Epilogue
Six Months Later
“If you conjure one more plate of those weird pickle things, I’m going to throw them at your head.”
Sobek paused, hand halfway to manifesting another serving of the sweet and spicy pickles Rudy had been craving for three days straight. “You asked for pickles.”
“That was twenty minutes ago, and it was a test to see if you were listening to me.” Rudy shifted on the dining chair, trying to find a position that didn’t make his back ache.
At eight months pregnant, comfortable positions were becoming theoretical concepts rather than actual possibilities.
“I actually wanted my favorite mashed potatoes an hour ago, and they still haven’t popped up on a plate. ”
“You didn’t say that.”
“I shouldn’t have to say it. You’re literally bonded to my soul.”
Rose giggled from her seat, tomato sauce smeared across her chin from the spaghetti dinner Sobek had prepared. “Daddy’s grumpy.”
“Daddy’s enormous,” Rudy corrected, gesturing at his belly. “That’s the reason for the grumpiness.”
“You’re beautiful.” Sobek’s voice held that annoyingly sincere tone that made Rudy’s heart do stupid fluttery things even when he wanted to stay irritated.
“I’m fat.”
“You’re pregnant with our child.” Sobek leaned over and pressed a kiss to Rudy’s temple. “Beautiful.”
Jack looked up from carefully twirling spaghetti on his fork. “When’s the baby coming?”
“Three or four more weeks,” Rudy said, although honestly he felt as if he’d been pregnant for years already. He loved being pregnant - mostly - but he was ready to meet his kid and reclaim his ability to see his own feet.
Because Sobek was the other father, it had been decided by… whoever decided those things…that the lovely lady from their wedding, Bastet, would be helping Rudy give birth. She had apparently been the one who assisted Luka when he gave birth to his twins, although she hadn’t gone into details.
But Sobek knew that when she was called, he had to be outside with the kids. When Rudy heard that, he thought that the gods sometimes made things unnecessarily difficult for themselves, but he accepted that no non-pregnant father was allowed to see the birth of their child.
Timothy, who’d been quietly eating his third helping of pasta, tilted his head. “Will they come out knowing how to shift?”
“Probably not right away.” Sobek returned to his seat, and with a subtle wave, manifested a bowl of mashed potatoes that appeared directly in front of Rudy. “Shifter children usually don’t shift until they’re older. But since this baby is also part god, we’ll have to wait and see.”
“What if they’re a crocodile like Papa and Timothy?” Rose asked.
“Then we’ll love them,” Rudy said automatically, spooning mashed potatoes into his mouth, wanting to moan as the perfect butter-to-potato ratio goodness hit his taste buds. Sometimes having a godly mate was incredibly convenient.
“What if they’re a panther like me?”
“We’ll love them.”
“What if they’re a wolf like me?” Jack asked.
“We’ll love them.”
“What if they’re human like Daddy?” Timothy’s quiet voice cut through the rapid-fire questions.
Rudy met his youngest son’s serious gaze. “Then we’ll love them exactly the same. No matter what they are, they’re ours. Just like you three are mine, and nothing will ever change that.”
Timothy’s face relaxed into one of his rare smiles, the kind that still made Rudy’s chest tight with the memory of finding a silent, traumatized four-year-old sitting alone by a pond.
A flash of gold light interrupted the moment, and Horus materialized in the dining room wearing what appeared to be a gold velour tracksuit with matching gold sneakers.
“Seriously?” Rudy stared at the king of Egypt. “Where do you get your clothes?”
“This is fashionable.” Horus smoothed down the front of his jacket with obvious pride.
“In what decade?”
“The current one. I researched modern athletic wear.”
“You’re looking at the wrong websites.” Rudy took another bite of potatoes. “Also, you could knock. We have a door.”
“I’m a god.”
“You’re a pain in my ass, is what you are.”
Sobek made a choking sound that might have been a laugh, while Rose abandoned her spaghetti to run over and hug Horus’s legs. The ancient god immediately softened, reaching down to pat her head.
“Hello, little panther.”
“Did you bring me something?” Rose asked with the shameless confidence of a five-year-old who knew she was spoiled.
“Rose,” Rudy warned, but Horus was already conjuring a golden jewelry box that opened to reveal a delicate bracelet with tiny gemstone charms.
“For you.” Horus crouched down to fasten it around her wrist. “Real diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, not the fake ones.”
“You can’t keep giving her actual precious gems,” Rudy protested. “She’s five.”
“She’s family.” Horus stood and produced two more boxes, handing them to Jack and Timothy. Jack’s contained a golden pocket watch engraved with a wolf, while Timothy’s held a small crocodile figurine made from what looked like solid gold and jade.
“I hate you,” Rudy muttered without heat. “You’re going to make them impossible to live with.”
“They’re already impossible.” Horus conjured a chair and sat down at the table, eyeing Rudy’s belly with obvious envy. “You’re massive.”
“Wow. Thank you so much for that observation.”
“I meant it as a compliment. You’re growing new life. It’s...” Horus’s voice trailed off, and for just a moment, the arrogant god looked unbearably lonely. “It’s a gift.”
Rudy’s irritation evaporated. He reached across the table and poked Horus’s arm. “Your mate’s out there somewhere. The Fates wouldn’t have given everyone else their person and left you hanging. I’m told that they never leave a thread untied.”
“It’s been thousands of years.”
“So? Sobek waited thousands of years for me.” Rudy gestured at his mate, who was watching the exchange with his usual quiet intensity. “Good things are worth waiting for, even if they come with three chaos gremlins and a lottery win.”
“You won the lottery?” Horus asked.
“Five million dollars. It’s how I bought this house, and then I found these kids, and met this grump.” Rudy smiled at Sobek. “Best investment ever.”
Horus conjured a massive, wrapped box and set it on the floor. “I got this for the baby when they arrive.”
“What is it?” Rudy asked suspiciously.
“A crib made from Lebanese cedar and inlaid with gold. It has built-in protection wards and will grow with the child until they’re old enough for a regular bed.”
“Aww…” Rudy’s heart melted. Horus did try. “That’s actually really thoughtful.”
“I’m the king of Egypt. Of course it’s thoughtful.” Horus stood, but his usual arrogance seemed muted. “I should go.”
“Stay for dessert,” Rudy offered. “Sobek made chocolate cake.”
“I have matters to attend to.”
“You have an empty palace to go back to.” Rudy struggled to his feet, one hand braced on the table, the other supporting his belly. “Stay. Have some cake. Let Rose show you the nursery mural. She’s been adding to it and she’s very proud of her painting skills.”
Horus looked at the children, then at Rudy’s earnest expression, and something in his face cracked just slightly. “Fine. But only because the child needs to understand proper artistic technique, and I can help with that.”
“Obviously,” Rudy agreed, catching Sobek’s amused expression.
After cake - which Horus critiqued extensively while eating three slices - and a tour of the nursery where Rose explained every brushstroke in exhaustive detail, Horus finally departed in another flash of gold light.
“He’s so lonely,” Rudy said, settling onto the couch with considerable effort. His back ached, his feet were swollen, and the baby was doing what felt like gymnastics against his ribs.
“He is.” Sobek sat beside him and immediately pulled Rudy’s feet into his lap, beginning to massage them with strong, careful hands. “But his mate will appear when the Fates decree it.”
“I hope it’s soon. Nobody should be that lonely.”
The children climbed onto the couch, arranging themselves in their usual chaotic pile. Rose sprawled across Sobek’s lap, Jack wedged himself between Rudy and the armrest, and Timothy carefully positioned himself against Rudy’s side, his small hand resting on the swell of Rudy’s belly.
“Baby’s moving,” Timothy announced.
“Yeah, they do that.” Rudy stroked Timothy’s hair. “A lot. Especially at night when I’m trying to sleep.”
Sobek’s hand joined Timothy’s on Rudy’s stomach, his palm warm through the fabric of Rudy’s shirt. The baby kicked, a solid thump against Rudy’s ribs that made him wince and smile simultaneously.
“I can’t believe how strong they are,” Sobek murmured, wonder threading through his voice despite having felt these movements a hundred times before. “Just like their father.”
“Which father?” Jack asked. “You’re both fathers.”
“Both of us,” Sobek confirmed. “They’ll have Rudy’s stubbornness and my...what do I have?”
“An ability to brood dramatically,” Rudy supplied. “And you do know how to fix things, and you can cook. But I think what you’re the best at is taking care of all of us even when we’re being impossible.”
“You’re never impossible.”
“I literally threatened to throw pickles at your head a couple of hours ago.”
“You were hungry and uncomfortable. That’s not impossible, that’s reasonable.”
Rose yawned, her head heavy against Sobek’s arm. “Tell the baby story again.”
“You’ve heard it fifty times,” Rudy protested, but he was already smiling because he never got tired of telling it. “Once upon a time, there was a grumpy crocodile god who thought he wanted to be alone.”
“But he was wrong,” Jack chimed in, clearly having memorized this tale.
“Very wrong,” Rudy agreed. “Because three extraordinary children kept jumping in his pond, and a foolish human kept inviting him in for coffee.”
“And pickles,” Rose added sleepily.
“We weren’t at the pickle stage because they came later,” Rudy conceded. “But the grumpy god realized he didn’t want to be alone at all. He wanted to be exactly where he was - covered in pancake batter, sticky fingerprints, and love.”
Sobek’s hand tightened on Rudy’s ankle, his other palm still resting on the baby. Rudy loved how he could feel his mate’s overwhelming contentment, the bone-deep satisfaction of finally being exactly where he belonged.
“And they all lived happily ever after,” Timothy whispered, his eyes drifting closed.
“Yeah,” Rudy said softly, looking around at his impossible family - three shifter children who shouldn’t exist, a god who’d waited thousands of years just for him, and a baby who would be born into more love than Rudy had ever imagined possible. “They really did.”
The lottery ticket had been a whim, bought on a day when stocking shelves had ground him down to nothing, and he’d desperately wished for an escape.
Five million dollars had seemed like freedom - the ability to quit, to breathe, and to figure out who Rudy Crisp actually was when he wasn’t exhausted, broke, and alone.
I never imagined freedom could look like this.
A now comfortable home in rural Louisiana.
Three abandoned children with impossible secrets.
An ancient god who could translocate into his living room and yet who couldn’t figure out how to work a coffee maker.
Pregnancy cravings that defied logic. A nursery now painted in chaotic rainbow colors with a mural that shouldn’t work but somehow did.
The baby kicked again, and Sobek made a soft sound of awe that would have seemed impossible coming from the same god who could level mountains with a thought.
Rose’s breathing had evened out into sleep, and Jack was clearly fighting to keep his eyes open.
Timothy had already surrendered to exhaustion, his small body warm against Rudy’s side.
“Should we move them to bed?” Rudy asked quietly.
“In a minute.” Sobek’s thumb traced circles on Rudy’s belly, following the baby’s movements. “Let’s just...stay here. Like this.”
“We’re going to regret it when my back completely seizes up.”
“Then I’ll carry you upstairs and massage every ache away.”
“Promise?”
“Always.”
Through the window, twilight was settling over their property.
The pond Sobek had created reflected the first stars, and somewhere in the trees, Rudy heard the normal night sounds of Louisiana wildlife: crickets and frogs and the rustle of wind through leaves.
Normal, in other words, and more importantly, it was home.
“Love you, Sunshine,” Sobek whispered.
Rudy smiled, his hand covering Sobek’s on his belly, their children sleeping peacefully around them, and their newest family member doing somersaults against his ribs.
“Love you too, you grumpy crocodile. You bring me joy.”
And Rudy meant it with everything he had, because he knew Sobek felt exactly the same way.
The End…
I wasn’t going to do it, but I have a feeling Horus just might be getting a book of his own? What do you think? Please let me know.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this quiet story, which I felt was reflective of how Sobek came through to me.
In the next few months look forward to Damon’s story from the Hellhound Collar series, and the next book in the Monsters Need Mates, Too series.
Somehow, the older I get, the more stories I seem to want to tell, lol.
If this story did leave you with a smile, please consider leaving me a review at your place of purchase.
I do realize my stories don’t have the punch and angst written by so many other fabulous authors in the MM space, but in troubled times I like to think we need a bit of a break from angst for a few hours – it’s why I keep writing.
Stay safe, stay well, thank you so much for your support, and as always, please…
Hug the ones you love,
Hugs
Lisa xoxo.