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EPILOGUE

DAKOTA

ONE YEAR LATER

The white dress is probably overkill. I’m definitely no virgin. Not even a little. Briana smiles at me from across the room, a baby in her arms. My baby. He has a mass of dark curls on top of his head, gorgeous green eyes, and the biggest drooly smile of any baby in the whole world. He’s perfect. And he’s mine.

“Someone is happy to see Mama,” Briana announces as she moves toward me. “Gosh, you look absolutely stunning,” she whispers.

I don’t turn back around to look at my reflection in the mirror. I don’t need to. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I look stunning, but I feel beautiful. I wasn’t sure if I would want to even put on this dress after having a baby only four months ago, but I feel really good about my new body. It’s curvier and softer, but I feel good about myself.

“Thanks. Has he been good?” I ask.

“An angel as always,” she murmurs.

Briana moved out to Thunder Rock six months ago. She said that after everything that happened at Willamette Haven and the way she felt when it was destroyed, she needed a change in her life, and she needed to be with her family. So she came here to be with me, with us, and now she’s part of the Vicious Reapers’ inner circle.

“Are you ready?”

I press my lips together and roll them a few times. I’m ready as far as hair and makeup, my dress, and all my superstitious traditions go. But the wedding itself, for it to actually happen, to marry this man I love?

“Hell yes, I’m ready,” I state.

She laughs softly, and that’s when Lainey pops her head into the room. I have a maid of honor and one bridesmaid for my big day. Briana and Lainey, my family. I did take the side job that Lainey offered me, and I’ve been able to keep up with both my virtual assistant job and my newer cake decorating gig. It’s been a blast, and I’ve loved every second of it and loved every second of getting to know Lainey, too.

“It’s time,” she squeals.

Briana grins. “Then let me pass off this beautiful baby boy to his mom so two hot bikers can walk me down the aisle,” she says.

A few moments later, I’m alone in the room. Lainey is being escorted by Maverick and Goose, while Briana is being walked down by Viking and Piggy. Ivy is the best man and should be standing beside Bishop right now.

Five men on his side to the two women on mine, but it’s a perfect representation of who we are. It’s not like I have any guests of my own anyway. The guests are all Bishop’s, but in turn, they’re really mine, too. Because they are all family. All of them are chosen family, and they’re perfect.

Baby Nathan coos. I flick my eyes down to meet my son’s, and they water at the thought of my father. I named him after him, and Bishop wanted to give him a piece of my father that he knew. Nathan Shade Drake came screaming into this world four months ago.

He’s everything I never thought I would have. He’s perfection in every way possible. I didn’t think I would ever find love, have a child, or live a life like this. I love it all. Every second is an adventure, and, like he promised, Bishop has done nothing but cherish and protect me—and then us.

Shocker opens the door, and his eyes meet mine the moment he passes through. “Are you ready?” he asks.

I asked him to walk me down the aisle the moment we set the wedding date and time. He was my father’s best friend. He’s the only man I trust to give me to Bishop.

“I’m ready,” I whisper.

He doesn’t make a move. He’s frozen in place, and then I watch as his weathered eyes water. “Shade would be proud as fuck of you, Dakota. Beautiful woman, a wonderful mother, and now part of the club. Marrying the man who treats you like gold.”

“Stop,” I breathe.

“It’s true,” he says. “It’s all true.”

Thankfully, he doesn’t say anything else to make me cry. Instead, he holds out his arm, and I make my way toward him, linking mine with his. I decided to forgo flowers in lieu of holding Nathan. He is my perfect little flower, and nothing else is needed.

BULLET

I watch as Shocker walks Dakota and Nathan down the aisle. I’ve never seen a more perfect picture in my entire life. Standing up here, an officiant behind me, I know this was the best decision I’ve ever made in my entire fucking life.

The wedding ceremony is short, thank fuck, and when we are pronounced man and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop Drake, I kiss my bride.

Tongue and fucking all.

The men all cheer and clap as we turn around to face them. Briana hands Nathan to me, and I grip Dakota’s hand with mine and lift both into the air. Music plays. Some song that I can’t even hear the lyrics to. Not because there’s a problem, but because my heart is pumping so goddamn fast that I can’t hear anything.

Lowering our hands to our sides, we walk down the aisle and toward the clubhouse doors. Yeah, we got married at the club. There was no reason to do it anywhere else. This is our home. These people are our family. And this is where we belong.

Stopping at the doors of the clubhouse, I lift my hand that’s not cradling our son. I cup her cheek as I look into her eyes.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on,” I say.

She smiles, her gaze searching mine. “You’re perfect, Bishop. Our son is perfect. Our lives are perfect.”

“I’m far from perfect, baby,” I murmur.

Tears fill her eyes as she continues to search mine. “That’s just simply not true because you are absolute perfection to me.”

Lowering my head, I touch my mouth to hers and give her a chaste kiss, then shift my face back slightly and rest my forehead against hers.

Closing my eyes, I let out an exhale before I speak.

Fuck, I love this woman, and now she’s mine, not just when it comes to the club but for the whole fucking world to know. And she thinks I’m fucking perfection. Me. When she’s a fucking angel walking among men.

“I love you, Dakota. Down to the fucking marrow of my bones, I love you. Thank you for breathing life into me that I didn’t know I needed. I didn’t know it was even possible. You and Nathan complete every part of me. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better life than this one. Thank you.”

Thank you isn’t enough, but I don’t know what else to say. This woman is perfection in more ways than I could ever describe. She is mine. I have killed for her, and I would kill for her again.

In fact, I probably will, and if that means I will go to hell for my crimes, I’ll accept that fate gladly because I know it will mean she’s been protected. It’s my fucking job as her man to do just that.

People start to move closer, but I can’t speak to anyone yet. Lifting my eyes to the sky, I smirk.

“Thanks, Shade. Fucking thanks for this life.”

Just as I’m about to greet Lainey, a car comes barreling down the clubhouse drive. A red convertible. It screeches to a halt, sending gravel and dirt everywhere. We all freeze as our heads swing to the side and we see what the fuck is going on.

A woman unfolds from the car. She’s wearing a short, tight dress. Her dark hair is straight down her back, and she pushes her glasses to the top of her head as her lips curve up into a smile.

“ Oh my God, ” she cries.

It takes me a second to place her because I do recognize her from some pictures Piggy brought me. It’s Posey Bennet, Dakota’s aunt. Fuck me. I wasn’t expecting to see her, ever. When I brought it up with Dakota, asking if she wanted to meet her when we were on the West Coast last year, she said she wasn’t ready to just yet.

I do know that she reached out to her, and they have been exchanging texts and pictures the past few months, but I was not expecting to see her standing in front of me, in the flesh, in North Carolina.

Judging by the way Dakota sucks in a breath, she wasn’t either. Placing my hand on the small of her back, I turn my head and look over to my wife. Fuck. My wife. Just the thought makes my cock twitch. I almost forget about the aunt who has just appeared out of nowhere.

“You good, baby?” I ask.

“I invited her,” she whispers. “But I didn’t expect her to come.” Dakota turns her head, her eyes meet mine, and she smiles. “I’m good,” she breathes. “Every single person in my family is right here for our special day. I’m so good I think I might burst.”

My lips curve up into a smirk. “Don’t do that,” I say with a chuckle. “Need you around for another fifty years or so.”

She turns to me with a smile playing on her lips. “Yeah, I need you around, too,” she breathes.

Lowering my head, I touch my mouth to hers. The rest of the night, we party. Well, as much as you can with a four-month-old. But it’s amazing. My wife is amazing, my baby is amazing, my club is amazing—my fuckin’ life is out of this world. And it’s all thanks to Dakota Vaughn driving here in a rental car one day to learn about the father she never knew.