Epilogue - Ten years later…
Haven
“Vytln, if you don’t get dressed, we’re leaving you behind,” Haven called out, her voice bright and happy as she moved around the room, putting in her earrings.
They were new. Shiny gold, with gemstones that flashed red and orange. They reminded her of lava – or the cracks that scarred her mate’s body. They contrasted neatly with the green gemstone of her necklace that beautifully matched the gleam in her son’s eyes.
Their boy, Max, was only a couple Standard years old.
By lvtl standards, he was still a toddler, though he was five in human years.
Just as he grew slowly in the womb, he grew slowly out of it as well.
He was absolutely adorable though, so she didn't mind that she got to spend extra time with him at each phase of development.
Max was in his incubator right now. The one that had an entrance both inside and outside of her trap.
He was busy absolutely shredding his bedding.
His horns were growing in, and they made him really itchy, so he dragged his head a lot against the walls and floor and whatever else he could reach.
They went through a lot of bedding as he destroyed them, but it was normal, she was assured.
It was kind of hard to tell what was and wasn’t normal for a hybrid. They were always just a bit different from their paternal species, and a lot different from their maternal one.
Humans were always smaller, weaker, and less physically capable than whatever alien they were interbreeding with. So, the natural expectation was that any hybrids produced between them would, naturally, be smaller, weaker, and less physically capable than a pure bred species.
But that wasn’t the case. That was never the case. Everyone else had already proved that with their kids long before Haven finally got to give birth to Max. Somehow, combining human genes with alien ones enhanced and improved upon the strengths of their fathers.
Max was a southern lvtl. That was unquestionable. They thought he’d be more like a middle lvtl considering his temperature during his embryological period. And while it was true in some respects, it was absolutely not in others.
He had the same rock-like skin of his father, but it was a richer, brighter brown, speckled with white, like freckles, all over his face and shoulders and back.
His eyes were glowing and bright, but not the yellow-orange lava eyes of his father – or even the same brown as Haven’s.
Instead, they glowed bright, stunning, vibrant green.
A middle lvtl would have green eyes as well, but they should be darker.
High temperatures didn't bother him at all, however. A middle lvtl would never be able to tolerate the temperatures Vytln thrived in. Max loved the heat, just like his father. He liked being in his incubator that Vytln kept at a temperature Haven would have quickly found too hot for comfort.
But Max also didn't mind cold temperatures.
Where Vytln would quickly get hypothermic in the cold, Max loved playing in the snow.
Snow didn't love him and melted quickly when he approached, but while it still lived, he enjoyed playing in it. He didn't even need a coat. She kept him in one more for the snow’s safety than his, and so he’d actually get a chance to play with it before it melted.
His skin was also super hard. It didn't crack at anything. Skin cracking was as common to lvtl young as scraping knees was to human young. And they didn't usually, if ever, scar. But Max’s skin was nearly impenetrable. Goldie had to use special injectors whenever she gave him medications or inoculations because the regular ones simply weren’t strong enough to get through.
Their son was an absolute tank. Haven wasn’t worried about the world hurting him, but she often had to worry about him hurting the world.
He’d broken two of his incubators already.
He broke their projects a lot. There were a few walls with scuffs and dents because he’d run full tilt into them – like a ram slamming into a rock.
He found it funny. He laughed like his destructive tendencies were hilarious. Haven was finally on the other side of what it was like raising herself as a child.
She kind of understood people’s exasperation now.
Though not completely, because she still loved her son to pieces, and she’d never look at him the way people used to look at her.
He was just a toddler. He was learning. And no, he wasn’t learning by breaking things apart to see how they worked like she did.
What he was learning was his own body. He was learning his limits.
He was learning his own strength. And he did it the same way she did, through trial and error, and there just happened to be a cost to that.
She wasn’t sure that Max had inherited her inherent need to learn and the focused drive she had to understand the world, but he’d definitely inherited her action first mentality, and his father’s stubbornness.
But he was such a happy baby. He was always playing and laughing.
He was carefree and joyful in a way, she knew, Vytln never got to be.
The life he’d been raised in, the way he’d been forced to grow, had taken all that from him before he ever got to enjoy it.
Vytln couldn’t innocently and boundlessly enjoy the world and everything in it the way Max could.
However, Vytln had a chance to witness that wonder through their son. As Max learned – and broke – the world, Vytln got to go along with him. He got experience what it was like seeing the world through innocent eyes for the first time, and it was beautiful.
Max was always breaking things.
And honestly, Haven wouldn’t have it any other way. She didn't care if her son was a genius. She didn't care if he didn't take after either of them with their technological proficiency. It really seemed like he wouldn’t, judging by how much he loved the outdoors and exploring.
He was instead getting a childhood of love and acceptance and happiness. He was developing as his own person, and they were supporting whatever direction he chose to take that. And it was a wonder and privilege for her to witness.
Even if it meant that a lot of stuff was destroyed in his wake.
She frowned at the little suit she needed to put him in.
He was naked but for the fancy diaper he wore.
It was made with the same tech as envirosuits and dealt with waste much more efficiently and cleanly than a cloth or cotton diaper would.
But it was a fight to keep it on him. And clothes?
Forget it. Max very often destroyed those.
On purpose. He didn’t want to wear them.
But the little black suit was a perfect match for Vytln’s!
They’d be twins. It would be absolutely adorable.
She really wanted to see them wearing them.
Not just because her son and his father wearing matching suits was probably the cutest thing she could imagine, but also because she had never gotten to see Vytln in a proper suit.
She could only imagine how sexy he would look.
“Vytln, are you dressed?” She asked, setting aside Max’s suit.
She was going to delay putting him in it for as long as she could.
With the hopes that it might survive at least the ceremony tonight.
Once he was off playing with the others, she knew that suit wasn’t going to survive.
If he didn't return to her fully naked with something stained and dusted across his little horn nubs, she’d be stunned.
“Why do I have to dress up for this?” Vytln grumbled from their privy. “It’s not my ceremony. I should just be able to wear my regular clothes.”
“Yeah, a jumpsuit at a formal affair would look normal,” Haven snickered. Honestly, that wouldn’t really bother her. It was exactly like Vytln to do so.
But her dream of matching father and son suits…
Muttering darkly under his breath, Vytln emerged from the privy. And to her surprise, he was actually wearing the suit.
And to her greater surprise, he wore it confidently.
She fully expected him to come out pulling at the collar, shifting awkwardly in the fabric, looking very much like he had been forced into someone else’s clothes.
He always wore his jumpsuit or something equally loose fitting and comfortable.
She loved him in grease and oil stains, and she loved the smell of metal that covered him.
She just wanted one photo of him and Max in their matching suits, being dapper gentlemen, and she’d be content for life.
But Vytln emerged not as the engineer and mechanic for a delivery company, but as the young boss of a criminal family, with all the wealth and power that title would deliver.
He wasn’t pulling at his collar, but instead at his sleeves, jerking them into position with the casual air of confidence of one used to wearing such things.
The suit was a gift, and tailor made to his body, but she was still somehow shocked that it fit perfectly over his broad shoulders – something even his normal clothes would sometimes struggled to do properly.
His horns were shined, so the usual scuffs and nicks weren’t obvious. His skin was clean and clear of any grease or oil stains. He smelled like something rich and clean. The scar on his face, though it was old, still shined brightly, and served to drive home the criminal aspect of the vibe.
He didn't just look sexy, he looked dangerous.
It was probably the first time, in the decade they had been mated, that Haven looked at this male and saw the mobster overlord he was once destined to be.
“Alred’s lucky I like him,” Vytln was saying as he stood straight, shoulders dropping with the casual confidence of one accustomed to holding strength and power and being equal to both. And it sounded just like a mobster saying his brother was lucky they were family.
He finally looked at her face, and she could only imagine her expression because he frowned.
“What?”
“Huh?” She blinked, trying to focus on his face but she kept getting distracted by his body. “Yeah, that’s… huh?”
She couldn’t gather her supposed great intelligence for anything more than that, but luckily, she didn't need to. Vytln smirked as he realized what had caused her brain to stutter to a complete halt. He put a casual hand in his pocket and closed the distance between them.
She shivered at the casual display of confidence and power.
“It’s not that bad, I suppose,” he said, looming over her threateningly, setting all her nerves alive as every cell in her body longed for his touch. “But you’re still getting punished for putting me in this.”
Her pussy clenched hungrily. Her entire body tingling at the promise of a punishment. She loved it when Vytln took her over his knee – literally and figuratively.
“This is pretty,” Vytln said, one finger stroking over the hip of her dress. Like his suit, her dress was simple, black, and elegant. It was the golden jewelry and sparking gems that really made her pop. made her match both her mate and son so they’d all look good in their picture together.
But she felt absolutely nude with just that one finger he stroked around to her belly. Lower. Teasing at the top of her mons, just a bit of pressure that made her sway as she tried to lean in closer. To let him-
THUNK!
She jumped and turned to see Max in his incubator, now on his butt, shaking his head after having just run into the glass that kept him in. He looked pretty dazed by that one.
“Alright,” Vytln chuckled, the danger in his voice fading, replaced immediately by the warm, tender tone he saved just for their son. One that set her afire for different reasons entirely. “Come on. Time to get in your suit now too.”
Max immediately jumped up, babbling and talking excitedly, saying nothing and everything in the way of toddlers, as Vytln crouched to open the incubator. They had to put it down low after last time when he broke through and fell straight to the ground.
Max came rushing out, throwing himself at his father. He tried to drag his horns over his suit, but with ease and casual competence of an experienced father, Vytln blocked his horns, diverted his head, then started scratching the itchy nubs as he stood.
Haven could cry. She loved the two of them so much. She loved seeing Vytln interact with Max. Giving him all the innocent love and care that he would never have had for himself.
“I want another youngling,” she declared, surprising herself with the sudden announcement.
But not so much as Vytln who very nearly tripped over his own feet. She had meant it absolutely when she told him she was only having Max. She had not wanted to be pregnant for years, and she had not wanted to have a bunch of kids.
But she always reserved the right to change her mind, and really, being pregnant hadn’t been that bad. Because it was so long, the changes her body took were so gradual she adapted to them without issue and it had been a super easy affair for her.
And she could only imagine how Vytln would look with a tiny baby girl in his arms instead.
“You want another?” Vytln repeated, stunned. They never brought it up again after Max’s birth. He had absolutely respected her initial decision to have only one.
“Yes,” she beamed, the sudden decision settling in her heart. And like every decision she made in a split second, she fully intended on going through with it. “I want a girl next.”
“Er,” he blinked, looking first at Max who was eating his fist, then back to her. A grin curled over his face as surprise faded into acceptance. “Alright. Consider it done.”
Haven laughed, heart full of love and light and joy. She’d been living on this ship, with this male, for ten years, and still managed to travel everywhere and see everything and satisfy every curious urge her heart ever had. It was the best of both worlds, as far as she was concerned.
She had everything she needed to keep her busy mind satisfied, everything she wanted to keep her wandering heart happy, and everything she never knew she’d need or want to soothe that basic human part of her that longed for family and stability and community.
Haven picked the suit up off the bed. Max caught sight of her and the suit and immediately his face filled with playful mischief.
It was a fight for Haven and Vytln to get him into that suit, but it was a battle they fought together. Like everything they had faced over the last ten years, like everything they would fight for the rest of their lives.
Haven got her picture. A grumpy Max, picking at a suit he wasn’t comfortable wearing.
Vytln smirking dangerously, wearing a suit with the casual power of a male beyond the trappings that once tied him down in it.
And her, glittering in bright jewels, in a slinky, silky black dress, smiling between them both.
Everything she needed, everything she wanted, in one picture perfect moment.