Remy’s chin dropped to my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
I placed my hands over his. “Yeah. I want them to be as happy as we are.”
“I think there’s a pretty good chance of that happening,” he replied softly, kissing my jaw.
So did I.
Epilogue
Remy
Ten Years Later
My brain barely registered the hand between my shoulder blades a second before the shove sent me deeper into the mountain of pillows filling my bed. Hands and knees dug into my spine.
“Dad! Wake up!”
Grunting, I rolled over and stared at my youngest. Sawyer was the spitting image of his mother, big green eyes that always seemed to sparkle with mischief and a mop of dark hair that was always falling in his eyes.
“I’m up,” I muttered, unable to stop from smiling at the three-year-old who quickly scrambled to sit on my bed. I glanced to my left to see Skye’s side of the bed was empty except for the seven pillows she insisted on using.
But considering my wife was seven months pregnant with twins, I wasn’t going to argue. I’d sleep on the floor and let her make the entire bed a pillow fort if needed. Although, judging by the way she growled when I’d suggested it last week, she hated that idea.
I was usually her favorite pillow.
“Where’s your mom, buddy?” I asked, blinking the last traces of sleep away.
“Downstairs with Aunt Larkin,” the voice in the doorway said matter-of-factly.
I looked over to see my oldest, Rhys, standing in the doorway. A frown was firmly fixed to his face, making the seven-year-old look like he was about to turn seventy.
“We’re having cakes!” Sawyer declared with glee, rolling off me and the bed. He landed on the floor and took off down the hall for the stairs.
“Pancakes,” Rhys corrected with an eye roll that would have made his Aunt Katy proud.
I sat up, and looked at my eldest. “Am I the last one up?”
Rhys shook his head. “No. Uncle Dante is still sleeping. I heard Aunt Tate say it’s because you two were up late talking.”
“Did your mom send you two up here to wake me up?”
Rhys shook his head, still in the doorway. “No. I just wanted to come up to my room, but then Sawyer ran in … I told him to let you sleep.”
“It’s good he woke me up,” I admitted, glancing at the clock and realizing it was later than I’d expected. Dante, Tate, and Ryder had arrived later than planned last night with their kids, and I’d lost track of time when Dante and I stayed up and kept talking after everyone else went to bed.
It sounded like my friends were finally ready to make a permanent home in Blackwater, and I was glad I had kept the lot next to Katy’s house open for them.
“Why were you going to your room?” I questioned, my gaze sharpening as I watched Rhys start to fidget.
Rhys sighed finally, his small shoulders deflating. “Because Lucas keeps annoying me, and I don’t like it.”
“I thought Luke was your best friend,” I pointed out. Tate, Dante, and Ryder had adopted Lucas two years earlier, and Luke had become fast friends with Rhys.
“He is,” Rhys said, clearly conflicted.
“So, what’s the problem?” I asked gently.
“Leia,” Rhys spat out suddenly, his small face twisting with frustration.
My brows shot up. Last I checked, Leia was also one of Rhys’s best friends. Rhodes and Larkin’s daughter was only a few months younger than Rhys was.
“I don’t like it when Leia spends more time with Luke than she does with me,” Rhys explained with a frown. “They’re downstairs together right now.”
“You guys are all friends, Rhys,” I told him slowly, treading carefully. Skye and I had been suspecting something was up with Rhys for a few days now. He’d been acting weird, oddly quiet for a boy who was already showing signs of being Alpha himself one day.
“But …” Rhys made a sound of displeasure, his brows pulled together still.
“But what?”
“Leia’s not Luke’s,” he finally snapped, his dark eyes flashing. “She’s mine.”
Skye froze where she had been coming up behind our son. Her eyes met mine over his head in shock.
“Baby, what do you mean she’s yours?” Skye asked softly.
Rhys spun around. “I don’t know. But Luke shouldn’t touch her when she belongs to me.”
Skye frowned. “Leia isn’t a toy, Rhys. She doesn’t belong to anyone.”
Rhodes would disagree. His daughter and Larkin were his world. I was secretly glad my son wasn’t saying this in front of him since Rhodes would likely pack