Epilogue
Kalista
“I can’t believe that we are planning my brother’s mating ceremony.” Danika rubbed her palms together and grinned with glee.
I smiled at her obvious happiness for Tristan. “I can tell that you’ve lived in the immortal world far too long,” I teased. “This is a wedding and not a mating ceremony.”
“You say potato, I say potahto.” She shrugged and continued browsing the bridal dress volume that was laid out on the coffee table before us.
Danika, Luna, Alexandra, Meredith, and I were seated in the posh salon in the castle, where every piece of furniture was elegant and looked as if they should be in a museum. The room was decorated in soft ivory and pastels and interspersed with plants and white roses, giving it a very feminine and light ambience.
Apparently, we Petrov women didn’t go to boutiques to shop; the boutiques came to us. So, for the past six hours, as we sipped white wine—in my case, sparkling apple cider—and feasted on little sandwiches and cakes, we had been visited by three of the top wedding dress boutiques in the world. Flown in on one of the Petrov jets, nonetheless. Meredith went along with the food and drink choice only because of the humans present. And to make sure there was no accidental exposure to sunlight, the boutiques had to come to us during the night.
Tristan introduced me to his sister, the other Petrov mates, and Meredith only yesterday. Of course, Danika slapped him for taking so long in bringing me for a visit, and then she embraced me as if I was a long-lost sister. Within minutes, the women made me feel part of their sisterhood. I loved it.
“I’m so glad you found the dress,” Luna enthused. “It is gorgeous.”
I laughed. “Have you met my mate? He is kind of a tyrant, and I was almost afraid that the poor boutique owners would expire on the spot when Tristan told them that one of them had better have my dress or else.” We all laughed remembering Tristan’s far too deadly Il Carnefice expression when he issued that threat.
“Luna, you will soon be going through this for Zora’s dress,” I teased.
“Yeah, Xander told me about the good Dr. McKenna,” Alexandra added.
“Girls, don’t remind me.” Luna sighed. “I have to keep reminding her that she is only fourteen years old and far too young to take a mate.”
“It would be excruciating for her to watch her mate with other women,” Meredith offered. “Dr. McKenna is the typical absent-minded professor and man of science and totally oblivious to Zora’s adoration. It’s painful watching her watch him with such longing, and the good doctor doesn’t have a clue.”
“Is he a womanizer?” Danika frowned with concern.
Luna laughed. “Far from it. He seems to view sex with the same matter of interest as he does the drinking of water. Apparently, it’s a matter of health, so it must be endured to maintain a good working body.”
“Oh God.” I choked on my cider as I laughed along with them. “Poor Zora.”
“Luka and I are grateful for his lack of interest.” Luna breathed out loud in relief. “It’s the only reason our fourteen-year-old adult dhampir is still a virgin.”
“Well, that’s a double standard if I ever heard one,” Danika peeved. “Apollo and Drago, who are younger than Zora, are not virgins, and I don’t see anyone worried about that. And they have several concubines also.”
We all looked between Luna and Danika, not sure whether to comment or back slowly away. As far as I could tell, the two women loved each other to distraction, so this disagreement couldn’t do that much damage.
After a few long minutes, Luna grinned. “Well, when you’re right, you’re right. The boys are adult dhampirs with teenage raging hormones, same as Zora. I wish women would tell them no, but have you seen our sons?”
Danika also grinned and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“After the baby, are you returning to work with SWAT, or are you coming to work with us?” Alexandra wanted to know. “We can use someone like you on our missions.”
“That’s the plan,” I said cheerfully. “Once I realized that my continuing to work with SWAT made my teammates and their spouse targets for our enemies, it was really a no-brainer.” From the compassionate looks on the faces of the other women, I had no doubt they understood my sacrifice. “However, after seeing the dangerous places that you all work in, I must say that I’m looking forward to working with you guys.”
“You had better not tell Tristan that,” Meredith warned. “He’s already assigned ten wolves to protect you since your pregnancy was confirmed.”
I rolled my eyes but laughed along with the other women because Tristan was acting as if I was made of fragile glass since my kidnapping several weeks ago. The ten wolves protecting me now had been twenty the first week after the kidnapping. Briefly, I had gotten him to bring the number down to four, but as soon as he found out that I was pregnant, it had jumped to ten. I’ve given up trying to talk him down.
*** Tristan ***
“You would think that if someone was claustrophobic that they wouldn’t piss off the person who was known for throwing people into torture holes,” I mused, shaking my head in disgust at the cold corpse of General John Bastian. “I had planned days of torture, but the bastard died from fear within minutes of being thrown in the hole.”
“Well, you can’t really blame him,” Drako said dryly. “The hole was the size of a coffin, and you did put about two dozen spiders in there with him.”
“They weren’t poisonous,” I reasoned.
Drako chuckled. “Those damn spiders were the size of a child’s fist and ink-black. Do you think he knew that they weren’t poisonous?”
I shrugged. “When you think you know a guy…” I muttered.
“What did you decide to do with the Regiment?” Luka wanted to know.
“It’s undergoing restructuring with the four remaining members, Xiao Zheng from China, Army General Antoine Guillaud from France, Gunther Weise from Germany, and Niccolo de Cardona from Italy. If you can spare Xander, I think he is the only one of us who has the patience for dealing with this kind of clusterfuck.”
“Are you giving me free rein to make all decisions on this restructuring?” Xander asked eagerly.
“Absolutely.” I saw no need to get involved with the organization of the Regiment. I already had my hands full with running the mafia. “With the onslaught of fanatic and extremist leaders around the world, voted into office by people’s fears, prejudice, ignorance, and blind greed, there is a need for an organization like the Regiment. It was originally created to prevent the next world war, to protect the sovereignty of weaker nations, and basically prevent another damn holocaust. The ethnic cleansing that has been occurring in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and other parts of Asia should have all been prevented if those assholes hadn’t become so damn corrupt in their pursuit of power and wealth.” My fangs descended, and I felt my eyes bleed to a deeper red in renewed disgust for what those men allowed to happen throughout the world. “For sure, with the appropriate vigilance, we shouldn’t have to conduct a mass firing like this again, at least not within the next century.”
“Aren’t you worried that the remaining members may come after you again in an effort to avenge their comrades?” Luka asked.
I laughed darkly. “I don’t know what those bastards are planning, nor do I care, but I did leave them locked in a room with the corpses of their fallen. Perhaps it might fuel their anger, or it might scare some sense into them. I don’t know. But I can tell you that I won’t lose any sleep over it.”
“Someone is out there still directing traffic toward us,” Luka warned. “According to Zora’s professor he was sent an anonymous text telling him to ask Zora about the Chamber and that his research would be significantly advanced if he got her to take him there. Notwithstanding his initial caution on wanting to follow such a mysterious directive, and especially from a number he had been unable to trace, he did ask Zora about it. Of course, we know Zora’s weakness for the professor and her eagerness to aid him.” Luka shook his head in disgust. “The professor said that they were ambushed within minutes of entering the Chamber. A gang of disturbingly armed men had been lying in wait for them. Clearly, someone was tracking their movements even before they entered the Chamber. And for that to happen without Zora or the professor being aware of it with their heightened senses, they had to have been powerful beings.”
“If what you suspect is true, we will need to ramp up the training of the kids and get the wolves involved.” Drako was as understandably concerned as Luka. Luna and Danika were the only females in the family that didn’t have immortal powers. Alexandra and Kali had immortal powers and could protect themselves.
“Absolutely,” Luka agreed. “Aidan tells us that you’re doing an amazing job of training Apollo and Drago as assassins.” Luka looked at me expectantly. “We need you to train Zora as well. It will occupy her away from her current infatuation with her professor.”
“Good luck with that,” I grunted. “If he’s her mate, there is nothing that will lure her away from him.”
“Do it anyway.” Luka was a born dictator.
“You will be happy to know that she joined us on our last raid.” I sighed in resignation because Luka will always try to boss us all around. “After her experience in the Chamber, Zora is pissed, and she is determined to go back there and deliver some retribution of her own. She wants to be trained first in human combat. So, turning her into an assassin like her brother and her cousin is already in progress.”
Drako chuckled at Luka’s stunned look. “Enough about that. How do you feel about finding your mate?”
“It’s the best fucking feeling in the world,” I said without hesitation.
My brothers nodded in agreement.
“Not bad for a soulless monster,” I joked, even though Kali’s love was something I sometimes felt this soulless being didn’t deserve.
“You know very well that we don’t believe that you’re soulless or a monster,” Xander said soberly. “The work you have done in cleaning up the criminal world alone should tell you that. And I’m sure that Kali feels the same way.”
“I’ve never heard of a soulless being, doing what you’ve done or producing life as you and Kali have,” Luka added.
“Kali and our unborn child represent a life I never thought I would have.” My heartrate picked up just thinking about them. “It’s incredible. And I already know that I’m not soulless. I know it sounds crazy, but when our bond snapped into place, I felt as if my soul was restored.”
“That’s not crazy at all,” Xander said thoughtfully. “I was in the same state as you, for decades, and Alexandra’s love and our bond have certainly restored me.”
“Congratulations on finding your mate, little brother.” Luka raised his glass of fresh blood in a toast toward me. Drako and Xander also murmured their congratulations and drank from their raised glasses. “Papa would have been proud of you.”
Just as the words left his lips, an image of Papa toasting me materialized before me in a mirage so vivid that I would have sworn that I could smell his favorite cologne.
Lying in bed two nights later with my naked wife and mate draped on top of me, our child nestled in her womb, I was feeling on top of the world. “I loved your dress,” I whispered.
Kali snuggled closer. “Is that why it’s ripped to shreds on the carpet?” she teased.
I rolled her under me and slipped my hard cock back into her warm heat where it belonged.
She moaned softly and wrapped her legs around my waist.
“This is why your beautiful dress is ripped to shreds,” I rumbled as I thrust my hips in a snake-and-roll motion. Being in her was pure ecstasy. Every morning when she woke up and saw me, or even when we are apart for any length of time and I walked into the room, she gifted me with a brilliant smile of adoration, an adoration that I struggle to accept that I am even worthy to receive. At our wedding, I had the singer, Teddy Swims serenade her the song, “Are You Even Real,” because I knew she loved his album, and I often had the same question every time I saw her beautiful face, every time she gifted me with her body and every time she showed me her love. She can’t be real.
“I love you so damn much,” she breathed before sealing her lips over mine. Her kisses were my air, my oxygen.
“Sei l’amore della mia vita,” I told her telepathically, not wanting to release her lips or stop driving my cock into her intoxicating heat.
“ You are the love of my life too ,” she cried out telepathically even as she splintered under me.
*** In the Chamber ***
Deep in a cave, miles within the hidden depths of the Chamber, the tortured cries of an ancient vampire grew weak. He had been tortured, revived and tortured again, over and repeatedly for the past five years. His hope that his family would rescue him was all but forgotten. In fact, he had barely the mental capacity to hope or recognize anything outside of his continuous pain and torture. Those early days of wishing for rescue are long gone, now his only wish was for death. Painless and swift.