Epilogue
HUNTER
Months Later
Waking up next to Fiona is a dream I can’t believe is real. Not because she’s beautiful or smart or insightful, which she totally is.
But because she takes away the pain.
I’ve warned her not to sleep next to me. That I might do something to her in my sleep. She refused to listen, insisting that she can tell when my night terrors are coming.
Thankfully, I rarely have them now, and while they haven’t completely disappeared, they’ve lost their edge.
I scoot down the bed and shower her belly with kisses. Soon, it’ll be round, growing with a promise of a better tomorrow.
She turns toward me. “God, how are you up so early?”
“It’s not early.”
She jolts up, pushing me out of the way. “What time is it?”
“You have twenty minutes until Clint collects you and brings you to the other Kept.”
She rolls out of bed and stretches, and I get to gaze at her body one last time before she dresses.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous.
Each morning, she’s been sleeping in longer and longer. Growing babies is tough business.
I go to the kitchen to fry her some eggs while she gets ready, making them just the way she likes.
After I’ve set her plate on the table, Fiona rushes in and takes a seat, grabbing her fork. “Maybe I can convince Cole to let you meet the baby?”
“You’d have to also convince Dane and Georgia,” I remind her.
“You know, I think they like having you on their side.” She winks.
“Do you know how Selina and Blake are holding up?”
“The baby is stable, thanks to Christine. Even though he’s a few months old, he’s still under observation. They were doing round-the-clock skin-on-skin contact, but I hear he’s excited to wiggle around on his tummy. When Selina isn’t with the baby, Blake is.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but thank God for Christine. She may be a bitch, but knowing you’re in good hands is a huge relief.”
She scarfs down her eggs, and I move one from my plate onto hers.
She pushes it away. “No—”
“Eat the egg. I have nothing else to do but cook up food while you’re gone, anyway.”
She pulls the plate back guiltily and devours it, and a content feeling wells inside of me.
Who would have thought a monster like me could one day be content?
When Clint’s knock comes, she kisses me goodbye, but as she’s leaving, Cole appears.
“I’m going to need you to come with me.”
“I, sir, am confined to my—”
“Cut the bullshit and hurry up.”
Knowing that it’s probably best that I don’t piss my jailor off, I pull on my shoes and follow him from my apartment, down long halls, to a section of the Keep we have closed off.
Cole places his hand on a scanner, and a large door slides open.
“Convicts first,” he says, gesturing for me to enter.
“So, you’re a comedian now?” I say, crossing the threshold into a dark room.
Cole flicks on the lights, and the small room illuminates.
“Oh, shit…” I say, unable to believe what I’m seeing in front of me.
“As you can see, we’ve been busy.”
I take a few steps forward and look down at the bloodied mass lying on the floor. “Who did this?”
“Gage thought he could torture, but he ended up killing them too quickly. Now it’s your turn.”
“You think I’ll keep him alive?”
Cole shrugs. “Can you?”
“I killed for…other reasons.”
“I know full well you don’t kill quickly. If you can make him talk, you’d be mighty useful.”
The person groans, moving ever so slightly.
“Who is he?”
“A mid-level Vulture.”
“What is he doing here?”
“Caspian sent him to parlay.” He nods over to the back wall where three other bodies are piled. “The others we found while scouting.”
My blood ignites in fury. “Then why the fuck am I in here? Let me go. I’ll hunt the bastard down and kill him myself.”
“You’ll do no such thing. Our situation here is precarious enough. I can’t risk losing you.”
I snort out a laugh. “Losing me? All I do is sit in my suite, work out, and make food.”
“But that’s not all you’re meant for. We’re going to need you, in a big way.”
“What do you mean?”
Cole grabs two chairs from the corner of the room and drags them over. “Sit down. We need to talk.”
FIONA
Holding a baby makes me feel as though the world hasn’t ended. And I’m excited that soon, Hunter and I will have one of our own.
“She’s perfect,” I tell Georgia, looking down at baby Lily with adoration.
“Dane literally wrapped her up, put her in his Walmart basket, and tried scooting around last night when she wouldn’t go to sleep.” Georgia takes a sip of water. “It worked, but I think it was because of the humming of the motor.”
“Who would have thought Dane would be such a good daddy?” Britney chuckles.
“He’s amazing. I’m lucky to have found him because I don’t know where I’d be if he hadn’t.”
“Ah, not to be a killjoy, but you’d be dead, buried under a mountain,” Amber says.
Georgia glares at her. “And to think I was just getting over that.”
“Has there been an update on Selina’s baby?” Brooke asks.
Georgia smirks. “Actually, in a couple of days, Baby Lily gets to meet Baby Rat.”
“Huh?” comes the collective gasps of the other Kept.
“Jayne’s taken a shine to Rat and wants to name the new baby after him.”
I cock my head to the side. “And Blake and Selina let her?”
“No, but we’re calling the baby that, anyway.”
Laughter fills the room, and I’m reminded of how easy it is to forget what this world has become.
“You know you don’t have to stand there looking all pissy,” Georgia says to Clint. “We won’t bite.”
He looks at us from the corner of the room, his massive arms crossed over his chest. “I’m guarding the number three most dangerous convict in all the Keep. I must remain vigilant.”
No longer embarrassed by my status, I say, “Way to make me feel like a badass.”
“So, how is house arrest treating you?” Remi asks.
“Honestly, my life is a dream. I don’t care if I can’t roam around the Keep unaccompanied, as long as I get to stay with Hunter. He’s perfect, torture and all.”
“Admittedly, when Gage showed me the man he’d tortured, I was horrified. And…a little turned on.”
“The torture twins are reminiscing again,” Amber giggles.
“I think it’s silly they keep him locked up,” Georgia says. “He killed the worst of the worst. He has no victims.”
“I agree, but Cole doesn’t have a choice,” Amber says in an annoyed tone. “After Caspian, people need to know there are consequences for their actions.”
Georgia nods. “I can see your point, but hopefully, as more women are found, there will be less frustration and the threat of a rebellion will cease.”
“I think Grady is finally wearing Melody down,” Britney says. “If he could pry her from the other two Reaver chicks, he’d have a much better chance.”
“I still don’t understand how that Reaver bastard managed to brainwash so many women,” Remi says.
Amber frowns. “And you wouldn’t. No offense, but until you’re in a situation like that, you’ll never get it.
I hate the bastard, but me and my son would have died if he hadn’t come along.
I’m glad he’s dead, and sometimes I wish I could have killed him myself, but I get what those women are going through. ”
Baby Lily starts fussing, so I hand her over to Georgia.
It’s hard for me to understand how some women cling to their captors, but I can’t say I judge them. Look what I’ve become.
“I hope Melody comes around and finds happiness with Grady. He’s a little rough around the edges, but so was Hunter when I first met him.”
“Understatement of the century,” Remi mutters under his breath.
I elbow her ribs. “Like Gage is much better.”
“Ah, did you see that, Clint?” Remi feigns offense. “Your captive just assaulted me.”
He cracks a wide grin. “I didn’t see shit.”
Suki comes in, still wearing pajamas.
“How’s Baby Trent been treating you?” Britney chirps.
She looks down at her stomach and gives it a rub. “There is no end to my tiredness.”
“Growing babies is exhausting,” Georgia says.
“It’s not the baby. It’s Trent. He can’t keep his hands off me, even as my belly gets big.”
“Same!” Amber says, rolling her eyes. “I’m begging for the men to raid a blowup doll shop so I can get a break.”
We laugh again, and a feeling of gratitude overwhelms me. After all that I’ve been through, I get to laugh. I get to have friends. I get to find love.
“Hey, you guys,” I whisper as a tear slides down my cheek. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for how cold I was toward you all when I first got here. It was a really bad time for me.”
“Never be sorry for the storm you had to weather,” Amber says. “I did far worse than you, and I’ve been forgiven by most.”
“Yeah, and you actually make this place interesting,” Remi adds. “Before you, the most exciting thing we had to look forward to was whether Britney was going to murder Alistair. When they reconciled, the Keep got dull.”
Britney scowls, but everyone else gets caught up in laughter again.
Wiping my tears away, I say a silent prayer, thankful that I now belong.
Of that, there is no doubt. I belong here. There is no other place in the world I’d rather be than with the people of the Keep, whether it be here in the bunker or out in the greater world. These are my people. My tribe. My happily ever after.
And I get to experience it all with the man I love and the baby we made together.
HUNTER
It’s difficult to describe the many thoughts racing through my mind as I wait for Fiona to walk through the door.
I’ve worked hard to become a better person. One worthy of Fiona and the child we’ve created.
But as it turns out, the old adage is true: a tiger doesn’t change its stripes.
Finally, the door slides open, and Fiona walks in.
Before she can get a word out, I’m on her, pulling her into my arms and kissing her.
“What’s wrong?” she asks. We’ve become so close that she can sense when something’s not right. Thankfully, those times are now few.
I don’t know what to tell her. It would be selfish of me to be honest, but lying to Fiona feels like a sin.
“Hunter, you need to tell me what is going on!” The worry in her eyes causes me more pain than my own disappointment in myself.
“I’m scared.”
“Nothing scares you.”
“Except the thought of losing you.”
She brings her hands up and cups my cheeks. “Why are you worried about that? I’m right here.”
“Cole asked me to do something, and I don’t know if I can say no.”
“What is it?”
“He wants me to torture one of the Vultures.”
“Why is that a problem?”
“Because…I don’t want to be like that anymore. I’m scared I’ll—” I turn away, “never mind.”
“I don’t care if you enjoy it,” she says. “In fact, I’m excited for you.”
“I was a monster.”
“If it wasn’t for your predilections, I wouldn’t be here.”
“But what if I can’t make love to you the way I do now?”
She giggles. “Even if you like it, it won’t consume you as it did.”
Deep down, I know she’s right. There’s no coming back from the places Fiona took me. They’ll never leave my head or my heart.
And I’ll be forever thankful for that.
“Guess what we’re calling Blake’s baby?” she says with a giggle.
“Little Blake?”
“Nope—Baby Rat! Jayne decided she was naming him. Suki is going to embroider it onto a blanket.”
“I bet Blake won’t be too thrilled about that.”
“Probably not.” She goes to the refrigerator, takes out a bottle of juice, and pours herself a cup. “So, this whole torture thing…what’s up with that?”
“Gage tried to extract information from some prisoners, but he killed them too quickly. Cole knew I drew out my victim’s pain, so he asked me to give it a go.”
Fiona scrunches her nose. “Could we not call them victims?”
“What should I call them?”
“Torture participants.”
A smile spreads across my face. “That’s what we’ll go with.”
“I think you should do it.”
“Seriously?”
“If it means you guys get to flush out the Vultures. Isn’t the alternative closing the Keep?”
“Yeah, but that’s unlikely.”
“Why? I mean, if we can snag a few more women, what’s the problem?”
“Keeping it functional when we’re open to the world is easy. Keeping it functional locked down is significantly harder and requires more people.”
“Oh…”
“Caspian knows this and wants to bring some Vultures here, and is trying to negotiate a truce.”
“You’re fucking kidding me!” Fiona snaps.
“Don’t worry—it’s not happening. I shouldn’t have even told you that.”
“So, we remain vulnerable, knowing Caspian knows where we are…”
“Cole has another option. If he can get Legion to get on board, we could go under.”
“Will that be hard?”
“The hard part is getting Russ to leave some of his men behind. But if we bring all of them, the male to female ratio would be…less than ideal.”
“There’d be war.”
“Yep.”
“You need to do whatever you can to find out what the Vulture knows.”
“I figured as much. I just hate having to go back to that.”
“Honestly, I don’t. I love that part of you. It’s who I fell in love with.”
“Do you like who I’ve become?”
“I love who you’ve become. You’re two different people in my mind, the before and the after. I love both equally.” She rises to her tippy toes and plants a kiss on my cheek.
How the hell did I get so lucky?
“Well, I guess that settles it. The psycho is back in town.”
She smirks, snaking her hand into my pants. “Good, because I’ve missed him.”
“Oh…”
Her hand closes around my cock, and she gives it a firm tug. “I can’t wait to hear all about your workday.”
Sometimes I forget that she craves the dark side of me. The side that gives no quarters.
“What exactly would you like to hear?”
“Every-little-detail,” she whispers as she drops to her knees.
To say I’m turned on is an understatement. Every part of Fiona drives me wild. She’s the sun and the moon. Every star in the sky. A lifeline I so desperately needed.
And I’ll do anything to avenge her. To kill every last motherfucker that touched her.
“Tell me, baby,” she purrs as she frees my cock from its confines. “What are you going to do?”
There is no question.
Only cold, hard truths.
“I’m going to kill Caspian.”
The End