Page 89 of Undercover Shadow

“With pleasure, wife.”

Later,tangled in sheets and each other, I thought about the cycle of loss and love that had brought us here. The future spinning out before us, unknown but no longer feared.

“Tag?” Leila’s voice was drowsy.

“Yes, my love?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For not giving up. For choosing us.”

“Always.”

Outside, wind rattled the ancient windows of Glenshadow. Somewhere in the sky on their way back to London, Viper and Typhon were tracking whatever new threat had emerged. The world kept spinning, but here, now, in this moment, we were just Tag and Leila. Husband and wife. Partners in every sense.

It was enough. It was everything.

“I love you,” I said into the darkness.

“I love you,” she replied. “Forever.”

It was a dangerous word in our line of work, just like promises were. But we’d chosen to face whatever came our way together. “Yes, forever,” I said, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

When sleep came, I dreamed of white-sand beaches, long days spent making love under the sun, and the swell of Leila’s stomach when the child—children—we’d create together arrived to join us.

Forever, indeed.