Unblessed Witch (Phases of the Moon #4)

Epilogue 2

DEVA

Fifteen years later…

“Mom.” My daughter let out the world’s most dramatic sigh before flopping onto my bed. “I don’t want to go. Please, please, please don’t make me go. Please . I will die if I have to go. Literally die.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling. I swear, she and Cage were cut from the same cloth when it came to their dramatic flare. Except that where Cage was social, Wynna was very much not.

Unless, of course, you were part of her family. Then she couldn’t help but talk a mile a minute. The girl was already a fun whirlwind of complexities, and watching her grow up so far had been eventful to say the least.

“You’re going.” I offered her a knowing look. “Your cousins came to your graduation from primary school into secondary school, so you will be going to theirs.”

She let out a frustrated growl and crawled further up my bed, hitting a pillow. Laughing quietly while she wasn’t looking, I sat down at my vanity and slid on a pair of earrings. I did understand her frustration. I didn’t particularly want to go to a graduation either, but it was for Briar and Lycidas’s eldest twins, so of course I would go.

“Besides,” I drew out to get her attention, “Aunt Odessa and Aunt Lavinia will both be there.”

“Exactly!” My daughter flung up, throwing out her hands to make a point. It was crazy to think this girl had been a toddler over a decade ago. I couldn’t believe how fast she was growing up. Her hair, colored much like my own, hung to the hem of her cute sweater, which had a moon with bats flying around it. She’d paired it with jeans and some sparkly combat boots.

She had started dressing like this at the beginning of secondary school, and I found it more than a bit fascinating to see her come into her own style—especially considering I hadn’t had an opinion on that type of thing at her age.

“You don’t want to see your aunts?” I asked, waiting for her to tell me the real reason she didn’t want to go.

Wynna hopped off the bed and walked over, hands on her hips. “Come on, Mom, you know why I don’t want to go.”

Standing, I squeezed her arms gently. “I know, but you can’t let him dictate your life or decide where you go. If he’s a?—”

“ Overbearing asshole who won’t leave me alone or let me make friends,” she snarled.

I wasn’t sure how I held it together, managing to keep a serious face as I warned, “Watch the swearing. But yes, that. I already talked to your Aunt Odessa about it, and she promised they would talk to him.”

“And it hasn’t helped!” she screeched, groaning as the door opened. I didn’t need to fill Grim in; he already knew what was going on.

“Are we ready to go?” he asked. “The others are down in the lobby already.”

Because the graduation was downtown, we were staying overnight at a newly built inn by the school. Which was just another reason she couldn’t stay here by herself. She was a fifteen-year-old witch with friends who lived in the city. I knew exactly what kind of trouble that would bring.

“Go with your dad and grab your jacket, I just need to slip on my heels.”

Wynna stomped out of the room as Grim approached me, putting his hands on my hips and pressing his mouth to mine. “You look beautiful, little jaguar.”

“Thanks.” I kissed him lightly and sighed. “This may be a rough night.”

“I’ve got it handled,” he assured me, dipping his head to my throat and kissing me lightly there.

“Gross.” I smiled at our son’s annoyed voice as he walked in through the already open doors. “Super gross.”

“Says the seven-year-old.” Grim chuckled, turning around and ruffling his hair. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Yeah,” Dade sighed, “but I can’t find my shoes.”

The child was always losing something, and I knew it was because his brain was very much occupied with other things—mainly the experiments he always had going in his room.

“Check under the couch,” Grim said, motioning to the seating area of our bedroom before he left to go find our daughter. I watched our middle child go over to the couch, then duck under and pull out his sneakers, smiling happily.

“How does he always do that?” he wondered out loud.

“Your dad is smart,” I said, “but also very observant.”

“I want to be like that.” He frowned, his dark brows pulling over his red gaze before he sighed. “My brain doesn’t work right. I can’t remember where I put anything unless I’m working on it.”

“Hey. Just because you’re focused on something else doesn’t mean your brain isn’t working right, Dad O is a lot like that, especially when he’s hyper-focused on something.”

Dade examined my expression before nodding and throwing on his shoes. He was a lot quieter than his sister—also sort of grumpy like Lazaro half the time—but a majority of the time he was earnest and blunt, always asking exactly what he wanted with open curiosity. It reminded me a lot of Alek.

“Alright, I’m good to go.” He stood up and grabbed my hand. “Come on, Mom.”

Smiling down at him, I followed him out the door and toward the main part of our suite. I found Alek trying to talk to Wynna, a serious expression on his face. Grim was nowhere in sight, and Cage stood to the side listening to them, flashing me a smile.

“Dad,” Dade said, “Can we go? Wynna just doesn’t want to see our cousin.”

“Ew, ew, ew !” Wynna wrinkled her nose. “He is not our cousin. We are not related.”

I could have snorted at the intensity of her reaction to his statement but managed to keep my expression sympathetic and understanding.

“So why do we call Aunt Odessa ‘ Aunt?’ Aunt Briar is related to us,” Dade pointed out, his tone pulling a little bit more smartass than usual.

Cage chuckled. “Yeah, Wynna, just consider him part of the family.”

“Gross! No. I don’t want to ever be related to him,” she growled. Alek shook his head and approached me, capturing me around the waist.

“Confused?” I asked him. Out of all the men, he and Lazaro had struggled the most with the teenage phase so far. I could hear Cage half egging on and half moderating the argument between our two eldest with amusement. It was the easiest way for him to deal with it, I think.

“ Nyet ,” Alek grunted. “I understand perfectly what’s going on—I just don’t like it.”

“He’s a good kid, he’s just being a little jerk right now. Hopefully he’ll get his head on straight soon—though I know Wynna isn’t making it easy.”

“He better or else,” Cage said, tugging me into his arms and causing Alek to roll his eyes. Picking me up and spinning, I let out a small giggle at Cage’s antics.

“Can you not?” Wynna complained and stormed toward her room.

“I can and will!” Cage called out. “She’s my wife!”

“And our mom.” Dade scowled, shaking his head.

As Cage put me down, I pressed a light kiss to his lips. “You handle them amazing.”

“I’m taking the path of least resistance and being just as petty.” He flashed a bright smile. “Besides, it builds strength or something like that.”

“Not that they need it.” Seriously, both of them had such strong personalities, and on top of that they were powerful in magic. I wasn’t positive what I’d expected from our kids, but each of them having two types of magic so far seemed about right.

Wynna’s first power to appear was lunar, followed by shadow, whereas Dade had blood magic and naturalistic magic. It was pretty cool to watch, and I was eager to see what our youngest two would exhibit as they got older.

A cry pulled my attention as I watched Lazaro walk out of the nursery carrying our one-and-a-half year old on his right arm and our three-year-old on his left.

“Mama!” Calista smiled brightly at me. The girl was a walking replica of Lazaro, from her eyes to her hair color. Even her golden tan was the same shade as his. Her personality, though, was completely Grim’s. Seriously, she was brimming with confidence.

“Hey, you.” I stole her from Lazaro, giving him a quick kiss as he looked over my outfit.

“Little thief, you look beautiful,” he rumbled.

“Just a little something I threw on,” I mused as he wrapped a hand around my waist.

Calista was trying to tell Cage a story over my shoulder, and my attention went directly to our youngest, Niall. Where Calista looked just like Lazaro, Niall looked so much like Grim and the Nyx side of the family.

Even the little scowl he sometimes had reminded me of the one often Grim got. Although his actual personality, which was making itself known day by day, was a bit quieter than that. He was extremely observant and always trying to do stuff that far exceeded his age.

He was so brave it was almost scary. The amount of times I’d found him climbing things or trying to do something Calista was doing was a bit scary.

Niall hit my face in greeting. Snorting, I grabbed his little hand and kissed it.

“Where’s Oz?” I asked.

“Downstairs!” Grim called out. “We are running late; let’s head out.”

Shit, that didn’t surprise me. I still didn’t have the best timing. As we left the hotel suite, Wynna followed with her arms crossed, a black trench coat on and a hat pulled over her long hair. She looked ever the angsty teenager. I would have called it adorable if I didn’t know it would make her extremely annoyed. The key to making it through this phase was slow and steady.

As the elevator doors opened onto the lobby, I smiled. Everyone had waited in the lobby to walk over together. Throwing myself into the thick of it, I gave Odessa, Lavinia, and Briar a hug, along with their spouses. In total, we had over twenty kids floating between the four families, and that didn’t even include Grim’s cousins that had gotten married and had kids—like Artemia and Kazimir, who already had three kids. It was a large crowd but filled with so much love that it healed a part of me that was still recovering from my childhood.

But there was still someone missing. “Where’s Oz?”

“Here,” he rumbled, appearing behind me and tapping Calista on the nose, making her giggle. My men were unsurprisingly amazing fathers, and while the pregnancies and deliveries weren’t nearly as fun as the making babies process, the entire thing had been rather uneventful. Which was probably a good thing because my men still had the tendency to freak out when I had the smallest injury, let alone any large complications.

I had no idea how large our family would grow, but we were taking it slow. Considering our life spans would exceed the standard one hundred years, I didn’t feel very rushed.

“Busy?” I asked.

“Just having a talk.” He shrugged as my eyes widened. Oz was insanely protective over our children, so I knew exactly what he was talking about. My eyes moved to Wynna, who was talking to Odessa’s eldest son, Tartarus. The reason my daughter was so grumpy and probably the reason Oz was so tense.

Tartarus was a year older than Wynna, just having turned sixteen, and to say that he had a personality was an understatement. He was an insanely powerful shadow witch, but more so, he was the polar opposite of our free spirited but antisocial daughter. He was charming, outgoing, and as polished as could be. Always in a suit, showcasing the ‘straight laced’ personality of his fathers. Although the charm was lacking lately when it came to our daughter, their interactions turned him rather irritable and bossy.

We were all aware of what was going on between them, but neither of them seemed to have figured it out. Especially our daughter. The only thing she seemed to see was that her best friend had turned into an obnoxious boy .

“Did your talk work?” I asked Oz.

He grunted, watching Wynna’s foot tap as Tartarus bent down nearly a foot to talk to her. “Somewhat. I may be losing my edge, though, because he seemed only half-scared of me, and that won’t do.”

“Well, it might be more than his emotions overpowering the fear of you,” I hedged.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said with a stony face. To say that none of my men were a fan of our daughter dating was an understatement. I didn’t blame them, but I also knew that trying to stop her from growing up would only push her away—so I was letting her take the lead here, while still creating boundaries as to what was and was not acceptable for our family.

“Let’s head out!” Odessa said once she was satisfied everyone was accounted for. We left the hotel lobby and made our way down the city street toward the large primary and secondary school that Carmina had been successfully running for years now. We had even opened two more locations in the central and northern parts of the territory.

It was one of our many accomplishments, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of every single one of our families—including Lazaro’s, Grim’s, and Cage’s parents.

“Are you excited to see your Gigis and Papas?” I asked Calista. She nodded eagerly, making me smile. They were undoubtedly already at the ceremony and eagerly awaiting our arrival. The three families had been amazingly supportive through all our endeavors, and while the Society of Shadows still functioned as a group, these days it was mostly overshadowed by the democratic government.

Something that had benefited Carmina so much and had launched us into the future. I could see bright things on the horizon, a future that I was proud to have at our fingertips as my kids grew up.

I had no idea what fate would bring, changing with each phase of the moon, but I knew I wouldn’t be doing it alone. The moonstone warmed in my chest, reminding me that there were five hearts that would beat right alongside mine the entire way.

I hope you loved the conclusion to Deva’s story and the Phases of the Moon series! If you haven’t yet, check out the entire DIA universe, on the next page!