If you got a Wicked Witch file without an Epilogue I’m extremely sorry! There was a file mix-up (Jessie is stupid) and the one that originally got uploaded was missing it (I repeat Jessie is stupid). Here is the epilogue until your file can update!

Epilogue

 

Six months later…

It was late June, and as I sat on the bank of Clayton Lake in a bikini, exposing my pregnant body, watching Liv and Arne swim in its depths, I rubbed my huge belly and smiled.

I was due to give birth to my little boy soon, and I couldn’t wait to hold him in my arms. Looking down at my stretch mark covered stomach, I watched as his little foot kicked out and stretched my tummy until I could damn near see his whole footprint. It was like he was trying to tell me in his own way that it was time to get out of there, and I couldn’t help but laugh. To think it had come so close to me losing him because of malnutrition.

It had taken a while for Beau, his pack, and Liv to get me healthy after my rescue, but slowly, they did it. Apparently, Sol and Hannibal had only been feeding me one to two times daily, so my estimate of how long they had me in the basement had been off. For ten weeks they held me captive in the Calpurnius Mansion, and it was a miracle the little guy in my womb was even alive.

But we were, my little man and me. Thanks to my mate, my best friend Liv, and her mate Arne coming to rescue me. For that, I would be forever grateful.

A wolf’s growl sounded nearby, and it made me smile saucily.

Neither Beau, nor his pack, had been happy about my request to come to Maine and Clayton Lake so close to my due date, but they had given in to my request. While I knew it wasn’t a good idea for women so far along in their pregnancies to travel, I had the overwhelming need to be here, at the cabin my mother had been at while pregnant with me, before I gave birth.

It was the one place I felt close to the mother I had been robbed off.

While they weren’t thrilled about being in bear territory, thankfully, Art had been easy to work with about coming to visit in his territory. While some people, such as Sol, didn’t believe in intermixing of the species, this wasn’t something that bothered grizzly shifter Art.

He ran a home for orphaned shifters of all species, so he wasn’t opposed to wolves being in the area. As long as the males stayed away from his daughters, that was.

I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out since I had seen a couple of Beau’s wolves slip off into the woods to investigate Art’s daughter’s, but only time would tell what would happen there. Hopefully, they didn’t get caught and piss off Art, though. I wasn’t anxious to see an angry grizzly bear.

The reflection from something shiny danced across my pregnant belly, and I grinned. Looking up, I could see Liv with her arms wrapped around Arne’s neck as they stood in the lake. She wore a ring on each hand now at all times. One ring made of gold with a ruby that apparently Arne had given her over a thousand years ago when they had been young and in love. The second ring was the Ring of Ra, which Arne had somehow gotten back from the bitch Thea who had cursed me and everyone else at Magnolia House during the Witch’s Ball.

Arne refused to talk about how he had gotten the ring back from Thea. He was angry that he’d been unable to kill her in the process. The most Liv and I had gotten out of him was “that bitch is dangerous, and I want you two to stay out of it”.

Funny, I was sure I said the same thing months ago about Thea, too, but I let it go.

Now Liv wore the Ring of Ra because Arne wanted her protected in every way he could. It was spelled to protect the person wearing it from black magic, and it also enhanced their powers. I often caught Liv scrying more frequently now, but it seemed to take less of a toll on her when she did it.

As per her usual self, Liv wouldn’t talk about what she saw, but the shadows in her eyes no longer haunted her as much as they used to. I contributed that to her mating with Arne. She had the man she loved back in her life, and she was no longer worried that he wanted to kill her. That would probably calm anyone’s nerves.

The sun reflected off the top of the water as Arne spun Liv around while she laughed, and it made me think of Liv’s mirror that was safely inside the cabin. It went with her and Arne wherever they went. Not that I blamed them. If my lifeline was tied to an object and had been stolen once before, I wouldn’t let it out of my sight either. Thankfully, I didn’t have that problem.

The only thing I had to worry about these days was what I was going to name my son once he was born. Beau and I had yet to agree on a name. My mate wanted to continue the tradition of a historic New Orleans name. Beau was named after his late ancestor General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. And while his ancestor might have been a confederate and fighting on the wrong side of the war, as Beau liked to remind me all the time, “History and family mean everything.” That’s why he wanted to name our boy Pierre or Gustave.

Sometimes my mate forgot, that besides my mother, my family before him had failed me on every level.

Was the family I had these days important? Absolutely.

Did I care one iota about the family I had growing up, besides my mother who had been stolen from me? Not one little bit.

I didn’t want to honor the past. I wanted to change the future.

With the baby, Beau and I were creating a coven of our own. We had his last name Graves to carry on his tradition. I wanted a first name that would help our son forge a future in a world of being half witch and half wolf.

One day the boy who would one day grow up to be the man who would run that future coven Liv said I was responsible for protecting so many months ago. My son was the future in so many ways, and I was ready to protect him with my life if needed.

As I felt my magic prickle in awareness about the changes starting to happen in my body, I couldn’t help but smile as Liv looked over to me with an amused smile. My best friend had known exactly why I wanted to come to Clayton Lake when I had. I was going into labor, and I had every intention of having my baby right here where I felt closest to my mother.

A contraction rippled through my body, but I sat on the sand calmly. That was the good thing about being a witch with magical powers over bodies. I was able to block out all the pain I should have been feeling for hours now since I had gone into labor.

Beau had taken off early this morning to go on a hunt with Art, so he had no idea I was in labor. That was okay, though, because I had sent one of his wolves to fetch him about an hour ago. I figured they would be back any minute.

I no sooner finished that thought when I heard the screeching tires of Art’s Jeep sliding to a stop in the driveway behind us in front of the cabin. It was a good thing, too, since our son was impatient and ready to be born.

Footsteps ran in my direction, and in no time, Beau was scooping me up in his arms. His eyes were a little angry and a whole lot of worried as he carried me against his chest back to the cabin. “I cannot believe you pulled this shit, bébé. I’m gonna tan that ass as soon as the pack doctor says I can.”

I couldn’t have stopped the smile on my face if I wanted to. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” My mate knew all too well how much I liked it when he spanked me.

Beau snorted as one of his wolves opened the back door to my cabin and let us in. Carrying me to the back where the bedroom was, I heard our wolves shouting orders for clean towels and the pack doctor who had traveled with us. Beau was about to put me on the bed when I yelled, “Wait!”

He stopped in his tracks and looked down at me confused. I pointed to the floor and ordered, “Put me down.” Shaking his head, he refused. So, I brought my fingers up between us and said sweetly, “Okay, but I tried to warn you.”

Giving my fingers a snap, I let my water break, and the gush of liquid ran down the front of my mate’s legs and landed on his new boots. I heard a few of his wolves snicker as they entered the room with clean towels.

Squinting an eye at me, Beau growled, “Not funny.”

Beaming back at him I replied. “That’s what you get for not listening to me.”

Scrunching his nose, Beau asked warily, “Anything else you want to warn me about?”

I shook my head as another contraction hit me. This time, my mate felt it as he held me against his body. Looking down at my big belly, he questioned, “And that doesn’t hurt at all?”

As he placed me on the bed, I answered, “Nope. Sometimes magic is better than those drugs the humans use.” Glancing at my belly, I murmured, “You should really get the doctor now, it’s time.”

Beau’s head snapped up with alarm. “What do you mean, it’s time? Just how long have you been in labor, woman?”

I shrugged against his censure. “Since yesterday.”

Agitated now, he snarled at me. “And you let me go hunting with the bear? What if I had missed the birth of my son?”

Pointing a finger at him, I waggled it. “Don’t get all growly with me, buddy. I’m about to spit your kid out. So. Be. Nice. Besides, I would have never let you miss the birth of our baby. I can’t believe you just said that to me.” I gave him an exaggerated pout.

He rolled his eyes at my antics as the pack doctor came in the room, rolling her sleeves up her arms as she entered. Ignoring the tension, Elodie came to the opposite side of the bed that Beau was standing on and sat on the end of it. Waggling her fingers in the air toward herself. she ordered, “Let’s do this, people. I don’t have a catcher’s mitt in case she spits him out like a fastball, but I’m ready to deliver this kid already.”

This time, Beau snarled at Elodie, “My son is not a baseball.”

She pursed her lips while nodding her head. “You’re right, he’s more like a bowling ball.” She gave me a big smile, knowing she was driving her Alpha crazy, and continued, “Let’s hope his head isn’t as hard as Beau’s. If it is, he might break your vagina.”

Elodie motioned toward me and ordered Beau around as if she was the Alpha and not him. “Scooch her down closer to me so that we can get her knees up, and then crawl in the bed behind her so you can support her. Time to get this show on the road.”

Surprisingly, Beau did exactly what Elodie told him to do and didn’t argue. My mate must have been nervous about our child being born.

I wasn’t. He was going to be perfect.

And loved.

And all mine.

Okay, so maybe I might have to share him with Beau sometimes, but I had come to love my mate, and I guess that wouldn’t be so bad.

Beau surrounded me with his warmth and support, cradling my body between his legs as he placed them on either side of my body. I held my hands up so he could give me his own, and we intertwined them.

Our hands no longer glowed like they had the first time we held each other, but it still felt magical to me anytime I held hands with my mate. Both he and his love were a magic all of their own, and I was grateful for them every single day.

The other wolves left the room to give us privacy, and once they were gone, I looked to Elodie. “It’s time.”

What followed was likely the easiest birth in the known history of births.

I told my body it was time to push the kid out, and in three pushes, the kid was out. Was it fair to any other chick before me who had to push and scream and push some more to get her kid out?

No.

Did I care?

Hell no.

They weren’t awesome like me, so that was their problem anyway.

Beau held me so tight, I thought he might break me as we watched Elodie clean off our loudly squalling son. Once she was done, she smiled at our boy and handed him to me. Holding him in my arms, I cradled him to my chest and stared down at his cute little face as he settled.

He was the perfect combination of both me and Beau. I couldn’t wait until he was older and we saw what sort of powers he would have. Being both wolf and warlock would make him one of the most formidable beings on the planet.

But first, we had to name him.

Leaning my head against the side of my mate’s as he stared down at the being we had created together, he took one of his big hands and put a finger against our son’s tiny fist. Our boy latched on to his father’s finger as if he would never let go.

“What do you think of Clayton Graves?” I murmured.

Beau’s body tensed behind me as realization hit him. “You maneuvered this whole damn trip to talk me into that name, didn’t you, woman?”

Biting my bottom lip so I wouldn’t laugh at him, I mumbled, “Maybe.”

His body relaxed behind me, and he started to chuckle. “You are a wicked, wicked woman. You know that?”

Snorting, I told him the truth. “Shut it. You know you like it.”

His free hand squeezed me affectionately. “Indeed, I do, cher.” Wiggling his finger so our son’s tiny fist waved in the air a bit, he finally answered me. “Clayton Graves it is then.” He kissed me on the side of my head before adding, “I love you, Fauna.”

Sighing contentedly, I told him another truth. “I love you, too, Beauregard Graves.”

I thought that was going to be the end to our perfect moment…

But then Art had to butt his big bear head in.

Literally.

He stuck his head through the doorway and said, “We got a problem.”

Beau lifted the hand that had been holding me and tried to wave the grizzly away. “Later.”

Art snorted. “Not if you want your wolf to live.”

Sighing in frustration, Beau pulled his head back so that he could bang it repeatedly on the wall behind him. “One of them went near your daughters, didn’t they?”

The grizzly nodded. “Ayuh.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of me. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who liked to poke the bear.