Epilogue
Eight months later
Everybody was at the house.
Not the estate. Not some temporary safe house.
Our house. The one Kael bought a couple of days after Darius's body hit the floor.
We were on a quiet street behind a high fence, with security cameras and a backyard big enough for the kids to run without anyone watching the gate like it might explode.
Maya sat across from me on the back patio, legs tucked under her, nursing a glass of lemonade like it was something stronger.
Music drifted out from the kitchen where Indigo was arguing with Raziel about seasoning while Malachai leaned against the counter, still recovering from the collapsed lung.
And like always, he was staring at Indigo like he was scared she'd run away.
Caine and Zia were near the grill, which meant Kael was staying toward the edge of the patio.
He and Zia couldn't get along for nothing, though it wasn't like Priest and Maya's explosive bickering—just a cold, mutual distance.
Priest had Ezra on his shoulders, pretending he wasn't smiling, while Miyori sat nearby with the babies, looking whole again.
Maya looked at me, then at the soft swell of my stomach under my linen dress, and smirked. "You ever think we'd be this fucking domesticated?"
I laughed, rubbing a slow circle over my belly. "Never in a million years."
She leaned back, her eyes going distant for a second. "Remember that one night behind the old laundromat? We were so high we thought the streetlights were talking to us."
"You tried to fight a mailbox," I reminded her.
We both cracked up—the kind of laugh that only comes from two women who survived the exact same hell.
I kept my hand resting on my stomach, feeling the soft flutter inside. "Never again," I said quietly. "Not the drugs. Not any of it."
Maya's smile softened, genuine and warm. "Good."
I looked out across the lawn, letting the weight of the last eight months settle.
After the chaos with Lilith, everything had moved fast: clean-up crews, new security, and Matteo ending up dead.
Priest and Miyori had disappeared for a while to let the dust settle before coming back.
Kael and I had built a real life together—one that felt almost too good to be true at times.
Somewhere in the middle of all that noise, I'd missed a period.
Kael hadn't said much when the test turned positive; he'd just pressed his forehead to mine, held me in the quiet dark for a long time, and whispered, "Good. " That was all. That was everything.
Now, here we were.
I pushed myself up carefully, one hand supporting my lower back, and started the slow waddle across the grass toward my parents.
They were sitting near the shade of the oak trees, looking almost comfortable in this world.
My mother beamed the moment she saw me coming.
My father stood up slowly, looking at me as if he was still afraid that if he blinked, this clean, safe version of his daughter would vanish.
Kael reached me before I made it to them.
He stepped up from behind, snaking a heavy arm around my waist to pull my back against his chest. He pressed his lips to the crook of my neck, warm and possessive.
"You good, Bunny?"
"Yeah," I murmured, leaning back into his strength.
Across the yard, my father caught Kael's eye. He offered a slow, respectful nod—a silent acknowledgement that Kael had kept every word he'd spoken on that porch months ago. Kael nodded back once.
He turned me slightly in his arms, his dark eyes softening as he looked down at me, before pressing a slow, deep kiss to my lips. "Love you."
I smiled against his mouth, tasting the warm salt of the air and the sweet promise of tomorrow. "I love you too."
I thought about what Kael had said the night he uncuffed me.
Salvation doesn't come soft, Bunny. It has to have teeth.
Back then I thought salvation was supposed to feel warm. Gentle. Like somebody holding your hand and telling you everything would be okay. My parents had done that for years. And I preferred that. It allowed me to keep fucking up my life.
Now I knew.
Sometimes salvation looked like a locked door.
Sometimes it looked like withdrawal.
Sometimes it looked like a man everyone else called a monster.
I looked around the backyard. Maya laughing so hard she snorted. My parents finally looking at peace. My child moving beneath my hand.
This was my life now.
It was sad that I’d almost thrown it away.
I loved this life; it just happened to have teeth. And I was fine with that. I wasn't innocent anymore.
Life had taken that from me long before I met Kael.
He'd simply taught me to survive what was left. Even if I had to kill.