Epilogue
Evan
We stayed at the cabin for the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon. My body refused to put even an inch of distance between us, but Gregory insisted we needed to eat. He kept reminding me I’d been out for two days, his worry for the babies bleeding into every glance.
“Our tiny beans,” he’d said, covering my own fingers on my belly.
Now Thunder moved beneath us at an easy pace, and Gregory’s arms bracketed me on either side as he held the reins. I took a deep breath, savoring the smell of the forest and the humid summer breeze. The sun dipped toward the west, painting the sky in shades of amber and rose.
When Adam’s house came into view, my heart hammered against my ribs.
Adam and Lyra emerged from the front door before we even reached the yard. Behind them, Mom stepped onto the porch. She wore a red dress that billowed at her knees, the fabric catching the evening breeze. Her familiar ginger hair was swept into a high bun with strands framing her face.
The urge to dismount surged through me, but Gregory anticipated the move, sliding off Thunder first and turning to help me down. The moment my feet hit the ground, I jumped.
The world folded around me in a blink of emerald glow, and I was on the porch, standing right in front of her.
Mom’s eyes widened for a second before I threw myself into her arms.
We crashed to our knees together.
I buried my face in her shoulder and sobbed. Her scent wrapped around me like a memory I’d been chasing since I woke up in this world. Sun and pomegranates and something sweet I couldn’t name. It smelled like safety. Love. Like everything I’d lost and somehow found again.
We stayed like that for a long moment, her fingers stroking my hair while I cried into her neck.
Beneath the relief, fear coiled tight in my chest. What if she could tell? What if she looked at me and saw the truth that I wasn’t her son? That I’d taken over his body and stolen his life, even if I did carry all his memories now. Both Evans lived as one under my skin, but the doubt remained.
Would she reject me?
She retreated just enough to frame my face. Her green eyes searched mine, reading every fear I couldn’t hide.
“Baby,” she said, her thumbs brushing away my tears. “No matter the world, I will always be your mom.”
Something broke inside me.
“Mama,” I choked out, then crushed her into another hug.
Every remaining fear I’d been carrying evaporated in that instant. She knew. She saw me, all of me, and she still chose me.
When we separated, Gregory was there. He caught my elbow as he helped us both to our feet. I turned and drew Lyra into a hug.
“Sorry for the scare,” I said against her shoulder. “It won’t happen again. I hope.”
Lyra hugged me hard enough to steal the air in my lungs. When she finally let go, she laced her fingers with mine and grinned. “We need to celebrate. And not just for your mating.” Her gaze dropped with intent to my stomach.
I blinked. Everyone knew already.
My eyes darted from Gregory to Adam, and finally to Mom.
“Everyone is coming,” Lyra said with barely contained excitement.
I turned toward the yard’s entrance and froze.
Genevieve was walking up the path with her cane, but she wasn’t alone. Harren walked beside her while she leaned on Nicolai’s arm, using the wolf-blooded alpha as support. Her face was content, almost bashful, as she let Nicolai guide her steps.
I laughed despite myself. Strange how things worked in this world. My world.
The celebration that followed was everything I never knew I needed.
Laughter echoed through Adam’s house as wine flowed and stories were shared.
Genevieve recounted how Nicolai had appeared out of nowhere with Harren in tow, seeming more feral than usual.
Lyra couldn’t stop touching my stomach and asking questions about dragon babies.
Mom stayed close, hooking her pinky with mine whenever I needed the reminder that this was real.
And Gregory, my mountain man, never let me stray far from his side.
For now, I let myself enjoy this moment of peace. The Empire could wait. Everything else could wait.
When the evening started to wind down, I slipped out to the porch to get some air. As much as I loved being surrounded by everyone, it was good to be alone for a moment to enjoy the forest breathing in the darkness.
Night had fallen, so I sat down on the ledge and stayed there, letting the cool air wash over me.
Out of habit, my fingers twitched, searching my nonexistent pockets for a silver case. I remembered how I used to reach for a cigarette to fill the void once left in me.
I huffed a small, disbelieving laugh and placed a hand over my stomach.
I didn’t feel that emptiness anymore. I’d traded one smoke for another; Gregory always smelled of sandalwood and smoke, a scent that had become my new habit.
He’d filled every crack and crevice of that old void until there was nothing left but him and the life we were building—including the two little lives growing inside me.
It was strange, my mind could still recall the phantom urge for a smoke, even if this new body didn’t know what nicotine was, and the babies made sure I’d never pick up that habit again.
The other Evan’s memories had given me more than just his past; they had shown me exactly what I was and what I could do.
Somewhere deep in these bones lived the power to tear open a gateway to my world, to reach back to the place where my old body lay broken on a Manhattan sidewalk.
But the urge to reach for that door was as dead as the craving for nicotine.
Everything that mattered was here—Gregory’s warmth against my back at night, Mom’s pinky hooked around mine, Lyra’s laughter, and two heartbeats growing beneath my palm.
I remembered what Mom had taught him as a boy, what she’d made him recite until the words lost all feeling. A gateway to the twin world opens a rift in space, and reality as we know it will shatter. I refused to be the reason either of them burned.
I didn’t need a way back because I was already home.
A presence made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I turned my head and found Nicolai leaning against the porch wall. Not far, but close enough. My heart kicked hard against my ribs, startled despite myself.
For once, he wasn’t wearing his usual black tunic or running around in his wolf form.
Instead, he had on real clothes, and the sight threw me off.
The sleeves of his shirt were rolled halfway up, revealing tattoos peeking out beneath the fabric.
The script looked almost like Russian letters, dark ink stark against his pale skin.
He looked like someone who had stepped right out of a mob movie.
I quickly averted my eyes, realizing I had been gawking.
Nicolai tugged something from his pocket. A cigarette. He held it out. “Want a smoke?”
“I don’t smoke anymore,” I blurted out. “At least not since I arrived here. And now the babies.”
Horror spiked in my gut, and the words hung in the air. I froze, my eyes going wide as I stared at him. As I stared at the object between his fingers that shouldn’t exist in this world.
Nicolai already had a cigarette between his lips. He struck a match and lit it, the flame briefly illuminating his face before he shook it out. He took a long drag and exhaled slowly, smoke spiraling upward and fading into the night sky that promised something.
“My brothers in the Bratva in Queens said that Yankees liked to smoke.” His purple eyes glowed in the darkness.
My breath caught. “You—”
A million thoughts raced through my mind at once.
Nicolai reached into his pocket again. His palm opened to reveal a crystal, the same color as the one that had brought my soul to this world.
Starlirium.
“Don’t think I wanted to save your rotten ass,” Nicolai said, his accent thick and unmistakable now. “I did it because I need you. I need you to take me back to our world.”
My mouth went dry. I studied the crystal glinting in his grip, then met those glowing purple eyes.
“Holy shit.”
End of Book One.
Thank you for reading Emberfall!