epilogue

ELI.

The last few weeks have been the best time of my life. Ariella and I are officially mates after the mating ritual that was held just a few days after we returned to Kingsville. Of course, it was just for formality because everyone in the pack had already acknowledged us, but still, it was great to see everyone happy for us.

I cherished the memories we made that day. I also remembered how nervous I was when I asked Ariella's father for her hand in marriage. Ariella might not yet remember our past, but I did promise her to marry her in every way she wanted and I recalled that she liked a human wedding too. So it was just fitting to ask her hand from her father who I feared might not agree yet. I was thinking that maybe he'd find my marriage proposal too early after everything that just happened.

I told him that and he just laughed at my worries. "I always thought that Ariella manifesting her real form and identity would scare away any men from her life. I did, and it was my biggest mistake, Eli. But you're not like me. I know that with you by her side, she'll be fine. Her identity will always put her in danger, so she needs someone who will be there for her no matter what. And you already proved to me that you're that man."

I was teary-eyed hearing that because we had come a long way. When I was younger, this was just a figment of my imagination. Back then, I thought getting her father's approval was impossible. Or even my uncle's for that matter. But right now, we're finally here. We made it and I was so emotional that it's quite embarrassing already.

The night before our mating ritual, I had a concern that I told Ariella. It was the fact that she still had vampire blood in her body, so I got worried that our mating ritual might go awry, to say the least. I wanted it to be perfect for the two of us so I asked her about her condition. "Is it really okay to go on with the ritual?"

"Yeah. I don't see any problem. The potion that Blaire sent me was effective. I couldn't feel the vampire blood in me anymore. Although she said that the venom won't disappear completely in one drink. I have to take the potion for the next few months as vampire blood is very potent."

I was still worried, but since Ariella seemed to be fine, I no longer made a fuss about it. What's important is that her situation wasn't life-threatening. Even Darius told us so when he visited us. Darius often comes to Kingsville nowadays because of the Blood Treaty that we were trying to establish. It's a magical pact that both our groups have to honor. If anyone dares to dishonor it, they could die in an instant. That's how it is. I know it looks harsh from the outside, but we have to make one for all of us to move on.

It was also from Darius that we learned the updates about their group. He had gathered the remaining vampires and convinced them to build a new community where their goal was just to live in harmony with other supernatural beings. Blaire is just at that northern castle, spending her days waiting to give birth to her baby. She would usually send us messages and gifts, while Lawrence decided to hibernate with the help of Darius' ability to ease his pain of losing their whole family. He wanted to become human already, but everyone thought that he needed to get over his grief first before doing anything drastic so he wouldn't regret it in the end.

Everyone attended our mating ritual, which ended in Ariella finally going home with me to my own house. She was surprised when she found out that I did have my own home already, something that I kept a secret from her. I bought the house when we were still at New Forks, hoping that if she ever agreed to go back home with me at that time, we would have our own house to live in. And now we spend our days there. If we're not making love, we talk a lot about things that we want to do for ourselves, and also for the pack.

Then we got married in a human wedding ceremony just two months after our mating ritual. Just as I promised her, she walked the aisle in a beautiful wedding dress. Adam was my best man, while Emma and Blaire were her bridesmaids. Darius attended the wedding as well, and I noticed that she kept staring at Emma. He congratulated us with a gift that turned out to be baby clothes.

Ariella and I looked at each other when we opened the gift because we never told anyone about our current situation yet. I glared at Darius as I interrogated him. "Hey, how did you find out?"

"I could sense everyone's presence, remember?" he replied, giving us an all-knowing smile. "Even if the person in question is still in her mother's womb."

"Don't talk about my wife's womb like that," I complained and the two of them laughed.

"Stop complaining, Eli," said Darius. "Or are you still jealous that I'm close to your wife?"

"Huh! Me? Jealous? We're already married. And Ariella won't like someone who could have been her mother's lover."

That made him frown, and I thought that he got really mad this time, but Emma came to give us her gift too and Darius' mood suddenly changed. Ariella and I exchanged looks, giggling over the fact that there might be a new couple to look out for in the coming days.

It was a long day for the two of us so when we got back home, we went to bed early. I kept on touching Ariella's belly though as I still could not believe that she was already pregnant. Well, I wanted this to happen as soon as possible anyway, but I didn't expect it to be this soon. "We got a lot of gifts," I told her. She was already sleepy which Mother told me was normal for a pregnant woman. "Your father gave us a cruise trip as his gift. Do you want to use it before your tummy gets big?"

"Why is that your first concern?" she replied, laughing.

"Well, once everyone sees that you're pregnant, I highly doubt that they'll even let us get out of our house. The best time to travel is now."

"Okay, good point. But I feel lousy these days. Sometimes I only want to stay in bed the whole day."

"Okay then. The tickets expire next year so we could go later. Anything else you want to do?"

She took a deep breath before answering. "You know what, I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time already. But I think I want to write a book about werewolves, witches, and vampires..."

That surprised me. "What kind of book? A novel?"

She shook her head. "Maybe everything that we know about the three groups? I just realized that we don't even know our lore very well. That was one of the things that made achieving this peace we have now so difficult. No one bothered to check on the others. But if we have something to read, at least that would open up our minds, right? What do you think?"

I hugged her because that was a very cool idea that only she could think of. "I think it's genius, babe. Let me read it first. I could give you my insights too." She was pleased that I liked her idea. She kissed me full on the lips and she talked more about what she wanted to write. Suddenly she was not sleepy anymore.

She was into this project so it was no surprise that she was writing when she felt that her water broke a few months later. I was panicking as we waited for the Healer to come to our house. It was a five-hour labor and I almost fainted seeing what my wife was going through. But I never left her side and I never let go of her hand. When our baby came out and heard her first cry, Ariella and I cried too.

"She's perfect," I told Ariella as I held my daughter in my arms after her delivery. "What do we name her?"

"Amelia," my wife replied. "Our bundle of joy."

"That's a beautiful name," I agreed but frowned when I noticed something on our baby's shoulder. There was a mark there. Like a red scar or something. I let Ariella see it and she gasped. "Why? What's the matter, Ariella?"

"Blaire told me about that mark," she told me nervously. "A red sickle. It's the Heir's mark!" We were both horrified, but then we quickly accepted it. I guess that's what a parent does. We accept and love our child unconditionally. We just have to make sure she doesn't do what she is supposed to do and just becomes a normal girl.

THE END.