“He was my father,” Zane said. “I know he was a monster. I know he used me, manipulated me, turned me into a weapon. But he was still—” His voice cracked. “He was still the only family I had.”
“That’s not true.” I put my hand on his arm. “Not anymore.”
He stared at me.
“You did good tonight. You helped close the portal even though it meant destroying your own father.” I squeezed his arm. “That makes you family, Zane. Whether you want it or not.”
For a long moment, he didn’t say anything. Then something in his face crumpled, and he was crying, ugly, heaving sobs that shook his whole body. I pulled him into my arms and held him while he fell apart, this boy who had been raised as a weapon and had chosen to become something else.
“It’s okay,” I murmured. “You’re okay. You’re one of us now.”
Across the room, I caught Eric’s eye. He was watching us with an expression I couldn’t quite read. Then he nodded, just once, and I knew he understood.
We’d started this night as a school full of hunters and students and broken people trying to hold the darkness at bay.
We’d ended it as a family.
It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t pretty. But it was ours.
And right now, that was enough.
EPILOGUE
ALLIE
Two weeks later, the house almost looked normal again.
The windows had been replaced. The furniture had been repaired or swapped out. The bloodstains had been scrubbed from the floors, and the holes in the walls patched and painted.
If you didn’t know what had happened here, you’d never guess that this had been the site of an apocalypse.
But we knew. We’d always know.
Jared and I were sitting on the balcony off the training room when I heard them. Mom and Daddy walking across the back lawn toward the cemetery.
I probably should have let them know we were there, but the truth was that I liked watching them. They felt right together, and my frequent calls to Stuart assured me he had no hard feelings. I was talking to him now.
“She’s wearing her wedding ring again,” I told him. “Daddy’s. But on her right hand.”
“I’m glad they’re together,” Stuart said. “They deserve to be happy after what those two have been through. And I have a feeling that ring will move to her left hand soon.”
“Is that a step-dad thing or an oracle thing?”
He just laughed. “Guess we’ll see.”
“For that matter, you already knew she was wearing it again, didn’t you?”
He chuckled. “I take the Fifth.”
“Are you okay with it? Mom and Daddy?”
“I am,” he said firmly. “I’m truly happy for them. Also happy that you’re all coming to Rome next month. Don’t tell your mother I gave you a heads up. She hasn’t even told me yet.”
I laughed. “That’s great. Timmy’s going to be thrilled.”
“Don’t tell him at all. I trust you to act surprised. Your little brother? Not so much.”
I promised I would, gave him Jared’s love, too, then ended the call and snuggled up on the porch swing with Jared as we watched the sunset.
