“I don’t think I want kids.” My heart sinks as I say it, but looking at my life now, I don’t see it for myself.
Dean simply nods, but I feel the need to explain better. “It’s not like I don’t like kids. I love August more than I ever thought I could love a child, but I don’t know if I want one that’s justmine. Being responsible for something so little, so vulnerable… it’s terrifying.”
He smiles, and for a second, it throws me off. “Baby, you don’t need to explain. I already have two daughters. One’s about to have a baby. I’m not saying I never thought about having more kids with my mate, but it’s your decision. I’m content either way.”
This is all I wanted. A choice. Someone to tell me I can have whatever I want, even if it doesn’t make sense.
Blinking back tears, I croak, “But how? Even if I... Even if I decide I want kids later, how would that work? I don’t think Heaven will let you steal more Divine.”
Dean gasps at the dig. “Hey, I was seventeen. And I’m concerned your mind went straight to robbery while talking about our future kids.” He tugs me closer, his eyes softening when I lean into him.
“We could adopt. You know, the normal,legalway.” He chuckles.
Dean hesitates before adding, “Elijah mentioned the Diablo Towers are building an academy in the human realm. It’s for orphaned or abandoned supernatural kids who are left there because of neutral land policies. It’ll be a safe place to grow up. They’ll be trying to place them in good homes. So if you ever decide you want to be a mother, we could go visit.”
He says it carefully, offering me a future without pushing me into it.
I sniff, wiping the corner of my eyes. “And you’d really be okay with that? Never having a kid that’s your flesh and blood?”
“It’s like everything I say goes right over your thick skull. I just gave a whole speech about not giving a shit where the little demons come from.”
I laugh. “I don’t think we can call them demons.”
“You’re right, I’ll wait until I know what they are. I don’t want to offend a dragon by calling it a demon. I love my skin smooth, not raw and overcooked.”
The laugh that bursts out of me is so loud and hearty, I feel it in my stomach.
I hate that it took me so long to get here, but in another life, the fates bonded me with Dean again, I’d swim against the current through oceans to find him.
I take his face in my hands, forcing him to meet my eyes.
“I love you, Dean.” My voice catches on the words.
This feels big. Monumental.
"Of course you do.” He smirks.
“You are insufferable.” I smack his chest.
Dean shifts over me, his mouth hovering just above mine. “Say that again.”
“You are insufferable.” I breathe.
He chuckles. “Not that part, smartass.”
I press a kiss to his lips. “I love you. I honestly don’t know why, but I do.”
“It’s obviously because of my good looks, my sense of humor, my irresistible charm, and my cock that you’re so obsessed—”
I slap a hand over his mouth before he starts listing everything he thinks is perfect about him. “You’re so annoying.”
“You love me anyway.”
“Never said I was perfect.”I giggle.
He cups my face, kissing me slow and deep, until the fire rekindles inside me.
“I love you, hellfire. My life was incomplete without you.Iwas incomplete without you. Thank you for letting me woo you.
