by J. E. Cluney
“Mom said they’ve cracked down. Told her she has to start working and helping out more, or she can find her own place when they move,” Skip said, snorting.
I definitely hadn’t expected them to put the foot down like that, but it was very much needed.
“Well, looks like there are going to be a lot of changes all around,” I mused as I stared out at the garden.
Despite all we’d been through, life was still moving forward, and the people we loved were moving on with their lives.
I was glad for it.
It was time to move past the tragedy that had hit Maple Grove. I was still hurt by it when I thought about it, about everything. I even missed Walter at times. I’d go into my void, feeling a little saddened at the loss of his presence.
But he was with his mother now, and he was happy.
I liked the place that lay beyond the ghost realm.
One day, I’d see my own parents there.
I turned back to gaze at my mates, who were all relaxing and taking it easy.
But not for a long time.
My life was perfect with them.
I smiled down at the finished tattoo on my wrist. ‘You are my sunshine’ was weaved into an infinity symbol with a sunflower. It was corny, but it was meaningful—words my mother had said to me.
It was my tribute to my parents, a way for me to feel like they were always close to me.
I turned to look at my four men, wondering just what tattoos they were planning on getting.
I’d opted for no numbing, wanting to truly experience it, and it hadn’t hurt too much.
My boys had kept their tattoo wishes from me, which I was puzzled by, but I sat in my seat, watching as Marcus went first.
He rested his hand on the bench, his palm facing upwards, and within a minute of the tattooist starting, my heart lurched.
I knew exactly what they were getting.
Replicas of my own skull marks on my palms. They were getting them in a similar blue color too.
I gritted my teeth, my eyes tearing up for some reason as Lucas wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
“You’re our mate, Cupcake. You’ve saved us quite a few times now, and this, this is a part of you, or us,” Lucas said, gently taking my hand and facing it palm up as he traced over the intricate skull there.
I smiled, a lone tear breaking free as it rolled down my face.
“This is a reminder of everything we’ve been through, of how far we’ve come, what we’ve discovered. It symbolizes everything,” he added softly.
I just stared at my mates, knowing they all felt the same way as they gave me tender looks.
“I love it,” I murmured.
“And we love you,” Marcus said, his voice level despite the fact the tattooist was working away on his palm.
As I gazed around at them, sitting on stools in the small tattoo shop, I could feel and see their undying love and adoration in me, their eyes alight with it.
They were everything to me.
As I was to them.
And my life couldn’t get any better.
Epilogue
I sat under the small wooden gazebo overlooking the large dam by the stables.
I nestled back into my comfy egg chair, smiling as I watched Marcus kayak around the dam, while Skip had his own. The sunlight glinted off the water, and I relished the perfect moment on this warm spring day.
I focused on the dark-haired girl giggling as she sat between Marcus’ legs, pointing at Skip.
Eve, our now three-year-old miracle daughter.
When I’d fallen pregnant all those years ago, I couldn’t believe it when Emma informed me it was Marcus’. It shouldn’t have even been possible. Vampires couldn’t reproduce. But then again, Marcus was no normal vampire. He was a day-walking, food-eating, magic-wielding vampire. Sure, he still didn’t age and needed some blood, but he barely seemed like a vampire anymore.
We’d also been informed Eve was incredibly special. A mix of witch and pixie, but with a hint of vampire, which I’d discovered while breastfeeding and she’d clamped down and drawn blood. A few magical tests later, and we discovered she had some slight vampire in her system. She needed less blood than Marcus and still aged, which made her quite the phenomenon. She was also horribly fast, which made parenting difficult, so Marcus had to step up his game.
Not to mention the time she picked up the whole coffee table to get her toy.
Yep, vampire strength too.
I didn’t even want to think about what it would be like when she went to school.
“Chase!” she shouted out, her sweet little voice reaching me, and I followed her waving hand to smile at Chase, who was perched on a large crocodile’s back as it swam around the dam. I wasn’t sure if I enjoyed the idea, but I trusted Ollie not to let our five-year-old son fall in. He could swim anyway, but still.
Little Chase was apparently a true shifter, despite being a halfling according to Emma, although she said he had slight pixie abilities too. She now lived on the coast with George and their two young sons after tying the knot some time after Chase was born. We’d gone away for her wedding internationally while Natalie and Dixon looked after Chase, and that was where little Eve had been conceived.
Emma now worked as a potions maker and a midwife, taking a liking to the work, and she’d discovered she had an affinity for unborn children, knowing their gender and species if they were supe. She would also know early on if something was wrong with the baby, so she’d started offering consultations to humans, which had proven quite popular. She’d saved two young mothers’ lives by informing them of complications with their babies, which they’d then gone to hospitals about and had verified and sorted out. One had to abort her baby as it was too great a risk.
“How you feeling?” Lucas asked as he popped up beside me and offered me a glass of fresh juice.
“I’m fine,” I said sweetly as I accepted the glass, and he reached out to touch my belly with a tender smile.
I had a child of Skip’s due in three months, and once I was ready, Lucas and I would try. I wanted to have one with each of them, and then we’d get my tubes tied or something. Four was plenty enough for me. I was just beyond grateful I had help.
Lucas chuckled as he heard my thoughts, and I rolled my eyes.
“Four not enough for you?” I quipped, and he just smirked.
“I think it’s perfect,” he said sweetly.
I just narrowed my eyes at him, and he just gave me his charming smile.
“How’s Trish?” Lucas asked as he leaned on my egg chair and gazed out at our family on the dam.
“She’s great! They’re all doing well,” I said as I chuckled lightly.
Trish had followed in my footsteps, taking on another partner, and apparently had enough energy in her to remain quite active with her two male companions, Brad and Vincent. She’d married Brad around the time I’d conceived Chase, which had been an interesting time. Brad had gone overseas to be with her, not willing to end things when she’d left.
Some people were weirded out by it, but the family didn’t care and were more than happy to be there to celebrate with the couple. They now lived in Maple Grove after Trish had worked her arse off to be allowed residency here.
“Inessa is pregnant too. So Ollie has a sibling on the way. They want it to be a surprise,” Lucas said softly.
I smiled as I thought about the sweet tiger shifter Craig had met on his travels to find a true mate. He’d divorced Pam and gone off on his own, meeting Inessa, who had originated from Russia. Fated mates apparently, as they’d felt the call as soon as they’d been together intimately.
They lived down in NSW in the mountains as Inessa enjoyed the cooler weather, but Ollie was still on decent terms with his mom, who was focusing on becoming a better person with her new partner, another true shifter she’d met through a family friend.
Rebecca was on great terms with us, having matured and becoming a kinder, more understandin
g person. She’d gone against her mother’s wishes and rejected the true shifter chosen for her. Pam had been pissed at first, but eventually left it alone, accepting that old traditions were dying.
Rebecca had instead met her own true mate when going to her father’s wedding in Russia with Inessa. He was a mountain lion shifter and had managed to get residency in Australia to be with her. They now had a little girl who visited often as they lived in Maroochydore.
I rested one hand on my belly, biting my lip.
Three children. The thought of another was terrifying sometimes, but I knew I wasn’t alone. My four men had truly stepped up, and the kids loved having so many parental figures.
They were great dads in my books, not favoring any child more than the other. It was beyond anything I could have hoped for.
We had so much family around us now too who came over on occasion.
Skip’s parents visited once every few months, and his mother loved doting on the children, while his father had relaxed and become a lot calmer and quieter since he gave up his farm. They loved where they now lived, and Samantha worked in real estate now, which had surprised me.
Bob was still faring well, happily continuing his horse rescue with Ollie’s help, although sweet Baby had passed away just before Chase was born. Million was still kicking, and Ollie had competed in many shows with him. He’d since quietened down, and now, in his older age, we used him for leadline rides for Eve and Chase. Chase had even started riding him properly with Ollie’s guidance and was now working on his trot.
“You got any new cases?” I asked, and Lucas sighed.
“A few, only small things, uncovering affairs mainly. Found the lost boy quickly though,” he said as he turned to smile at me. He now worked alongside his father as a private investigator, assisting with all area Enforcer duties as well. He was quite tight with his family now, and they often visited to see their grandchildren.
I was glad his mother was able to spend time with him more, and his father had finally accepted him fully, even coming to our own wedding years back.
Dixon had handed me away at my request, and he’d bawled like a baby, which had triggered my own water works.
I smiled as I remembered the incredible day.
Mr Brady had pulled some strings to get the marriage between all of us approved, and the day had been beautiful.
We’d had it here on the farm, with a gorgeous white tent and a small archway for our ceremony under a large gum tree which we’d hung dangling lights from.
It had been a wonderful celebration, and we’d invited all our families and friends to attend.
I’d kissed all four of my men after our vows, and we’d exchanged rings.
“It was perfect,” Lucas said.
‘Well, there were a few moments,’ Skip added mentally as he turned our way.
He was right. With all the shifters we knew, things were bound to go haywire. Many of Skip’s old family friends had come, and we’d had a few drunken shifters do races, throwing me back to many of the family bonfires with his family.
Cathy had met her husband that day, and she was now married with two sons who enjoyed visiting and playing with our kids.
“You remember when Ollie shifted though?” Lucas murmured, and I nodded with a soft sigh.
Ollie had shifted that night, and we’d all clambered onto his back as he took to the sky, soaring over the land as we enjoyed a night beneath the stars. It had been truly magical.
“I also remember you making Trish and a number of the other guests fly at the reception,” I said with a chuckle.
“They asked for it,” Lucas retorted, and I just smirked.
My phone sounded off, and I glanced down at the screen, a message from Hayley popping up. I unlocked it, reading over the text. She wanted to know when they could come visit.
She’d split from Daniel the coyote shifter only a few months after the Joseph Carnage and had travelled the States until she met her true mate, Lance.
They were wanting to fly over and visit us and the kids, see everyone.
I shot back a quick message, informing her whenever was fine as we would work around her visit. I’d make sure to invite everyone over for a family reunion too.
I set my phone down, my smile faltering.
The Joseph Carnage.
That was what they’d ended up calling it. It had been called a few things, but that was the one that had stuck.
And all that time ago, my mates had joked about a zombie event being started, but they were right.
Maple Grove now hosted an annual memorial week, where it was like a Halloween style festival with zombie stuff, but all the money raised was given to the families of those that had died.
It had been started when large groups of people started flocking each year after the horrible murders, hanging around the town and exploring all the known places things had happened. The internet left little privacy, since some residents had posted about what and where the shitstorm had happened.
It had become a tourist hotspot thanks to that, and they’d decided to use it to support the town, since they couldn’t stop the groups from coming.
I still felt badly for all those who’d perished at Joseph’s hands and had the occasional nightmare from it all, but they were rare and far between now.
Many families had moved away after that, but it had returned to normal after a few years. The University was now thriving and had expanded to allow seawater supes to learn there too.
Maple Grove had drastically grown over the years since then, and I’d heard Gina and Henry had retired, although they still owned Dingo Diner.
I’d lost contact with them not long after we’d moved, as I’d left my job there and worked as a consultant for Mr Brady, helping solve old murder cases where I could.
I’d also worked as a veterinarian with Ollie, having opened our own clinic together in Maroochydore. He handled the majority of it now since I was pregnant, and Skip sometimes worked away on some land we’d bought, farming and continuing working towards a more sustainable way of farm life.
Marcus worked only part-time, the release of Nightwood having been a huge hit. I’d finally met all the other vampires he worked with, and they were sweet. It had blown up, so they were constantly working on improving it and adding quests and whatnot to it.
We definitely had no money worries, but we liked to be kept busy.
Ollie had gone back to his hoard, and he and Lucas had documented everything in there before leaving it behind.
Ollie would sometimes go walkabout, his dragon side taking over, and they’d check the vault to find new rare objects amongst the hoard.
I smiled at the memory of him one night coming into the bed naked and covered in dirt.
When I’d asked him where he’d been, he’d said he’d found more treasure before passing out. He’d had no recollection of it the next day, but his hoard said otherwise.
I pulled myself from my thoughts as Marcus paddled the kayak over, and Eve beamed at me with her frosty blue eyes that were filled with such life.
“Mom, come join us! We’re having so much fun!” she demanded.
“I’m quite comfy here,” I said back, but she pouted as Marcus pulled the kayak up along the edge of the dam.
She clambered out, hurrying up to me with a broad grin.
“Fine, I’ll be comfy with you,” she declared, and Lucas took my half empty glass of juice as she struggled to climb into my lap.
I pulled her up, chuckling as she cuddled into me.
The feel of her warmth, of her body in my arms, it was everything.
I’d brought her into this world, into a life with four wonderful fathers and a huge family all around that loved both her and Chase equally.
I flicked my gaze to Marcus, who was staring tenderly at the pair of us, like we were the only thing he could see in this world.
I smiled at him, and he gave me a sincere grin in return, one that was filled with true joy and happine
ss.
My life was perfect.
Glossary
Arvo - afternoon
Big W - store like walmart
Bogan - is Australian and New Zealand slang for a person whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour are considered unrefined or unsophisticated.
Bottle-o - Liquor store
Chippy - Carpenter
Esky - hard-cased cooler for drinks
IGA - Grocery store
Fortnight - two weeks
Grog - Alcohol/booze
Grog bog - alcohol induced defecation day after
Grouched- get pretend cranky with
Lounge - couch/sofa
Nappy - diaper
Op Shop - Second-hand store that donates money raised to causes
Singlets - tank tops
Skippy - Australian Kangaroo show (popular and known)
Stubbies - bottles of beer
Thongs - flip-flops
Trackies - Tracksuit pants
Verandah - Porch
Woolies/Woolworths - Grocery store
Ute - trayback truck
About the Author
J.E. Cluney is a full-time author who lives on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. She spends her days writing, binging on TV shows, and reading. With a slight addiction to chocolate to fuel her midnight ravings.
Acknowledgments
Cover created by the wonderful Loraine Van Tonder.
https://www.rynkatryn.com/
Huge thank you to my wonderful beta team for all their hard work. And to all my readers who keep the passion alive to create stories for you to devour. I couldn’t do this without you.
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