of them sitting on the floor in the playroom, doing a puzzle with their five-year-old son, Rowan. River saw me and shot me a smile, then nodded toward the center of the room where Jude was. Riv was chuckling as they watched my dyad.

Our twins weren’t quite two years old yet, but I swore almost-two-year-olds had more energy than you’d think could possibly fit into their tiny bodies. Right now, Adrian was climbing on Jude’s back as my dyad held onto him and laughed loudly. Jude started sort of galloping around the room, making my baby boy giggle and squeal in delight.

Of course, this caught the attention of Amara, and she started chasing after them yelling, “Umpa Jude-y, up! Up!” They couldn’t say uncle, and I wasn’t sure where the extra Y came from in his name, but I hoped they called him Umpa Jude-y forever. It was so cute.

Jude laughed and scooped Amara into his arms so he had one kid on his back and one on his front as he galloped around, all three of them laughing hysterically.

Jude saw us come in, and I thought for a second that he’d be embarrassed or something, but he just shot me a grin and kept on playing.

I leaned against Cos with a huge smile on my face.

Kulani stood, picked up his son, and rushed over to the trio, making a fake growling noise as he spun Rowan around in circles. Both my kids—and Rowan, too—were in heaven as they were thrown in the air, spun in circles, and given lots of tickles.

I could’ve stayed where I was, watching my sweet family all day, but I knew Jude wanted to take his son school supplies shopping, so I finally pushed off Cosmo’s chest and walked into the room.

Cos plucked Adrian off Jude’s back, and I grabbed Amara out of Jude’s arms, giving her a bunch of cheek kisses while making goofy noises. She squealed and turned in my arms to throw her tiny arms around my neck and hug me tight.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Hi, baby girl. Did you have fun with Umpa Jude-y, Umpa K, and Riv?”

She nodded and leaned back to stare into my eyes as she babbled and told me every single thing they did since the moment I left her. It was sweet.

I looked at Jude, who was smiling at me, and said, “Thank you for watching them.”

He rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to thank me for that.” My HID pinged, and Jude gestured at it. “Sent you a couple pics, including one of you two and Cos and Adrian.”

“You just took a picture of us?”

He grinned. “Yep. You were too cute not to.”

I sent him a glare. Amara was cute. I was not, thank you very much.

He moved over and wrapped an arm around my back before resting his forehead to my temple for a moment. Amara giggled and put her forehead against ours, making us both chuckle.

Jude murmured, “We need a dyad day soon.”

We tried to make sure we had what we now called dyad days at least once a month, sometimes more or less often depending on how we and our magics felt. We basically just hung out in one of our rooms or in the family room, watching movies and vegging out together for the whole day.

Our mates and the kids would come and go if they wanted, but the key was making sure Jude and I were touching the whole time. Hugging, cuddling, shoulders pressed together, whatever. It was important for our bond, and honestly, it was important to me, to us, just because he was still my best friend, brother, family, pride. He always would be.

I nodded in agreement. “What about tomorrow?”

“Perfect.” He kissed my temple, then gave Amara a big ol’ kiss on the cheek, making her giggle again, before he collected his son and mates, and the four of them headed out—but not before I gave Rowan a big hug and a kiss.

“Pops!” Amara yelled loudly when Cos came over.

“Hey, baby girl. Did you have a good time?”

She started her babble with him as she reached for him, so Cos and I expertly switched kids, and I pulled my son in close, giving him a tight hug.

“What about you, munchkin? Did you have fun?” I asked him.

He nodded as he leaned back, then started playing with my shirt, poking it and pulling the collar. Of the two of them, he was the quieter twin, more reserved. Sometimes I worried that he’d been traumatized at such a young age and that was why he was quiet, but everyone—doctors, other shifters, and Cos—all assured me that he was fine and healthy. He was just a quiet kid.

It made it that much better when I saw him laughing and squealing and having fun like he’d been with Umpa Jude-y and Umpa K.

I kissed his forehead and whispered into his skin, “I love you.”

He smiled at me and gave me a quick peck. “Wove you, too, Daddy.”

That made me smile, and I looked up to see Cos staring at me with the sweetest expression on his face. It spoke of love, affection, tenderness, and every other sappy thing my mate thought and felt whenever he saw me with our kids.

He was the sappiest person I’d ever met.

But I sent him a smile back, then asked the twins, “Are you hungry? Ready for some lunch?”

They both cheered, so with a laugh, I ushered my family out of the room and toward the kitchen. River had left food in crock pots for us—even though we all insisted that we could make lunch for the pride—so I set my son in his toddler seat and went about getting food for everyone.

Charlie and Ash came to eat with us. Charlie was dressed in a blue dress that ended just above the knee with knee-high boots. His makeup was immaculate, as always, and when he leaned in to give the kids a nuzzle, then give me one, too, I kissed his cheek, making him smile.

“Umpa Char, I want ‘ink,” Amara said to him.

He hung out with my kids enough to understand her. “You want me to paint your nails?”

She nodded.

“Maybe tomorrow, okay?” After giving her a kiss on the top of her head, he turned to Adrian. “What about you? You want me to paint your nails tomorrow, too?”

Adrian nodded shyly.

Char smiled at him and gave him a nuzzle.

Ash looked just as good as Charlie, but it was almost like he was Char’s opposite in dress today. Ash was in tactical pants and a tight Henley and looked like he was ready to jump into a fight whereas Char looked ready to go dancing. Actually, that getup could be Ash’s attempt at dancing clothes since he looked at dancing the same as a fight—something to tackle with efficiency instead of fun.

Ash looked serious when he walked in, but he lost that expression as soon as he said hi to the twins. Everyone couldn’t help but smile as soon as the twins started talking to them. They were just too cute like that.

When Logan and Haiden joined us a little while later, Lo gave my shoulder a squeeze and patted the tops of the twins’ heads as he passed, and Haiden gave all three of us—and Cos—some nuzzles. I gave him a cheek kiss, too. Apparently, I was in a cheek-kissing mood today.

As soon as he sat down, he asked, “Did you decide on a theme for the twins’ birthday party yet?”

I let out a sigh. Everyone had been asking me that, but I had three weeks to figure it out. Although, it was impossible to have a small party these days with how big the pride was, so I suppose I should pick something out to give whoever was in charge of decorations a chance to get everything they needed.

“I have no idea,” I admitted after a moment. Who knew what a good theme was for babies turning two?

Logan said, “What if we do farm animals or something like that? They love animals as much as you do.”

I perked up at that. “I like that idea.”

He sent me a smile, and Haiden said, “If we do that, maybe we can get one of those petting zoo things to come out? Or I think the zoo has animal ambassadors they can bring. Not sure if that’s something we could do, but I’m sure all the kids would love it.”

“Those are great ideas.” I turned to Cos. “What do you think?”

He sent me a smile. “Let’s do it. I’ll make some calls this week and see if we can get anyone to come out on short notice.”

I nodded. “Okay, cool. Even if we can’t, we should still do an animal theme. Lo’s right that the twins will like it.”

I leaned over and looked Adrian in the eyes since Amara was busy playing with Ash. “Do you like animals?”

He gave me a shy smile but nodded his head.

“Good. It’s settled then.”

Most of the others trickled in, and I smiled as I stared around the table at Dare, Eva, Zara, Luce, Harriet, Lilibeth, Scarlett, Ben, Wren, their mate, and of course, our other kids—Teo, Elzanna, Kealoha, and his younger brother and sisters.

When I saw Teo looking at me like he wanted to talk to me, I pulled a seat in between Cos and me. He sagged in relief and made his way over. The second he sat down, I pulled the kid into a hug, holding him tight. It was crazy that he’d just turned sixteen.

Elzanna was more independent and worried about school and friends these days, but ever since we’d adopted the twins, Cos and I had noticed that Teo seemed a little… needy or something. We figured out that he was worried about his place in our lives, so we’d been trying to make sure to spend time with him and to bring him into our orbit as much as possible, whether having him sit at the table with us or beside us on the couch or taking him on errands or anything really. I’d also been asking him for help with the twins so he’d feel included in this new aspect of our lives.

He was our kid, too, and nothing would ever change that.

“What’s up, bud?” I asked him.

He blew out a long breath. “I was thinking about college, like you asked me to, and I… think you’re right. I know it’s still over a year away before I have to apply and stuff, but I should go, at least to try it out and see if I like it.”

That made a wide smile spread over my face. “Yeah? You’ll try it?”

I wanted him to be happy, but when he’d been talking about joining the TRD, I was afraid he only wanted to because his older brother, Cos, and me were all in it. I wanted him to do something he loved to do. I didn’t want him feeling obligated or something.

If he wanted TRD, then I’d support him—even if I’d worry my ass off constantly—but I was hoping he’d find something else he enjoyed. At least being a TRD shifter wasn’t quite as dangerous as it used to be since Logan’s spell was now used far and wide. But there was always the possibility of being overrun with taragorians, especially on First Veil Tear calls.

Honestly, I’d rather not think about my kid in that situation if I didn’t have to.

“Yeah, I’ll give it a try. Like you said before, the TRD will always be there if I decide to do that later.”

I pulled him into a hug and kissed his temple, then tucked his head on my shoulder. It probably looked ridiculous because Teo was way bigger than me—he was almost as big as his older brother at this point—but I didn’t care, especially when my little tiger cub wrapped his arms around my waist and tucked himself further in. It made me think of him when he was so little I could carry him around as easily as I did the twins. It reminded me of the little boy I’d loved from the moment he’d shown up on our doorstep.

I kissed the top of his head. “I love you, T. And I’m proud of you. No matter what you do, I’m always proud of you.”

“Love you, too, Dad.” He squeezed me a little harder. “Can I help you put the babies to bed tonight?”

My heart melted. “Of course you can. You know they love it when you read them their bedtime story. They think you do the best voices.”

He chuckled and sat up, happiness evident in his eyes. “I’ll make them extra good tonight, then.”

I laughed and kissed his temple again before pointing at his plate. “Eat your food, kiddo.”

He shot me a smile before digging in in a way only a teenager could.

Cos caught my eye over the top of his head, and he looked so… proud of me, so affectionate, tender, and loving. All I could do was return the sentiment through our bond, and he seemed to soften even further.

Even after all these years, it seemed like he still loved seeing me with the kids, whether it was our two little babies, Teo, El, Haiden, or one of the others. It seemed he just liked seeing me with kids, period.

By the time we went to bed—and the babies were asleep in the room next door, finally, thank the goddess—I was exhausted. Like I’d been every day since we’d adopted the kids. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Cos climbed into bed first, and I climbed in after him.

Poppy and Licorice were already on the bed, and I saw Mango on the cat tree we had in the corner of our room. They didn’t run around as much as they used to, but all three of them still demanded pets and cuddles from everyone all day long—and Dorito was still obsessed with Logan. They were all getting old, but I didn’t think about that.

I caught Cos talking to Charlie about finding a puppy to adopt the other day. I wasn’t sure we needed more chaos added to the house, but if Cos wanted another puppy, I would find him another puppy. I even talked to Olivia at the shelter the other day when I was volunteering so she’d be on the lookout for a dog unafraid of shifters. Cos didn’t know I did that, and I wasn’t going to tell him until she found a dog. It could take months, and I didn’t want to get his hopes up.

“What are you thinking about, baby?” he asked as he pulled me into his arms.

I shook my head. “Nothing much. Just random things.” I leaned across him to give Poppy a pet. She nuzzled my hand but didn’t bother to get up to move closer. Licorice barely even opened an eye when I petted her. Apparently, I’d interrupted her nap. “So sorry, little miss queen.”

Cos said, “You can pet me instead.”

I laughed but obliged by running my fingers through his hair.

He sighed contentedly. “I was joking, but this is really nice.”

I kissed his jaw, then ran my hand from his hair, down his neck, and around to his chin where I started scratching. His purr filled the quiet of the room, and I smiled widely at the reaction. I loved being able to elicit that sound from him any time I wanted.

The bond between us hummed in contentment as we settled in together. I loved getting to spend these few moments with him, just us. I kissed his chest, put my hand under his shirt to rest my scarred hand to his scarred chest, and hugged him tight.

Cos ran his hand up and down over the bare skin of my back. It felt amazing, and if he wasn’t careful, it was going to put me to sleep in about two seconds.

“How long do you think we have before the twins end up in here?” I asked, trying to keep myself awake. I wanted to savor this time with him while I could.

He snorted. “Probably another ten minutes.”

“I think it’ll only be five.”

“Wanna bet?”

I chuckled. “Sure. Winner gets a blow job?” We could sneak away while someone else had the babies tomorrow.

He laughed. “That sounds good to me.” He kissed my hair. “I win either way.”

I snorted and leaned my head up to kiss him.

About seven minutes later, I heard little feet in the hallway, and I laughed. “Uh-oh. Who wins?”

Cos shrugged. “I think it’s a tie. So I guess we both get blow jobs in the morning.”

I laughed, kissed his lips, and turned to face the door just as it opened. Two little toddlers, who were way too good at climbing out of their cribs, padded across the floor.

“Daddy? Pops?” Amara whispered. Although what she thought was a whisper was more like a regular volume.

I leaned over the edge of the bed. “Can I help you two munchkins?”

Adrian looked at the ground but was smiling, and Amara grinned up at me with a nod as she said, “Bed.” She held her arms up.

With a small chuckle, I lifted her onto the bed and put her between Cos and me, then leaned back over to look at Adrian. “Do you want to come up, too?”

His sweet gaze met mine, and a smile spread across his lips. He nodded. “Peas?”

I laughed and scooped him up, giving him a kiss as I settled him on my lap. “Thank you for your good manners, munchkin.” I gave him a cheek kiss, then pretended I was eating his neck, and he giggled loudly. When I started tickling him, his giggles grew, and he wiggled around on my lap.

I stopped my tickle attack and hugged him again. “You ready for bed, sweetie?”

He nodded and leaned his full weight on me, so I lay him on the bed beside his sister, making Cos and me the bookends. Too bad our teenagers thought they were too cool to sleep in here with us.

Cos leaned over the top of our two cubs and gave me a sweet kiss, whispering, “I love you.”

“I love you, too, kitty cat.”

Just when we were settling, our door opened again, and I heard my dyad’s voice say, “Do you have any more room for us?”

I glanced over and saw him carrying a sleepy Rowan in his arms and a snow leopard and cheetah behind him.

Cos answered, “Of course,” and started scooting all of us over.

Jude climbed in beside me so we were pressed together, letting our dyad bond hum in delight for a moment before he put Rowan between us. Rowan giggled when I kissed his hair, but he was sleepy enough to close his eyes. Jude put an arm over his son and rested his hand on my side, offering me a smile that I returned.

Kulani and River climbed onto the bottom of the bed, remaining in their felid forms.

“I think we’re gonna have to get a bigger bed,” Cos said with a laugh.

I smiled. “Yeah, I think we will. Especially if we end up with as many kids as you want.”

He laughed again. “I said five was good.”

“And I know five actually means at least two more.”

With a chuckle, he leaned over and kissed me before admitting, “You might be right.”

I snorted. “I know I am.”

With a smile, I kissed my mate, my two babies, my nephew, and my dyad before giving Kulani and River each a small pet.

And then the eight of us settled into bed, and I didn’t think my heart had ever felt so full.

I had everything I ever wished for and so much more I hadn’t known I needed, and it was all because of my wonderful mate and the rest of the Ono-Nai pride.

This was love. This was freedom.

This was home.