"Come here right now!" he demanded.
"No thanks."
Placing the book safely on the shelf, he chased after me, catching me just as I reached the door and tossing me onto the bed. Straddling me, he pinned my hands above my head.
"You'll regret this," he warned playfully.
"Can't deny you enjoyed it," I teased back.
His smile turned wicked. "True, but now I'll enjoy it even more."
I shouldn't have messed with his books, but a small voice in my head told me it was absolutely worth it.
Chapter forty-six
Epilogue
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see," Dagon said.
"That's all you've kept repeating since we left the apartment."
"And that's all you'll get till we're there."
I pouted while Dagon smirked at me. I could think of one or two ways to wipe that smirk off his face. A kiss? A caress on his neck? A swing in my walk? So many choices.
Honestly though? I was excited.
It was my birthday. Dagon woke me with breakfast in bed. When I asked why he wasn't eating, he said he would have another breakfast. I was confused, not for long. I had pancakes, but Dagon feasted on my cock and body.
We spent the day reading on the couch, meeting with our family, and now there was a surprise.
A lot has changed in our lives. There had been no demon attacks for the past three months, but we knew this wasn't the end. Still, Christmas was approaching, and we all decided to focus on the holiday and simply enjoy the moment.
Dagon and I were also doing better than ever.
Better was the word my therapist asked me to interrogate when I used it.
She said it could mean too many things. So I learned to be more precise. Better this past year meant: I had spiraled fifty times that I had counted and not hidden a single one. I had told Dagon I needed space at least once a month, after a difficult session. I had told him I needed to be held more times than I can count. I had told him I didn't know what I needed sometimes, and he had said that's okay, we'll wait it out together every time without flinching. Better meant I had let myself be loved through the days I would have once spent locked in a bathroom or my room.
Better for Dagon meant he had laughed in front of his brothers more in this year than in the previous fifteen combined. He had cried with Bren once, without trying to hide it. He had let Andras hug him at the door without making it into a joke first. He had taken his wings out in the apartment one evening just because Luc asked.
He had become the demon he had always been, and he had let his family see him.
Better meant we were us. Not the version of us who pretended. The actual us. The one who fought and made up and laughed at midnight and held each other through nightmares and chose each other every morning before either of us was fully awake.
Together, we were ourselves.
It took time, and like any relationship, we had our ups and downs, but little by little we figured out who we were –mateswho had a bond that exceeded what words could describe,partnerswho were there for each other, encouraging, cheering, loving, and supporting, afamilythriving in love, light, and darkness. This is who we are.
The road wasn't easy. I was learning how to face my past and slowly heal from the pain inflicted by my biological father and uncle. Dagon was learning how to let himself feel the pain of losing his brother. We had many nights when all we could do was hold onto each other as we fell apart.
Nightmares of almost losing each other also haunted us. That was probably why we became even more protective and maybe a bit clingy, not that either of us minded, we loved it.
King… things with him were complicated. That's why I don't want to think about him right now.
Andras called every few days and came for dinner every Friday. Luc had finished his exams. Wild still worried about all of us.
