Epilogue
Epilogue
Nico
I paced Lio’s bathroom, the little piece of plastic in my hands feeling much heavier than it could possibly be. It was my fourth test, and they all said the same thing. Pregnant. I just . . . had a hard time believing it was possible.
Like yeah, I knew it was possible . I wasn’t on any kind of birth control and Lio had knotted me like a hundred times during my heat last month, but it was so fucking rare to get pregnant during a first heat that I hadn’t expected it. Even after I’d started throwing up, I’d figured it was just a virus or something. That was until Carter, who’d miraculously forgiven me, had gently pointed out that I was a shifter and we didn’t get sick.
The last four weeks since my heat had been insane. I was shocked at how easily everyone had adapted to Lio and me being together, even Santino. With how overprotective he’d always been, I’d thought he’d lose his shit knowing I was mated to his best friend. But he seemed a little relieved. I guessed he knew he could trust Lio with my life. Fuck, Lio was probably even more overbearing than my brother.
I smiled and pressed a palm to my belly. There was a fucking baby in there. Or maybe multiples. Most male omegas gave birth to a full litter. It was terrifying . . . and exciting. Were Lio and I seriously going to be fathers?
My heart raced at the thought of telling him. Logically, I knew he’d be happy. Ever since that day, Lio had gone all in on our relationship. He’d literally gone to my room and packed my shit up and moved it into his the very next day. He’d made an announcement to all the guards and enforcers and told them if any of them said one damn word, he’d kill them. He made sure I was eating meals and brought me snacks when I got lost in my work. He made love to me every night and then hugged me close.
Even when Lio was busy with work, which was often these days as they dealt with the fall out of the Grizzlies’ actions. It did seem that Arlo Firenov, the Boss of the Grizzlies, had no knowledge of the plan, but the further we’d dug, it more it seemed like it went way deeper than a few goons that had clearly been used as cannon fodder. I had spent hours investigating everything and found out that one of Arlo’s kids who he didn’t acknowledge was planning a power play and arranged the attack using low ranking Grizzlies who wanted to move up the rank to implement it. We still didn’t understand why they’d gone after me and what the endgame had been there, but we’d find out soon.
The door to the bedroom opened, causing me to jump. Fuck, I hadn’t even sensed Lio coming, which was shocking. I felt so attuned to him lately. I shoved the pregnancy test in my pocket just as Lio called out for me.
“In here! Just a sec.”
I opened the door to see Emilio grinning ear to ear. “I got a surprise for you, little wolf.” Then suddenly, he frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Shit. “What do you mean?”
Lio stalked toward me, his big hand wrapping around my throat. My fucking traitor dick twitched. Why did I love when he manhandled me so much? Cause that was another thing we’d discovered over the last month. I was kinky as fuck, and apparently so was Lio.
“Don’t lie, pup. You’re afraid. I can smell it.”
I swallowed around his hand. Damn. I really didn’t want to tell him yet, but I wasn’t going to lie to his face. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t go behind anyone’s back anymore.
“Back pocket,” I whispered.
Without letting go of my throat, Lio reached around and pulled out the test. His eyes narrowed and he frowned. Then, like a punch to the fucking gut, he let go of me and stepped back.
“Is this—is this yours?”
I glared at him. “Why the fuck would I have someone else’s pregnancy test in my back pocket?”
He ignored my sass. “You’re pregnant?”
“Y-yeah.” I couldn’t get a read on him. Damn Lio and his ability to control his emotions. Was he mad? Upset? Going to leave me?
Just as I was about to start rambling some kind of panicked response, Lio swooped me up in his arms, kissing me like I was the only person in the world who mattered to him.
“We’re really gonna be parents?”
“Y-yeah. Is that okay?”
He put me down. “Of course it’s okay. It’s better than okay. I was so excited about my surprise for you, but it’s nothing compared to the one you just gave me.” He kissed me again. “I love you, Nico. I’m so fucking honored that you’re carrying my pups.”
I grinned. It was the first time he’d said he loved me out loud. “I love you too.”
Smiling wide, he placed his hand on my belly. “I can’t believe you’re pregnant. I didn’t think it happened usually during the first heat.”
I shrugged. “Me either. Maybe it was the injection.”
Lio snarled, hating any reminder of that. “Well, I guess I can be grateful if it led to this.”
Lio buried his face into my marking spot. I wanted nothing more than to tell him to claim me right then and there, but it wasn’t the right time.
“What was your surprise?”
“Oh, right!” Lio lit up.
“C’mon! He’s waiting for you.”
He’s? Lio took my hand and all but dragged me out of the room and down the hallway. He took me all the way down to the basement, where Santino held prisoners and doled out punishments.
“Lio, where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
He stopped in front of the wet rooms, bouncing from foot to foot. What could he possibly have for me back there?
Lio opened the door, and tied naked to a chair was a huge man that could only be a bear shifter. Judging by his stark white hair, he had to be a polar bear.
“This is Dimitri. He’s working for Arlo’s kid, and was the asshole who recruited Maxim to match up with you and inject you with the heat inducer. I thought you’d like to do the honors.” Lio handed me one of my blades, though I didn’t know when he’d gotten it.
Dimitri sneered and mumbled some comment through his gag. Clearly, he didn’t think a tiny omega wolf would do anything to him. I was happy to show him how wrong he was. Standing on my tip toes, I took Lio’s face in my hands. “Thank you. This is an amazing gift. I love you so much.”
Lio kissed me as Dimitri cursed and fake gagged behind me. “I love you too, my bloodthirsty omega. Go show this fucker exactly what an omega can do.”
Grinning, I pulled away from my mate, weighing the blade in my hand before sauntering up to my kill.
I couldn’t believe how much my life had changed in the last month. But I wouldn’t ask for anything more. I had my family, my mate, pups on the way, and I got to put my skills to use for once.
Best. Life. Ever.