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**Bonus Scene**
My hand dropped to my mate’s swollen belly, and I stroked it gently with my thumb in soothing motions. She glowed in her pregnancy, and I loved everything about her changing body. Her hips had grown slightly, adding a more voluptuous curve to her form. The soft spots of her thighs and the plumpness of her cheeks were nothing short of beautiful. She often rested her hands on her stomach, cradling the life she carried inside her. I was constantly mesmerized by how incredibly lucky I was to have my mate.
“We can still make a break for it,” I whispered in her ear. The hairs along her neck rose at my close proximity. My mouth twisted into a playful grin. I loved that even five years later, I could still do this to her.
Danni whacked my chest half-heartedly. “Elias!” she stage-whispered. “We are not running away from this.”
“Forgive me for wanting to run away with my beautiful wife.” Danni was thirty-five weeks along, and unlike most expecting couples, we chose not to find out what we were having. It was a sore spot for my mother, and hers, and they both insisted it hindered their ability to prepare clothes and other assorted baby items.
The growing mound of gifts said otherwise.
“For once, your charm won’t work, husband,” she said, scrunching her nose at me teasingly. “Mom and Abbey went through a lot of hard work for this party. At least you aren’t stuck being the center of attention. You just get to be the pretty wallpaper.”
“I’m the trophy husband now?” I joked, and she smirked. “I vote we skip the theatrics and go back upstairs.” I pulled her flush against my chest, her backside pressing into me. “Then I can give you what you really want.”
A blush crept up her neck and over her cheeks at the simplest innuendos. Like all pregnancies, Danni had her ups and downs, but her craving for anything in the bedroom was something fierce as we neared the end. I spent half my nights with my face buried between her thighs. The desire and passion was akin to her heat, and I was all for it. The only thing that rivaled it was her craving for my blood.
Unfortunately that one would have to wait until after our baby was born. Vampires that took their mates blood in the third trimester often had more difficult births and were at a higher risk for having a child born into bloodlust. While it was a condition we all experienced at some point, children born into it had to be weaned off their parent’s blood and that struggle was something we’d never put a baby through.
So she was forced to wait, and pregnant women denied a craving were often vocal about it. I learned to give her anything else she needed, and whenever she wanted it. Day or night, her needs were met. I made sure of it.
“Maybe we can sneak upstairs . . .” she murmured, turning her cheek and glancing at me from the corner of her eyes. “After cake.”
I snorted. “Of course, my queen. I’d never think to come between you and cake.”
She bumped me with her hip on purpose, then patted Nova’s head and took off into a waddling sprint when her sister came into the foyer. Adora scanned the growing crowd, spotting Danni quickly. Not that it was hard with how she seemed to fill up a room with her aura these days. She was never forceful about it, but attention gravitated toward her glowing presence. Danni insisted that glow was nothing more than sweat, but people often view themselves in a different light. She didn’t see the way people followed her. I did. I’d seen it for years; it was just more obvious now.
My mate had grown into her role, and she was a remarkable queen. She was my equal in every way.
“You’re staring,” Ysabeau said, sidling up beside me and Nova.
“I’m aware.” Danni was animatedly chatting with her sister who was accompanied by her own mate.
Our “humble gathering” of just close friends and family was filled with some of the most powerful beings in all the realms.
“While you two are sickeningly sweet sometimes, I am happy for you, Elias. If anyone deserves to have a picturesque life, it’s you.”
I broke away from watching Danni to look at Ysa. “It’s not perfect, but it is mine and I love it. I love her.”
Ysabeau smiled softly at me. “You always were a romantic in hiding.” I tossed my head back and laughed. Only Ysa would think such a ludicrous thing, but she was the furthest from a romantic as one could get.
“And you are an eternal pessimist.”
“Realist,” she shot back, then grinned.
I hummed. “I’m glad you made it back in time from Death and Diamond. Danni would have been sad if you couldn’t have made it, though I’m not sure she would have said it out loud. Your being here means a lot to her.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Everything went well, I gathered?”
Ysa glanced around us, checking for who was nearby. “Dahlia Renfrew sought me out while I was there visiting Elizabeth.” She leaned in, her voice a conspiratorial whisper. “And the little one on the way . . . she’s seen prophecies. This child is destined for greatness.”
I arched an eyebrow at her, skeptical yet intrigued. Prophecies were a tricky business, but Dahlia had a way of navigating the supernatural currents with an uncanny accuracy. Not that she ever presented them with such straightforwardness. As a time witch. her mind often existed in multiple places at once. “Greatness, huh?”
She smirked. “Well, greatness or chaos, Dahlia said. The line is thin, my friend. But knowing you and Danni, I suspect it'll be a bit of both.”
I barked a laugh. How right she was.
