I spilled blood here on the homestead to defend the McBrides, to protect the mountain, and now her blood has become a part of it, too.
But Raven’s story is so much bigger than just McBride Mountain and the people on it.
She has saved hundreds, maybe thousands of potential victims of the Lorells with her tenacity, her focus, and her insistence on doing what was right even when she knew what it might cost.
And I may have fucked it all up, but if she’s seriously giving me a chance, I won’t fuck up again.
“You really sure about this, Firefly?”
She drags her head back and nods, kissing me gently. “I’m positive. And so was my pregnancy test.”
I jerk back, searching her face. “What?”
Her brow furrows, and she offers a little shrug. “When we went up the mountain, you had me pack my bag so quickly that I didn’t bring my birth control. I just found out today…at my follow-up appointment.”
The room spins, and I stagger back a step, glancing down at her flat stomach. “You’re pregnant…”
She nods. “There’s going to be another little McBride running around on the mountain soon, so I need to make sure you’re really in this.”
“I’m going to be a father.”
I’m going to be a father?
All the things that seemed to matter so much only a few minutes ago suddenly don’t mean anything.
My head swims with a thousand reasons why I’m going to fail.
Why I’m going to be awful at it?—
Raven captures my face in her palms. “Don’t do that.” She shakes her head. “Don’t freak out. You’re going to be okay. You said those words to me and got me through almost dying. This is a way better reason to believe it.”
“I’m…not not happy, I’m just… Fuck. Firefly, I don’t know how to be a dad. I can barely take care of myself right now.”
Her gaze softens. “You took care of me, Connor McBride. You did everything for me up there. And I don’t know how to be a mom, either, so I guess we’ll figure it out together. Because that’s what McBrides do, right? Stick together.”
We do.
That’s what we’ve always been good at.
The promise we made to Mom before she died—that the McBrides—whether by blood, name, or choice—would always stick together.
I nod. “Always and forever, here under this mountain sky.”
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
RAVEN
The familiar scrape of rough fingertips trails up my inner thigh, making me tremble before I’ve fully even woken. I groan, arching into the touch and reaching in the darkness until my fingers find thick hair.
Warm lips skate along my neck, gentle brushes and light kisses becoming more urgent as they move across my shoulder blade, down my chest, over my breasts and stomach, and move farther south.
Those fingers between my legs shift higher, until the lightest brush of them across my core makes me twitch and tighten my hold on his hair.
“Mmm…what are you doing, McBride?”
He rubs his rough beard against the top of my thighs, the abrasion so deliciously sensual it makes me grin even before I’ve opened my eyes. One of his thick fingers slides into me easily, and his warm breath flutters over my pussy. “I would think that would be obvious, Firefly.”
