Evaline:
The words on the page blurred before my eyes.
I blinked rapidly, tried to steady myself, but the harder I focused, the less I could see. Tears clung stubbornly to my lashes until they spilled, running down my cheeks unchecked. The report in my hands trembled violently. My grip tightened, causing my knuckles to turn white as though I could ground myself with pressure alone.
I couldn’t breathe. The air was caught in my throat, heavy and jagged.
The file might as well have been blank. I didn’t need to see the letters again. I had already read them... already burned them into my mind.
The truth was right there in black and white, and it hit with such force that my body didn’t know how to react. Relief, joy, disbelief - they tangled together until they hurt.
But to anyone watching ... I probably looked broken.
When I lifted my head, my vision cleared just enough to see the four n in front of .
My mates.
They were all watching as though their lives depended on my next breath. Tension stretched tight across their shoulders, their gazes locked on my face with unbearable intensity.
River’s jaw was clenched hard enough to make the veins in his neck stand out. Draven’s fists were curled at his sides, his restless energy bleeding through his stillness. Oscar was standing frozen, his usually relaxed features drawn tight with worry. And Kieran... dear stars, Kieran... looked as though his entire soul teetered on the edge of shattering.
And the mont my tears fell, the mont they saw them glistening on my cheeks, their panic sharpened.
Oscar moved first.
He crossed the space in three strides before sinking to his knees at my feet. He didn’t glance at the report in my hands, not even once. His eyes stayed on , wide and frantic, as his hand found my knee in a grounding touch.
"Eva," he whispered, his voice cracking. "What’s wrong?"
His grip tightened, his thumb brushing against in a silent plea.
I looked past him, at the others. At the way every ounce of their fear wasn’t for the result, but for . Not one of them cared about the paper in my trembling hands more than they cared about the expression on my face.
And in that mont, my heart nearly broke from the sheer weight of their love.
Could I have asked the Moon Goddess for anything more? For anyone better?
No. Never.
The decade of loneliness, the misery, the chains of desperation that had once bound ... all of it faded in the face of this truth. She had given the best people on the planet to stand at my side. My fated mates. My family.
And that alone was enough for to forgive her for every wound she had allowed to suffer.
More tears slipped free, falling onto my hands where they clutched the report. Oscar’s fingers pressed harder against in response, and the flickers of panic in River’s eyes grew. Draven’s frown deepened. And Kieran looked seconds away from breaking apart entirely.
I couldn’t let them wait another heartbeat.
Drawing in a deep breath, I forced my lungs to steady, and my heart to calm. Then I lifted my head, eting each of their gazes in turn.
"Kieran," I whispered, my voice trembling. "Kieran is indeed... our child’s father."
The words echoed, thick with finality.
I turned the report outward, letting the truth stare them in the face.
Silence slamd into the room.
Then everything broke at once.
Oscar exhaled so hard it ca out as a shudder, his head bowing until his forehead rested against my knees. Relief poured from him in waves, his shoulders finally relaxing.
Draven let out an incredulous laugh, it was half-emotional and half-disbelieving. And then he too was crossing the space and approaching . He dropped onto the bed beside . His weight shifted the mattress, grounding as his arm slipped instinctively behind my back.
And Kieran... he crumbled.
He sank to his knees, just like Oscar, but his body shook with sobs he didn’t even try to suppress. He buried his face in his hands as he cried his heart out from sheer relief. His chest was heaving as his entire being unraveled under the sheer flood of relief.
His relief was just as big as mine, or probably even bigger. And I understood the reason and aning behind his tears. Seeing him like that on his knees, made want to close the distance and wrap my arms around him, but I was in no state to even stand up, my body feeling too weak from the emotional storm.
River’s hand found his brother’s shoulder, squeezing hard, his own eyes shimring though he forced them upward, fighting for composure.
I sat frozen in the middle of them all, my tears spilling freely now.
Draven’s arm tightened around , pulling closer until my head was resting against his shoulder.
"You nearly gave us all heart attacks," he muttered, his voice rough but tinged with a humor that broke the tension. "Don’t ever do that again."
There wasn’t a shred of anger in his words. Only affection. Only care.
I laughed shakily, the sound muffled against his shirt as more tears ca.
Then Oscar’s voice reached , muffled from where his head was still resting against my knees.
"Our family," he whispered, his voice thick, "is finally complete."
The words hung in the air like a blessing.
And as I looked between them - River’s quiet strength, Draven’s steady warmth, Oscar’s fierce devotion, and Kieran’s shattered relief - I realized sothing deep in my bones.
This wasn’t just my victory.
It was ours.
Theirs.
The Moon Goddess hadn’t only given a family. She had given them one too.
And in this small hospital room, surrounded by my mates, with my son sleeping peacefully in his cradle... I finally understood what it ant to belong.
Truly, irrevocably, beautifully belong.
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