Page 80 of The Hunted

Epilogue

(Six Months Later)

The wind whips through Raven's hair as the sun shines down on us, kissing her inky black strands with an almost ethereal glow. She walks in front of me, running her fingers through the tall stalks of grass. The seed pods sway on the breeze. The sun catches my grandmother's diamond ring on her finger, sending prisms of light out through the field. She's still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Even more so since I found out what all she went through to save me that night. I wish I could take it all away, that she’d never had to go through any of it. She still has nightmares sometimes. She was never meant to take a life. It's not within her nature, so she still struggles. She says she'd do it all over again if it meant she found me.

"How about right here? This spot?" She turns to me, a soft smile gracing her lips. My heart is so full as I take her in—her hair floating on the breeze, the rosy glow of her cheeks, our baby in her belly.

Fucking beautiful.

“Wherever you want, wife. I told you, it's your decision where we build our house."

"I like it here. It's peaceful."

She turns, looking out toward the river in the distance, and I can't resist the urge to get my hands on her any longer. I walk up behind her and pull her back to my chest.

"It's the perfect spot, Little Bird."

I kiss her temple as she presses into me. I slide my hand down to hold the little bump of our baby girl, Vivian.

"I think so too."

"Will you miss living at the manor?"

"I will, parts of it, but maybe we'll live there again someday."

"Maybe we’ll like it here too much to leave," she adds as she turns in my arms, facing me.

"Wherever you are is my home, Raven."

I kiss her lips lightly before she rests her head on my chest. The estate encompasses thousands of acres. This is a great spot to build our house. We’ve been staying at a penthouse apartment in a building I own in Silver Lake.

I've turned Hale Manor over to Ace and Lazz, for now. They'll continue to run the business. I debated shutting it down altogether, but we all agreed it's the best way to make it appear to members of Albatross that nothing has changed. I'll continue to be in charge of Albatross for North America, while we track the remaining members down and take them out. No one besides us even knew my father returned. Everyone that my father brought to the estate that night died, so as far as any of the others know, it’s business as usual. We gathered too much intel through that business to lose those connections now. We’ll need them to bring down Albatross world-wide.

After everything that happened there, I had planned to burn the manor to the ground, but Raven wouldn't let me. She said it belonged to my mother's family, not my father so we should preserve it for future generations of our family. That one day we will fill it with happy memories to erase the bad ones. I agreed. I pretty much agree to anything she says these days. Plus, I won’t allow Vaughn Bane to take one more piece of my mother from me. I did fill in that goddamned pond, though.

Raven and Scarlett are working on setting up a shelter. They plan to help women in need to get back on their feet by offering classes, therapy, housing, medical care. They named it in honor of my mother, Survive, a Vivian Bane Foundation.

We plan to start taking down sex trafficking rings. I'm setting up a team of mercenaries now that will go in, take down the rings, and free the women.

Our foundation will assure the victims get all the help they will need, free of charge. We've got a lot of money, and it’s long past time it was used for something good. I bought a huge building downtown about a month ago that will serve as the home base for our foundation, and I’m having it renovated for Raven and Scarlett. Neither one knows this yet. I plan to surprise them tonight at dinner.

Scarlett has come a long way, but she still lives in the guest house on the grounds of Iron Mayhem MC compound. She told Raven she feels safest there. She doesn’t feel like she needs to watch over her shoulder because there are always people around…heavily armed people.

Raven’s less than thrilled with her living situation but is comforted knowing Lucian keeps guards stationed at her guest house when she's there. Ace’s daily visits also help put her at ease.

I have a couple of my best men tail her around the clock. No one but me and Lucian know that. They pose as Iron Mayhem brothers from the North Carolina chapter.

I can't let anything happen to Scarlett. It'd break my Little bird's heart. I'm never letting that happen again. She's mine and she is everything to me.

"You ready to head back? Everyone will be here for dinner soon."

"Yeah." She lifts her head from my chest to look at me. Her green eyes shine bright as she gifts me with her smile. She still takes my breath away and makes my cock rock-fucking-hard from just a glance. Happiness looks good on my girl, and I intend to keep her that way.

"What time are Ace, Lazz, and Lucian supposed to be here?"

"Five, so we've got some time to kill before they show up. Any ideas on how we can spend it?" I lift my eyebrows up and down as I grab her ass and grind my erection into her.

"Yes, I have the perfect idea," she says softly as she stands on her toes to bring her mouth close to mine.