Page 134 of Sinful Mates

“You’re looking well, excited for the big day or are you getting cold feet?” she says smiling at the horrified looks on Theo and Tobias’s faces.

“Nope, they are toasty warm,” I reassure them and Theo sighs. I know she is having a dig at them.

I hand her the bracelet, and Thaddeus instantly tries to reach for it, but she pulls it away; the stones lighting up at his closeness. She checks it for any cracks, and I watch its aura flicker as it reacts to Thaddeus being so close to it, like it was calling out to him. She hands it back, frowning.

“It is weird. I feel it growing stronger every time I hold it. Do you notice it, too?” she asks, and I nod. I haven’t told Theo or Tobias. I didn’t want them to worry, but I noticed the darkness sometimes. It makes me feel cold and hollow.

“We might have to put a binding spell on it soon, just to make sure it can’t get out and reinforce the stone.” I nod in agreement.

“I see you're doing well, Bianca.” Bianca looks at her nervously before smiling but says nothing. Bianca has angered many people with what she has done. It would take a while before she earns any trust from anyone, but to gain it, I have to give it to her.

“Well, I best be off. I will have a meeting with the coven to figure out our next steps,” she says hopping up and drinking the rest of her coffee before placing it on the tray. Tobias and Theo follow me out to say goodbye, and I watch as she hops in the car. She winds down the window as she starts the car.

“Oh, and congratulations,” she yells to us, a devious smile on her lips making my brows furrow in confusion.

“On what?” I ask.

“You're pregnant, dear. How hadn’t you noticed?” I gasp at her words shocked and I feel Tobias's and Theo’s shock through the bond before I feel their excitement flood me.

“What? How?” I ask, confused.

“Well, when two or in your case three people have sex…” I cut her off, waving my hand at her. I knew how babies are made. She chuckles softly.

“You’re not a full vampire yet, Imogen. You’re still half witch. I can’t wait to meet her,” she says before laughing while she winds the window up. I watch as she drives off. I know better than to doubt her. I am more shocked I didn’t pick it up myself. But it does explain how my dress doesn’t fit.

Turning around, Theo can’t hide his excitement as he jumps up and down, Tobias side eyeing him, like he had gone mad. “We’re pregnant,” I say, letting the words sink in.

Epilogue

Years later

My name is enough to send most people running. Those who don’t are fools, for they would feel my wrath. I am the king of darkness. The dark Tribrid they call me, the one who changed the world. I am destroyed, and countries have fallen by these hands. Forgiveness isn’t a part of my vocabulary; I don’t grant forgiveness or mercy. It is best to stay on my good side. My mother thought she was protecting me, keeping my magic from me. That betrayal hurt the most.

She took a piece of me and I nearly killed her by getting it back. I knew growing up I was different. I saw life differently. Sure, I came from a home filled with love and everything a child can desire. My parents would have moved heaven and hell for me. Yet that was their downfall. Their betrayal. From the outside, we were the perfect family. Our lives were great until my sixteenth birthday. I stopped aging at thirty, but the darkness made me feel every bit of the hundred and one years I have had on this earth. Sucking every part of me away until I became what I am now. I used to fear the darkness now I embrace it.

The darkness came for me on my sixteenth birthday, and I found the missing piece. The one thing I craved, and that was power. Power to control everything and everyone. My mother tried to save me, tried to even take me down. If she wasn’t my mother, the woman who literally gave her life for me. I would have ended her. That wasn’t her decision to make. I knew instantly my entire life was a secret; they kept from me.

Astral and the covens came for me once I possessed my power, my mother telling them where to find me. I slaughtered them all and have been on my own ever since. For decades I have roamed the earth trying to find meaning, and I stumbled across my mates.

At first, they feared me. Everyone had heard my name by then, not a country left intact as I made my way through each one trying to figure out my purpose. I met Ryland first. He was just as evil as me and a werewolf; we continued our reign of terror until we met our other mate. I was hoping for a woman, not that I was uncomfortable with my sexuality. It is what it is, and quite frankly, I would fuck anything with legs to fulfill my needs and that of my mates. Orion, though, was different, weaker. He didn’t agree with my past and the things we had done; he was much older than both of us and knew of my grandfather. Orion is a vampire and a little old-fashioned, but he was mine even though he annoyed me and frustrated me to no end.

He hated me, but he came to see reason, and remains by my side even when he doesn’t agree, trying to talk me down, trying to change me. Though now I think he has given up.

Sitting on the balcony of my penthouse apartment. I gaze over the City, my eyes scanning as I watch the crowds of people below, unaware of the monster watching them.

I hear movement behind me, and my eyes snap to the glass sliding doors. She hands me a smoke and I light it, breathing in deeply. Enjoying the burn in my throat from its harshness.

“When are you going to go home? Haven’t you punished them enough? They did it to protect you. It is time you stop this, whatever it is you are doing.”

“And what is that?” I ask her, looking back toward the City.

“The destruction, what are you trying to prove? Who are you looking for?” she asks and I sigh. Only she would get away with questioning me like this. I’ve always had a soft spot for her. She listens and doesn’t judge, no matter how much I fuck things up.

“I am not trying to prove anything. I don’t need to.”

“Then why, Thaddeus, why all this?” she asks.

“Because I can, that is why,” I tell her. She shakes her head.