This book is available for purchase on amazon.com as a kindle ebook.
Epilogue
One year later
Raine paced the hallway frantically, wincing every time he heard a noise from the room. His muscles were tensed and his hair sticking up in every direction. "I'm going to kill you!" he heard Noelle scream angrily. "You're never touching me again. Never!"
He cringed and scrubbed a rough hand down his face in agony. Gods, he vowed he wouldn't lay a finger on her if it would prevent this from happening again. He didn't know how she was able to survive this, he could hardly breathe and he wasn't even doing anything.
"Hey man," he heard Finn say cautiously, "How is she doing?"
Raine opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by another yell from the room. "Fuck you Raine, I hate you. AHHH!"
"Ah," Finn murmured. Raine shot him a pained look and sank into the chair outside of the room. Finn handed him a bottle of water and smiled, "Try this, it'll help."
He gave him an odd look before unscrewing the lid. Alcoholic fumes reached his nose as he realized the bottle of water was actually a bottle of vodka. Relieved, he took a quick swig, relishing the burn in his throat. Maybe this would numb a little bit of the guilt and pain he was feeling. Maybe.
An hour later, Raine was wasted and the rest of the men had joined him. "I am never...ever...gonna toush her again!" he bemoaned. "She probably hates me." He looked angrily at the empty bottle and threw it across the room.
"Dude, how much did he drink?" Fletcher whispered to Paxton.
Paxton shrugged, "I think just that bottle. But he downed it in two minutes, so..."
"Christ," Fletcher muttered. Noelle had been in labor for over three hours now and Raine was looking worse and worse by the minute. His skin was a pasty grey color and his eyes were bloodshot.
"Did you get kicked out of the room?" Jed laughed.
Raine glared at him through slitted eyes, "No. Noelle told me to leave, you ash hole."
Jed raised an eyebrow and looked at Finn for confirmation. "He was in the way," Finn said quietly. "More of hassle than a help."
"We need to sober him up," Jed pointed out. "He's in no condition to hold his child or visit Noelle." The men nodded in agreement, giving Raine pitying looks. "Why did you give him alcohol in the first place?"
Finn sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I was trying to calm him down, I didn't think he'd chug it. Stupid male."
"I'm not shtupid, just wait 'til you have to go through thish," Raine growled.
Finn paled, "What are you talking about?" Was Violet pregnant too? Oh no, there was no way he could handle this right now.
"Women do e'rything in packsh," Raine pointed out bitterly. The men all froze in fear, he had a point.
"Fuck," Paxton breathed. He and Ingrid had only just got married, it was too soon for a baby.
"You got that right," Fletcher moaned, thinking the same thing Paxton was. It was way too early to be a father. He wanted more time with Tamsin before a baby became a part of their lives.
"Stop being babies and help me sober him up!" Jed said, irritated with the men.
Fletcher shot him a burning look, "Don't use that word."
"What? Babies? Good night, grow up! It's going to happen sometime." He rolled his eyes and pointed at Paxton, "Go get some bread, Fletch, get a glass of water, Finn find some aspirin, he's going to need it." They all gulped and sped off to do as Jed suggested. Hopefully they could get Raine sobered up by the time the baby came. With the way the delivery was going, they had all the time in the world.
The men returned with their items and passed them to Raine. "Drink the water and eat the bread, Raine," Jed commanded softly, "time to sober up." Raine groaned, but did as he was told, chugging the water.
After six hours of labor, the doctor came out and smiled at Raine. "Congratulations, you're a father."
Raine stood up quickly, "They're both healthy?" The doctor gave a hearty chuckle and nodded. "Oh thank gods," Raine muttered. He entered the room quickly, eyes only for Noelle. She looked up at him with love in her eyes and smiled. "Where is my child?" Raine breathed happily. He was so excited to finally see his baby. Right now he didn't care about the power his baby had, right now he just wanted to hold his child.
Noelle laughed softly and pointed behind him. "Don't you mean children?"
"What?" he gasped, feeling his stomach drop to the floor. He turned around and saw the doctor and the nurse each holding a baby.
"Twins, Raine. We have twins. A boy and a girl."
The nurse passed him his baby girl and he looked down at her in amazement. "Oh my gods," he whispered. "She's beautiful." He walked over to Noelle's side and sat down, looking at his son that she was holding. "What does this mean? Twins, I..." he broke off with a laugh. "Who the hell cares? I'm a father!" He would worry about the meaning of twins later. The prophecy had mentioned the baby of the Vessel would 'rule the world' but it never mentioned twins.
"They look just like you," Noelle smiled. His baby girl had a full head of black hair and his baby boy had dark brown hair like his mother. They were absolutely perfect in every way; from the little pink toes to their chubby cheeks.
Raine was filled with so much pride. He had helped created these bundles of perfection. They were little pieces of him and Noelle and he would do anything to protect them. "What do you want to name them?" he asked softly, still amazed that he was holding his children.
"Well," Noelle blushed, "I was thinking Ivy and Theo."
Raine stared at her in shock for a moment before smiling widely, "I like that, a lot." He looked down at his daughter and kissed her softly on the forehead, "I love you, Ivy." He reached across and kissed his son on his head, "I love you, Theo." He lifted his face and kissed Noelle softly on the lips, "and I love you, kitten."
~The End~