Page 21 of The Banshee’s Unmistakable Love

And it’s a moment I get to have over and over again for the rest of my life.

Epilogue

FAMILY

ZANDER

EIGHT YEARS LATER

Sunshine beams down on my skin, warming every part it touches. People around me chat and laugh, the smell of barbecue wafting through the air.

My leg gets bumped, and then again shortly after, children running past. I feel a presence beside me, my pant leg getting tugged on.

Looking down, the violet eyes of my son stare up at me. “Daddy, can I go with ’em?”

“Where are they going, buddy?” I ask, lowering myself to a squat. “Lunch will be ready soon—Aunt Blair made her famous smash burgers.”

He sways on his little feet, still holding onto my pants. “Just to the pond to see the duckies.”

Nodding, I say, “Okay, but not out of sight, and when Aunt Blair shouts, come running back.”

He enthusiastically nods back before breaking into the quickest sprint his little legs can muster. I watch him meet his cousins and our family friends’ children by the pond. All of them sit on the edge, legs crossed, watching the mother duck lead her ducklings around the sparkling water.

A hand slips into mine, and I whip my head around. Briar laughs, and my knitted eyebrows instantly relax.

“Didn’t mean to spook you, love,” she says gently, bouncing ever so slightly as she stands next to me.

Cradled in her other arm is our daughter, who sleeps soundly. She got that from me—the ability to sleep just about anywhere, and through just about anything. When Thomas was a baby, he woke up at the slightest creak of a floorboard. It’s been a relief that Aibell sleeps through the nights and naps without trouble.

“I still can’t believe Aibell betrayed us.” Blair’s voice cuts through the air, getting both mine and Briar’s attention.

She stops beside Briar, putting her finger out toward Aibell’s sleeping hand. Her little fingers stretch out at the brush of Blair’s touch, and she grabs onto her aunt’s finger. I can practically see Blair melting in real time.

Briar smiles at the two of them. “Oh, she didn’t betray us…she just wanted to look more like her daddy.”

“The fact that you even had a boy banshee is fucking crazy,” Briar exclaims in a lowered voice, not wanting to disturb Aibell.

I narrow my eyes at her. “Hey, would it kill you not to swear in front of the baby?”

Blair tilts her head, looking at me through wide eyes. “Sorry—it’s a habit. But it is crazy that happened.”

She’s right—banshees are strictly female. At least, they were until our miracle boy was born. They called so many doctors to come make sure that everything was okay.

Some were worried that he had been part of a set of twins and absorbed the other, and in turn, the banshee’s power. They ran some tests, and all came back negative.

A few others thought maybe there was a hormone issue, but all those tests came back negative too. There were a million other tests they wanted to run, but Briar and I told them no.

It didn’t—and doesn’t—matter to us if there’s something “wrong” with our child. We’re just glad he’s happy and healthy.

He definitely looks like his mom, though. The same violet eyes, the same pale-lilac skin and pointed ears. The only trait he got from me is his dark hair, which almost looks out of place on him.

Aibell looks more like me. She has my tan skin and the same green eyes, though hers are shinier. At least, I swear they are. Briar always laughs at me when I say it, but Aibell’s are prettier, as if gemstones were placed there.

Unlike her brother, she has the same pale-purple hair as her mom. Since it’s so short on her head at this age, it almost looks like a little silk cap, which is rather adorable. She has pointed ears like Briar, as well.

Our perfect little family.

“So, your parents are a no-show again?” Blair nudges me, drawing my eyes away from my precious baby in my love’s arms.