Instantly, the three of them are on their feet. Instantly, they’re sniffing the air.
Then they look at me.
I can tell the exact second they realize what I’ve done because they all start yelling at once. I can’t even understand what they’re saying because they’re screaming over one another. The entire castle feels like it’s shaking.
Finally, I open my mouth, and I yell.
“Enough!”
They fall quiet, and they look at me.
“Don’t you complain about this,” I snap. “If you want me as your mate, you’ll have me, but it won’t be for a week, and it won’t be for a year, and it won’t be for twenty years. It’ll be forever.”
“Tyana, what have you done?” Eli whispers. He looks at me like he’s scared, like he’s worried. “You could have died.”
“I did die, technically,” I say, looking down at myself. “And now I’ll never die again.”
“Who helped you?” Matthew asks. “Who did this? I’ll fucking kill them.”
Benjamin just shakes his head.
“Abby, come out. We know you’re lurking around here somewhere.”
Almost instantly, Abigail appears and gives a little wave, as though that’s enough to calm the beasts. It’s not, and we all know it.
“Um, hello,” she says.
“Don’t you yell at her,” I say before Eli can start screaming again. “Never. You were too afraid of losing me to change me, and I understand. Now you never have to lose me.”
“You’re a vampire,” he whispers.
“I’m a vampire,” I say, repeating his words.
Then, suddenly, a huge grin spreads over his face and he reaches for me and kisses me. He pulls me close, and Benjamin and Matthew join in on the hug. They envelop me in their arms, in their love, and I realize something really, really important.
I realize something wonderful.
This thing between us? This is forever. It’s really, actually, totally forever. I’m going to have Abigail as the world’s most wonderful sister-in-law and sire, and that alone will bond the two of us in the most wonderful way. Then I’ll have Benjamin, Matthew, and sweet Eli as my mates, and I’ll never be alone. I’ll always have best friends by my side.
I’ll always have them to love and to take care of me.
I’ll always have....
I’ll always have them.
And something inside of me changes in this moment. There’s a part of me I didn’t know I was still holding back that suddenly feels free. Right now, it suddenly seems like my entire heart can fly and soar and dance because it’s in this moment that I realize Abigail was right.
Everything is going to be okay.
Epilogue
Many, many years later
ONCE UPON A TIME, A beautiful girl was trapped, but she shouldn’t have worried.
She didn’t need to worry.
Her world was going to change whether she was ready for it or not, so it was a good thing that she was ready.