Epilogue
Eleven months later
Mist rolled off the lake, slow and beautiful.
Morning sunrise cast the land in warm, soft, golden light.
The cabin sat tucked into the grove of trees, protected yet with a direct line of sight to the dock leading out into the lake.
This morning, however, even the dock was shrouded in the otherworldly haze.
Grunts and the sounds of wood colliding echoed through the woods and off the water.
A young boy dashed from the protection of the trees, his dusky skin aglow in the morning light. A mopful of loose dark curls bounced with each of his rapid steps. A wooden sword was gripped in one hand as he pumped his arms, running toward the cabin.
Chest heaving, he whipped around and faced the woods, lower lip resting between his teeth. He shifted his stance, as if he couldn’t quite figure out how best to set himself. Dirt-stained fingers flexed around the hilt as he stared, even squinting, as if that could help his vision.
Only the tendrils of fog moved, winding up from the lake to wrap around his ankles as if anchoring him in place. He gulped.
“Auntie?”
Nothing moved from the forest. No birds chirped. No animals chattered.
He stepped forward. “Auntie?”
A branch cracked and he jumped to the right, toward the lake. But nothing happened. No one appeared. It remained still.
A warrior cry rent the air. The boy jerked, eyes wide as he glanced around. Behind him a woman ran toward him, her own sword brandished as she snarled.
He screamed and ran, this time toward the water. The sword fell to the hard-packed sand around the lake as he streaked toward it, his cry reverberating in the air.
Seven steps from the lake.
Five steps.
He looked behind and screamed again.
Three steps.
One.
“Gotcha!”
She swooped him up and tossed him in the air before catching him. Declan Jr, who she had called DJ from the start, was her first nephew. His sister was sleeping inside but they would play later.
“But, Auntie, I was sooo close.” DJ had his lower lip stuck out in a childish pout.
Jasmine laughed with maniacal glee as she growled and nibbled along his neck, making his squeals erupt with screeches of joy. Sinking to her knees, she rolled on the sand with him until he wrapped his thin arms around her neck.
“Love you, Auntie.”
She curved her arms around him, anchoring him close to her. “Love you too, DJ.” And she meant every word.
Motion in her periphery had her lifting her gaze to find her twin, Carolyn, standing there, eyes soft, hands resting upon her swollen belly. A gentle smile turning up her lips.
Jasmine kept one hand on her nephew’s back as she called upon her legs to get them up. Her knee ached, from the building incident, as she referred to it as, but she swallowed down the discomfort.
“Did you see me, Mama? I almost had it. I almost beat her.”
“I saw, baby.” She canted her head to the side. “Can you go help your daddy with breakfast? I know you and Camden have a lot to do today and need all your energy.”
Jasmine let him back to the ground and watched as he ran all-out toward the cabin, spinning around to dash back and get his wooden sword before going hard again.
She didn’t take her eyes off him or the surrounding area until he was safely inside the cabin.
Neither her nor Caro told him to slow down with the wood in his hand.
Then she swung her gaze to her sister. Her twin.
Caroline McBride, Caro to friends and family, had found her place in the world.
And was living her best life. The brilliant STEM woman’s hair had a soft red tint to it in the morning sun.
She wore a zippered, midnight-blue hoodie with a gold Atlanta PD logo embroidered on the left side, heather-gray leggings, and a pair of hot-pink shoes.
“Something on your mind?”
Caro looked around and didn’t speak for a few moments. “I wanted to spend time with my sister. Is that so wrong?”
Knowing her tone had been sharp, Jasmine took a deep breath.
“I don’t know. I’m not used to being in close proximity to you.
” This trip had been Declan and Lance’s idea.
They’d put it all together. She and Declan were learning to co-exist and she and Lance, well, other than the out-of-the-world sex, she wasn’t sure.
He’d tracked her down, fucked her until she legit didn’t know her name or have the energy to get up from the pile of blankets she’d woken upon.
They were both healing and he had swiftly shut down any talk from her of splitting up.
And he treated Camden like his own. Not flinching from the scars or when the young male had a breakdown because his dad was dead and he wasn’t sure how to handle it.
It had been one hell of a fight to get Lance to head back to Atlanta to his superior because he’d not wanted to leave them. He’d returned within seventy-two hours.
She was so fucking confused it wasn’t funny.
Jasmine had been granted her life back. In a manner of sorts.
The FBI still wanted nothing to do with her and would prefer she disappear off the face of the earth, but they had agreed to leave her alone if she kept her information locked up in a vault and never speak of it, ever.
She had nodded but refused to sign anything, well aware that once she was gone, they could shred the paper they signed to not have to uphold their end all the while they could, and would, keep her signed form of compliance.
So she made sure the director was well aware that there was proof that would come to light if they ever thought about coming after her or her, Lance, or Caro and Declan.
The Jankovic family criminal enterprise had been shut down, their human trafficking ring, gun running, and drug trade put to rest. She wasn’t foolish enough to think someone else wouldn’t just pop up and start it up again, but that one had been ended.
Part of Lance heading back to Atlanta was to get his old job back.
Lance Beckner with blue-green eyes had been laid to rest, allowing Atlanta Detective Lance Baldwin with the icy green eyes to return.
The man had been adamant he wasn’t leaving her, no matter what she said. Damn it all if the part of her who yearned for what her twin had for her life hadn’t been begging for her to believe him and for it to be true.
Personal forgiveness wasn’t anything she was good with doing.
Caro stepped closer and settled a hand on her arm. “Are you worried for our safety?”
It took her a great deal not to flinch at the touch.
She had no wish to hurt her sister’s feelings but personally, she was still learning about this public affection.
Or any at all, really, other than from Den and obviously Lance.
But with that man, it was the ground she understood.
Sex was a language she spoke fluently, her difficulty came when it turned deep and intimate.
Lance didn’t seem in any rush to push her to get to his level.
“Of course I’m worried. You’re my sister and you have two small children and a third on the way.” She shook her head. Had she not made that clear? That she would do anything to protect her sister and her family?
“And you’re mine. Jasmine, we’re twins. And we’re safe. No one is going to hurt me, or even the kids. I have you, Declan, and Lance.”
The three of us may not be enough. She puffed a breath and nodded even as movement at the porch snagged her focus.
Lance. He had on an FBI hoodie unzipped halfway, showing off a green shirt and a loose-fitting pair of black sweats.
Those damnable green eyes—he no longer wore his contacts—were on her with laser focus.
Her breath came short and sharp as a different kind of awareness filled her.
Caro chuckled. “I don’t think I’m needed for this.
I’ll go inside and leave you two to…umm…
explore before breakfast. I’ll tell Declan not to expect you both until later, and when Den gets up, we’ll let him know you’re out on a walk.
The way he’s looking at you is how Declan looked at me before this happened.
” Laughter tinged her sentences as she gestured to her swollen belly. “Again.”
Before Jasmine could say a word, Caro kissed her on the cheek and walked away.
She squeezed Lance’s arm briefly as she bypassed him upon entering the cabin.
Lance didn’t move until the door closed behind her sister.
Then he flowed down the steps toward her.
Eyes locked on her as he neared, he slipped his hand along the nape of her neck and tugged her so their foreheads touched.
“Morning, baby.”
She smelled the coffee on his breath and smiled despite the unease rolling around her gut. Lance Baldwin in her mind was a god among men.
He settled a hand along her cheek. “I missed you this morning.” Lance dragged his knuckles down her skin and she could feel her body responding instantly.
“I had a date.”
He grunted and kissed her until she sagged into him, boneless and relying on him to keep her upright.
“Don’t make me hate on a kid, baby.”
“I can’t make you do anything.” She wrapped her arms around him, happy to simply be with him. The negative woman in her who figured this, whatever it was between them, had an expiration date and she wanted to soak it all up while she could. “Want to take a walk?”
His response was to lead her off toward the forest once more. This time, however, she wasn’t holding a wooden sword, nor hunting her nephew. Head resting against his shoulder, she went easily where he led.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about, Jasmine.” His words were serious and more of that alarm skittered up her back.
She drew away from him and glanced over to his face. He clucked his tongue and pulled her back to him.