Page 84

EPILOGUE

Soren

S oren leaned against the parked car, face turned to the sun, his eyes shut behind his sunglasses. They were well into autumn, and the days were starting to cool down again—not that anyone in his social circle was bothered by cold weather—but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

An excess of sunny days was one point he could award Hyde Park.

The Kingman family was another.

He wondered if anyone watching him would be fooled into thinking he was as chill as he looked. Really, what Soren wanted more than anything was to bite at his nails right now, but he was trying to force himself into a relaxed state, to keep any of his worry from seeping across the bond.

It was Gabe’s first time using his own compulsion to visit his mother, and he’d told Soren he wanted to be alone for it. It wasn’t that Soren didn’t believe he could handle it, just…

Soren sighed to himself. He supposed he’d gotten used to being in each other’s pockets all the time.

Truly tragic, how dependent he’d become. It was hard to mind it, though, when life was so very sweet. Overall, Soren was surprised how easily Gabe had adjusted to being a vampire these past six months.

His mate was much more adaptable than he gave himself credit for.

Soren opened his eyes at the sound of Gabe’s steps as he exited the front of the care home, turning his head to watch him approach. And what a lovely sight to see.

So fucking handsome, his mate.

Gabe had let his curls grow a little longer than before, almost down to his chin, and he was holding them back with one of those soccer-player headbands Soren was getting a real kink for.

Soren grinned at him, the picture of easy unconcern. “Hello, handsome.”

Gabe gave a snort as he walked over. “I could feel your worry through the bond, brat. You can’t fool me.”

Soren shrugged. Super chill—that was him. “All the more reason to tell me. How did it go?” He had a general sense, given he hadn’t felt any negative emotions from Gabe’s side of the bond, but he still wanted the verbal reassurance his mate was okay.

Gabe’s answer was to wrap his arms around Soren the moment he was in reach. He rubbed his chin over the top of Soren’s head, breathing him in with deep inhales. Needy mate.

Soren struggled half-heartedly against his grip. “Hey! I did my hair today.”

“I like it better messy anyway.” Soren could hear the grin in Gabe’s voice.

“You just like it when I have sex hair,” Soren protested.

Gabe hummed. “I do like it when you have sex hair. Can I give you some now?”

Soren kicked his shin. “Focus, you big lug.”

Gabe sighed, his breath ruffling Soren’s strands. “It went fine. I was her brother again today. She seems to stay regressed to her younger years lately…but I was able to keep her calm and content.”

Soren finally relaxed fully into Gabe’s hold. He’d known his mate could do it, but he was still relieved to hear it had gone well. Gabe pressed a kiss to the side of his head. “I told her how you were doing as well.”

Soren tilted his head up to look at him. “But she doesn’t know who I am.”

Gabe shrugged. “No, but she doesn’t seem to mind the updates anyway.”

“You’ve been telling her I’m…what, exactly?”

“My boyfriend.”

“And she thinks you’re her brother?” He could feel Gabe nodding against his head. Soren was dumbstruck. “You’ve been posthumously outing your dead uncle?”

Gabe leaned back to grin down mischievously at him. “She said it wasn’t all that surprising. Apparently there was some neighborhood boy she always thought he had a crush on.”

Unbelievable.

It struck Soren, not for the first time, the change in his mate. Six months ago, Gabe would never have been able to joke about this. Soren was so goddamn proud of him.

“I told her we were getting married,” Gabe added.

Soren arched a brow. “Are we, now? If this is your idea of a proposal, then hell no. I want flowers. Candles. A chocolate fountain.”

Gabe smirked at him. “How cliché.”

“Is it cliché or is it classic?”

Gabe shook his head, hugging Soren tighter. “This isn’t me proposing. I will though.”

This idiot. “You’re not supposed to tell me beforehand .”

“We’re mated for all eternity, and me wanting to marry you is supposed to be a surprise? Roman and Danny are married.”

Soren scoffed. “You want to marry me to copy your brother?”

Gabe reached a hand up, running a finger along Soren’s cheek. “I want to marry you because we belong to each other, and I want everyone to know it. I want a ring on your finger. I want a ring on my finger.”

Oh. Well .

Soren wouldn’t mind that part. The one downside of a happy, emotionally healthy Gabe was that he was now ten times more appealing.

Ten times more… golden . People on the street eyed him like he was a big stack of chocolate-chip pancakes.

And he was. But he was Soren’s big stack of chocolate-chip pancakes.

Everyone else needed to back the fuck off.

Soren still gave a huff for good measure. “I don’t want a courthouse wedding like those two did. So absolutely boring.”

Gabe shot him a teasing look. “We could get married in the woods. Out in nature .”

“I’m divorcing you just for saying that.”

“We’re not married yet.”

“Preemptive divorce, then.”

Gabe kissed him, the jerk. “Come on, brat. Let’s go home. You can sit on my lap while I drive.”

They’d found a place close to Danny’s after all, a tasteful Victorian Gabe had given Soren free rein to decorate as he chose.

Soren—absolute saint that he was—had even offered a room up to Jay, but his friend had chosen to try living on his own for the first time in his multiple centuries of existence, renting out an adorable apartment closer to downtown.

Soren shook his head as he opened the passenger side door. “For the thousandth time, I’m not doing that. I refuse to get pulled over by the cops because you can’t handle not being cuddled for five whole minutes.”

Gabe’s turning into a vampire had done absolutely nothing to curb his touch-prone behavior. If anything, it had gotten worse. Soren supposed it was his cross to bear, being mated to a cuddle slut.

He could think of worse things.

Soren led Gabe to sit at the edge of their bed (their much-improved bed, now that they’d moved into a proper house and Soren had gotten his say in the decorating). “Stay in here. Get naked. Close your eyes.”

Gabe smirked at him. “I already know what’s coming. I’m the one that asked for it.”

“Well then, now you know what it felt like to be told ahead of time that you were going to propose to me. No surprises for either of us today.”

Gabe rolled his eyes, only to obediently close them immediately after.

They were celebrating Gabe’s “six-month vampiversary” with a gift of his choosing.

(When Soren had told his mate in no uncertain terms that there was no such thing, Gabe had shrugged and said there was now and that he already knew what he wanted for his big day.

And Soren had given in immediately, lovesick fool that he was.)

Soren undressed quickly in the bathroom, taking a brief moment to admire himself in the mirror once he added the key…

accessory. He slipped back out into their bedroom—opulent yet tasteful, much improved from the one in Gabe’s old, horrid apartment—and struck a pose. “You can open your eyes now, Highness.”

Gabe did, immediately flushing as his gaze landed on Soren. He swallowed hard, seemingly at a loss for words, his thick cock swelling in front of Soren’s eyes. Soren smirked back at him, hands on his hips, enjoying his mate’s undivided attention.

Even if it was a silly idea, he knew he looked amazing.

Soren was wearing his brown fur coat. The same one he’d worn when he’d first arrived in Hyde Park what felt like an eternity ago.

The one Gabe remembered so clearly—apparently with much more fondness than Soren would have imagined—seeing as how, for his vampiversary , Gabe had requested Soren wear the coat.

Requested that he wear only the coat.

Soren watched as Gabe’s eyes traveled slowly over him, taking in every bare inch. He could feel his mate’s desire pulsing through their bond. “Like what you see?” he purred, running a hand over his chest.

Okay, it may have been ridiculous, but Soren was rolling with the whole thing.

Go big or go the fuck home.

Gabe licked his lips, his eyes locked on Soren’s bare legs. “So fucking beautiful, baby.” He let out a slow breath. “I thought that the first time I saw you. That you were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen. It terrified me, the attraction I felt toward you.”

Soren hummed, stalking closer, his own erection bobbing in front of him, pink and flushed. Gabe slipped his hands under the coat to palm Soren’s bare ass as soon as he was in reach, before hauling him forward onto his lap, Soren’s legs straddling his hips.

“Thank you for my gift,” he murmured, leaning in to capture Soren’s mouth before Soren had a chance to tell him again how ridiculous he was.

Soren made up for the lost opportunity by plundering his mate’s mouth, licking into it with abandon while grinding his ass against Gabe’s cock. The thick head teased at his hole, notching against it and then sliding away with his next movement.

Gabe ended the kiss well before Soren was ready, ignoring Soren’s whine of protest.

“No, baby. Not like this.” He flipped them, dropping Soren onto his back on the bed, Gabe’s muscular body hovering over him. “It’s my day. I get to be sweet with you.”

Soren smirked up at him. He supposed he could handle that. It was easy, with Gabe, to let himself give in to sweetness. Soren’s mate had shown him over and over again that he loved all sides of him. Bratty. Wild. Domestic. Sweet. Gabe liked it all and didn’t value Soren any less for any of it.

So if he wanted to worship Soren for his special day, then Soren would allow it.