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Siren gasped, lifting her hand to cover her mouth. The ring was a custom piece—a smooth, oval-shaped turquoise stone set in a detailed rose gold band. The stone had reminded me of her eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
“Does that mean you’ll wear it?”
“Of course I’ll wear it.”
“And tell your family we’re engaged?” I was ready to tell the world she was going to be mine forever, to dash the dreams of every man who hoped we’d break up and they’d get their shot with her.
“Yes,” she said with a radiant smile. “We can tell my family and every gossip paper in the city. But I’m already yours, Sam. I’ve been yours since I was fifteen.”
I slid the ring on her finger and then crushed my lips against hers to seal the deal.
“Do you think Nate and Sierra would let us get married in their backyard?” she asked when we broke the kiss.
“You want to have your wedding in my brother’s backyard?”
She grinned. “Yep.”
I shook my head at her. “God, I love you so much.”
She reached out and cupped my cheek. “And I love you.”
“I’m going to make up for the past eight years. I promise.” I’d wasted so much of our precious time being an idiot and thinking I could run away from her.
“You already have.” Her kiss was gentle and sweet and so right it felt like an electric shock to my entire system. Our souls were made for each other. I was always going to love Piper Amato in any and every capacity.
Epilogue
Samuel
Three Years Later
“Momma, come on,”Nadina said, tugging on my wife’s hand.
Nadina was our first child, adopted from Latvia. She was the same age as Nova, and the two were like sisters. Fought like sisters too. Now three, Nadina had been Siren’s Mini-Me from the day we’d adopted her a year and a half ago. Today they were wearing close-to-identical floor-length lavender sundresses that made them both look like woodland princesses.
“I’m coming,” Siren answered with a laugh as she let our daughter drag her through the open fields that made up our backyard, loose waves of dark hair blowing in the wind.
Siren had proven to be an amazing mother to the surprise of absolutely no one. She had seemingly endless patience for our three children as well as anyone from Youngblood who visited our country house.
I still gathered teens off the streets, creating an army of demon hunters and a home and family for those who were headed down a dark path. Though Thomas and Shawn did more of the mentoring at Youngblood now than I did. It worked for all of us.
I actually liked living in the country. Our house was close to Nathaniel and Sierra’s, allowing our kids to grow up together, and it was a nicer place to host casual parties like this since we had a backyard. The fact that Siren loved it here helped sweeten the deal too.
“Sam, stop eye-fucking your wife and do something about your son before I do,” Nathaniel said from his seat next to me on the back deck.
I scanned the yard for Dion.
Siren’s parents and siblings, plus Orlando’s wife, had come from the city to help us celebrate the “birthday” of our son. All the men in her family were hovering around the grill where Thomas and Shawn were doing the actual cooking. Quinn had taken up residence on one of the swings with a book. Violetta and her daughter-in-law were setting up extra tables and chairs because Siren and I got distracted this morning and hadn’t managed to get to that part of the preparations. Sierra and Kylie, Sierra’s best friend and onetime roommate, were entertaining my one-year-old daughter at the picnic table.
I found Dion’s blond head in the playhouse across the yard. I squinted, trying to figure out what my five-year-old was up to this time.
Dion wasn’t a planned adoption the way the girls were. We’d gotten him a year ago, after his parents were killed by demons. Micah had just shown up at our house one morning and asked if Siren and I would be willing to adopt the now-orphaned four-year-old angel.
I’d been hesitant to bring a young angel into our home with our very human daughters, but Siren had wanted to take him, and when I saw Dion for the first time, there had been no doubts left in my mind. He was my son from the second we made eye contact.
Since there was a little redhead in the playhouse with Dion, I figured I should get up and investigate. Nova adored Dion, and they had a history of getting into all kinds of trouble together.
