“Casper! You can’t just have a baby without warning me! What the hell, man?”
Casper giggles. “You knew this was happening. Besides, how’d you get here so fast?”
Ray makes her way over to the other side of the bed, getting into bed beside my mate without asking. She knows that place was meant for her. Seeing how much she’s grown in the past few months fills me with pride and emotion. This is the relationship my mate was longing for when they first met, and now they finally have it.
“I had a feeling,” she says, crawling under the blankets and resting her head against Casper’s shoulder. “Knew something was going down so I made Page drive me over here.”
“I’m glad you’re here. It would feel wrong not to have you here for Ash’s first day.”
“Ash? Your son’s name is Ash,” Ray whispers, staring down at the baby in Casper’s arms.
I’ve known Ray for a long time and I’ve never seen her show this level of emotions. She stares and stares until silent tears are falling down her cheeks.
“Hey,” Casper whispers, sensing something’s wrong. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Ray quickly wipes the tears away. “I’m okay. Just emotional. Hormones will do that.”
“Are you on your period?”
“No,” she says right away, “if you didn’t just have a baby I would be punching you right now.” Ray looks up at Page, the two of them sharing a look. When Page nods, Ray says, “I’m pregnant.”
“No fucking way,” Casper gets out. He hands Ash over to me before he’s practically tackling Ray. The two of them lay together on the bed, just holding each other. “I’m so fucking happy for you, Ray. Oh my gods. Our kids are gonna grow up together. They’re basically honorary siblings. Or cousins. Or something, I don’t know.”
I turn towards Page. “Congrats, Page. I’m so excited for you guys.”
“Me too,” she says, pulling me into a side hug, getting a good look at Ash as she does. “I didn’t even know this was possible. I thought the whole being a vampire thing would make it impossible.”
Seemingly out of nowhere, Star is there, answering, “true mate vampires are able to have babies with their mates. Lady Fate saw a great injustice happen when the first vampire was created. She did Her best to offset that injustice by making vampires have true mates and make families of their own. It wasn’t right for them to be destined to be alone, so She made sure that wouldn’t happen.”
“That’s a lovely story,” Page says with a soft smile. “And I’m eternally grateful for that. I didn’t know life could be this wonderful. I thought this part of myself was gone when I was turned, but somehow it was only the beginning.”
“Hey, Zeke?”
I turn towards Ray. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“I like your face.”
I touch my cheek, my stomach sinking as I realize I never put my glamor back up in place. Casper is grinning, giving me a look of encouragement. Turning towards Page, she just shrugs. “I didn’t wanna say something and spook you,” she says.
“Umm, thank you? I guess?”
“No more hiding,” Ray says with her usual stern look. “No more hiding for all four of us. We’re in this together.”
“If you insist,” I say, playfully rolling my eyes. With my baby in my arms, surrounded by my favorite people in the world, and my mate safely tucked in bed, I’m completely and utterly at peace.
When I imagined my future, I never thought I would have this. I have a loving mate who adores me and calls me out when I need it. I have two best friends who are by my side, supporting me and loving me. I have a really exciting job that allows me to help people pass onto the afterlife and help people find peace. And my mate has his spark.
I don’t think it gets any better than this.
Epilogue
Ray
“If you keep hovering, I’m going to stake you.”
“You wouldn’t. You love me way too much.”
I shove my beautiful and amazing mate away. She might be a walking wet dream come to life and one of the best things that’s ever happened to me but that doesn’t mean I appreciate her hovering. I’m only pregnant. I don’t need her to help me with every little thing. I’m not some helpless princess, thank you very much.
“I do,” I concede, “but you’re on thin fucking ice.”
Page helps me sit down in the grass. My stomach is round and I can feel our baby kicking around inside of me. It still fills me with wonder that I get to have this at all. A baby? A mate? A familiar?
Fuck, it really wasn’t that long ago that I was mystified by all of this, so fucking sure that it was all an elaborate prank. Turns out, just because I refused to see the truth doesn’t mean the truth wasn’t right there in front of me the entire time. I just needed to open my eyes and see it.
Speaking of my familiar. “Where’s Casper? He’s supposed to be here by now.”
Casper sits down beside me with Ash in his lap. “I’m here. Sorry I’m late. Ash was taking a nap and I didn’t want to wake him,” he says but there’s a blush to his cheeks that tells me he’s only telling half the story. His hair is a mess and there's a new love bite on his throat.
“Right,” I say slowly, “naptime went long. Uh huh.”
“Shut up,” he says back, elbowing my arm.
Page growls at him before she can stop herself. “Hey, babe?” She looks at me like a love sick puppy. “Can you go get us some ice cream?”
“I’m on it.”
Once she’s gone, I pull Ash into my lap. “Hello, my little love bug. How’s my favorite godson?”
