Epilogue #3
Bonnie smiles down at her new niece. “Hi, little lady. I’m your Aunt Bonnie, and I plan to spoil you in all the ways that will annoy your mom and dad.”
Blair snorts. I grin.
“I also brought you something.”
“What is it?” Blair asks when Bonnie hands her a gift.
“Just a little something I had made a few months ago.”
Blair opens the wrapped box to reveal a handmade doll.
But it’s not just any doll. It looks exactly like the vampire dolls Blair got from her parents as a little girl. Just like the vampire doll she says looks like me, only it’s the girl version.
Blair goes still for a second, her fingers brushing over it. “But how did you know I was having a girl?”
Bonnie just smiles, a little knowing, a little emotional. “I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I just did.”
The room fills more after that—Rook and Kylie with their baby girl Naomi and Calloway with a smiling but very pregnant Romy.
Later, after everyone has left the room and it’s just me and Blair and our daughter, Blair looks up at me with a soft smile on her lips. “I know what we should name her,” she says.
“Yeah?”
“Destiny.”
I look down at our daughter again, at the tiny life in Blair’s arms, at the future we built without even realizing what we were building toward.
Then back at my beautiful Blair.
“Destiny. Our daughter.” I lean in, pressing a slow kiss to my mate’s lips, letting it mean everything I can’t put into words.
When I pull back, I rest my forehead against hers, my hand coming up to cradle the back of our daughter’s head.
And somehow, for the first time in a long time, there’s nothing left to fight.
Because I already have everything I was meant to find.
PART FOUR
Calloway
Three months later
Romy has never looked more beautiful than she does today. Sweaty, exhausted, and her eyes dancing with the light of a woman about to meet her baby, she finds my gaze and holds it while the doctor tells her to relax.
“Breathe,” Dr. Howard coaches. “The next contraction will be here soon, and you need to rest when you can.”
“You’re doing amazing,” I tell her softly, wiping her hair back from her eyes and holding it with my hand. “I’m so proud of you.”
Hillary snaps pictures from the other side of the room quietly.
Her friendship with Romy has only grown since the night of the auction, and as of a few months ago, she bonded with her own mate.
Romy calls Hillary her “homegirl,” and that sentiment is clear in the fact that they speak on the phone daily, take frequent trips to the spa, and, by and large, have become family.
As for Romy’s parents, they’re still not a part of our lives. I’ve left it up to Romy to make that decision, knowing that the connection to family goes well beyond hurts and disagreements of the past.
Still, the nail in the coffin for Romy came swiftly after we were appointed as the new Council.
She reached out to her mother once, intent on changing their relationship and with the hope that she’d be happy for her daughter.
All it took was the word “mechanic,” though, and her mom hung up the phone.
She didn’t leave time for an explanation of my nobility or anything else, and to Romy, that was for the best. If her mother couldn’t be happy for her in its purest form, Romy doesn’t want her to be happy at all.
As such, she hasn’t contacted her since, and today, she’s not meeting her grandchild.
It’s a shame, but it’s my mate’s choice, and I respect and understand it.
“I’m tired, Cal,” Romy whispers.
“Of course you are, baby.” I put a gentle hand on her hair. “But you’ve got this. She’ll be here soon.”
“She,” she says on a smile that runs my whole world.
“She,” I agree. After the other two girls of the next generation made their debut, Romy insisted on going straight to the doctor to find out the sex.
I’ll admit, I was interested too, if only for the novelty of a whole new female subset of vampires.
It’s been ages since it happened, and knowing my brothers and I are the reason it changed fills me with pride every day.
Nodding swiftly, she braces as the next contraction takes hold and pulls her knees to her chest. This push is all it takes, and before we know it, the doctor is laying our baby girl on Romy’s chest.
“She’s here!” the doctor congratulates.
“And she’s beautiful,” I agree, tears poised in the corners of my eyes. “Just like her mother.”
My daughter .
“What are we going to name her?” Romy asks, her bottom lip quivering as the doctor lays our daughter on her chest.
And instantly, I know. Three brothers. Three daughters. The power of three.
“Trinity.”
Romy smiles up at me, emotion shining in her eyes as she presses a kiss to our baby’s head. “Welcome to the world, Trinity.”
Sometimes when I look back at everything that’s changed, I can hardly believe it.
Us, three blue-collar guys, the new Elite Council. Three female vampire babies in a matter of months with the best human bloodlines in the world. The auction no more and the destiny of the universe restored.
And yet, some things never change.
The Slater brothers will still kill for the women they love.
And they just added three more to the group.
Let’s just hope they never have to.