Midnight Truth (Shifter Island #4) - Leia Stone Page 0,97

Justice asked. “What if you just brought Julian back? Or—”

“Shhh.” I covered my ears to Justice’s pestering comments, too stressed to handle any more.

“Holy crap!” Kaja lurched backward and away from Julian-Honor as his wolf…

Oh Mage.

His wolf had … started to disappear. Like, one second, it was there, and the next, it was … melting? Into his body. A blue hazy light glowed around the wolf’s form, and we all watched, dumbfounded.

“Holy mage,” Justice gasped as the wolf fully sucked into the body.

Julian-Honor sat bolt upright, grasping his chest with wide-open hazel eyes. Honor’s eyes!

His head snapped toward me, and I grinned.

“Honor?” I asked, wanting that last bit of confirmation.

“Definitely Honor,” he said, wincing.

As the crowd surrounding him burst into cheers, I held out the bottle of healing elixir. Relief flooded me as he guzzled it down.

All of it.

And then he hiccupped.

“I think I’m just fine,” he said, slurring his words.

Noble and Justice dropped to his side, and Rage offered me a cheeky grin. “You brought him back as a lush?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t know how much to give him.”

After the brothers had embraced, the Harvest girls knelt near Honor’s new body and tended to him. Rage walked over to me with a grin, shaking his head.

“What?” I asked as he pulled me into his arms.

“You’re amazing, my queen.” He brushed his lips over mine.

“Oh, I do like the sound of that,” I purred, nuzzling his neck.

Rage captured my mouth in a kiss then and spoke through our bond. ‘Now, we can have our happily ever after.’

Chapter Twenty-One

One Year Later

I was so exhausted it felt like my limbs were actually melting into the bed of the healing ward. Twenty-four hours of labor was 110.9% no joke, but the result was completely worth it. I smiled at Rage and then glanced at our four newborns before settling all of my attention on my mate.

“When you said you wanted to try for a baby, I didn’t think this was even an option.” I gestured to the Quads—our quads.

A couple of months after the blood mage attack, when Rage said, “Hey, Nai, let’s have a baby,” I thought, Sure. That sounds like fun! Fun … until the doctor said I was carrying four.

I guess the fated-mate multiples gene was dominant—even if I wasn’t fully a wolf-shifter. But all the months of waddling to and from Alpha Island and High Mage Island, the back pains and nausea and exhaustion … in this moment, it was all worth it. All I felt was love—so much love, for my mate and my children and my friends—everyone.

Rage grinned, looking at the four swaddled girls all tucked in like little pink burritos. “I don’t mind having multiples, but I wasn’t really expecting … this.”

He sat on the bed as I nuzzled up to him and raked my fingers through his hair. I grinned at his declaration. “By this, do you mean being a girl dad?”

Rage blew air through his lips and nodded. “Do you know how many boys I’m going to have to threaten to kill?”

I laughed, a tired but joyous snicker that felt like sunshine. Rage pulled a box from behind his back then and handed it to me. “Sorry it took so long. The castle jeweler had to source the gems and—”

“Rage.” I gasped as I looked down at the box. He’d mentioned commissioning a crown for me, but I’d thought it was a joke. Everyone affectionately called me Queen Nai, but I never thought…

I flipped the clasp and opened the lid.

Mother Mage.

The most beautiful crown I’d ever seen lay nestled in sumptuous black velvet. The platinum circlet was shaped like a woven vine, dotted with green emeralds shaped like leaves. Four giant pink sapphire hearts resided, tangled in the vine, two on either side of a full-moon diamond that glittered in the very center of the crown. My throat constricted as I trailed my fingers over the four heart-shaped gems.

“For our Midnight girls?” I croaked.

Rage nodded, pulling the crown out and putting it on my head. “The second we found out, I called the jeweler.”

“Oh, Rage—”

Before I could tell him what a wonderful girl dad he’d be, and how thoughtful this gift was, the door opened, and Honor, Noble, and Justice walked in, each carrying soft plushie pink toys for the girls. Noble also held flowers for me.

“Congrats, Mama Midnight. Sweet crown.” Noble kissed my cheek and set the flowers down before turning to look at his newborn nieces.

“Four princesses.” Justice whistled and then gave Rage a look of mock terror. “We’ll need to put bars on all the windows in the castle.”

Rage grinned, sliding off the bed to hug his brother. Then he walked over to introduce his brothers to their nieces.

It took some time for Julian to become Honor in my head. He acted like Honor. He talked like him too, but his face was Julian … until a couple of months passed. Now, he was just Honor.

Of course, he was the last one to join the group on the other side of the room. Leaning down, Honor placed a kiss on my cheek. “My mom can’t wait to visit. She’s thrilled and knitting away like a madwoman. She said to tell you she’ll be over later with your dad.”

I nodded and thanked him, and then sank back into the pillows, looking on from the hospital bed to the four bassinets as each Midnight brother picked up one of my daughters and started to coo and shush and love on them.

This moment right here was everything. My heart swelled with joy—

A wet sound ripped through the room, and Noble gasped. “Mine just pooped!”

His eyes widened, and he held Charity out like she was a bomb about to explode.

I laughed.

“Uhh, I think mine’s hiccupping.” Justice looked slightly less terrified as Honesty’s little body jerked with each hiccup.

“Hush, mine’s asleep,” Honor brushed a soft finger across Harmony’s forehead.

Rage chuckled, handing me little Reyna so that he could take Charity from Noble and change her diaper. When we found out we were having quad girls, I wanted to keep the tradition going of virtuous names, but I also had to honor my best friend’s clan and my shield. So, Charity, Honesty, Harmony, and Reyna were going to have some pretty amazing names to live up to—and amazing family support too.

I grinned.

One thing I’d learned was life was sure to be complicated, messy, challenging, and amazing, but I wouldn’t want to do all of this craziness without my Midnight boys, my friends, and my family.

The End

Acknowledgments

We hoped you loved this series! Writing about Nai and the midnight brothers has been so much fun.

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