Page 32 of Bone Collector’s Mate

Epilogue

Noir

Benji had eaten far more cake in the past year than most people did in a decade. He’d never disliked it, but now, instead of a slice at birthdays, everything was his excuse for cake. Birthday? Cake. Holiday? Cake. First lost tooth? Cake. Homer learning a new trick? Cake. Honor taking his first step? Cake. If it happened, cake was needed. And we caved every single time.

I’d become quite the baker.

Today was the best reason we’d had for cake in a long time, if ever. So, of course, this time, the cake came out lopsided. I fixed it by adding an exorbitant amount of icing to one side as I stacked the layers. I doubted anybody would complain. Extra frosting was extra frosting.

I’d been Benji’s dad, but today, it was official in l human terms. It never mattered to me whether he was legally mine or not because in my heart, he was my child. He’d been calling me Dad since he was three years old, and now that he was five, that hadn’t changed. But what had was his awareness.

When we filled out his kindergarten paperwork, he saw where Adam’s name was still on it, and he told Rook that they got it wrong. We had to explain to him that while I was his dad, the human world still thought of Adam as his father. He didn’t like that and asked how to make me his “human world dad.”

It was a can of worms we hadn’t wanted to open. Adam could easily try to turn it into a power struggle, knowing that it gave him control over Rook, and abusive alphas liked their control. But as a surprise to everyone, not only did Adam not fight it, he had filed paperwork to make it happen ahead of us. He had found someone he wanted to marry—not the one he cheated with me on but someone else down the line—and they didn’t want him attached to any kids. It was just like him to choose a new omega over his own son, but that was the least of his crimes over the years, and this time, it was for the best.

From there, everything moved quickly and today, at the courthouse, we officially signed the papers.

“Do you think he’s gonna laugh at it being lopsided?” I asked.

“No. I know he’s going to love it.”

When we came home f, Benji had to tell Homer all about it, which gave me time to finish frosting the cake. I wanted to get fancy and have pictures on it, but while I was really good at making tasty cake now, no one would ever call them pretty.

Rook was holding a sleeping Honor and watching my less than-stellar frosting job. Honor had used all his energy running around the judge’s chambers as we filled out our paperwork. Thankfully, the judge was amused by it instead of annoyed. Honor always had all the energy of a cub or he was asleep. There was no in-between.

A couple of times lately, when we were out playing in the woods, he’d stopped and stared in directions that my mate or Benji wouldn’t have noticed anything unusual about, but I did. The bones already started to call to him. He didn’t recognize what that was yet. They caught his attention the way a butterfly flittering around, or Homer running quickly was.

Just as William had predicted, only beginning earlier than I thought it would. Unlike when I originally learned of his dual nature, it didn’t frighten me anymore. He would grow up understanding exactly who he was. And when he was old enough, he’d be able to make the decision, instead of being thrust into one when he was at his lowest point, the way I had been.

Benji mentioned a few times wanting to grow up and be just like me. He didn’t understand how it impacted life expectancy or exactly what I experienced when I was following the bones yet. But if he still felt that way when he was older, I would help him choose this path and teach him the skills needed. He might not have been born with my nature, but the skills he learned from me would be strengthened when he made the choice. They would grow exponentially.

But for now, they were both children, and we wanted them to focus on that by playing, learning, and growing.

Honor woke up and saw the cake instantly, despite it being partially obscured from where he was being held. He squirmed to get down.

“I guess it’s cake time.”

Rook went to the door and called Benji, who barreled in, grumbling when we made him wash his hands.

We ate the cake, and my family was great, pretending not to notice the way I used frosting to make it look a little bit straighter. But when Benji’s last bite was in his mouth, he climbed off his chair and ran into his room, coming out with his backpack.

“I have something for you, Dad. It’s from school.”

He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a huge packet of papers.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“I told Mrs. Johnson in the office that you made a mistake on the paperwork, and she gave me a whole new pack. I did the first page for you.”

I took the packet and looked down. Under parents, he had written Rook and me. I blinked back tears, just staring at it.

“Did I spell it right, Dad?” He tapped on Noir. “That’s your name.”

“I know.” My gaze wa fixed on the page.

“Then, why are you staring so seriously?”

I turned to Benji. “Because it makes me so happy.”

“It makes me happy too, Dad. And when you fill out this paperwork, do you know what that means?”

“That you’ll have to bring it back to school?”

“Nope. It means we’ll need more cake.” Of course it did.

“Does it now?” Rook chuckled. “Will we need handing in the new paperwork cake?”

“It wouldn’t hurt.” Benji was dead serious.

There had been more years than I could count where I thought I’d always be alone. Now, I had a wonderful family, lived in the town I adored and whe belonged, and was having a discussion on how to include more cake into that life.

I wasn’t the monster I had always known myself to be. This is who I was…a mate, a member of the community, a dad, and a baker. What could be better than that?