His eyes flicker to Indie, to the curve of her stomach beneath her blood-smeared leather. “It’s just… I didn’t expect⁠—”

“To not be alone in this?” Giselle finishes for him, tilting her head like a feral little priestess. “Tough shit, Daddy. You’re stuck with us.”

Johnny slings an arm around Lux’s shoulder before the man can speak, grinning like a wolf on his best behavior. “You think we’d let you go play house in the woods without us dropping by to teach the kid how to make someone scream in three octaves? Hell no.”

Alaska snorts, looping her arm through Johnny’s. “And someone’s gotta teach it what parts to avoid when eating a person. Can’t have your baby breaking teeth on cartilage.”

Lux looks between us all. His mouth opens. Closes. For once, he’s speechless.

Indie presses a hand to his chest, grounding him. “We’ve all burned long enough. We’ve danced in blood and called it home. But it doesn’t have to end in fire. It can end in love. In something better.”

He swallows hard, jaw clenched. “I swore if I ever had a child—they’d never know that kind of world.”

“You’re making sure of that now,” I say. “By choosing something new. And we’re choosing it with you.”

Johnny wipes a tear that may or may not be real. “Shit, I swear, if this baby doesn’t call me Uncle Johnny, I’ll scream.”

“You scream anyway,” Indie mutters, though there’s a smile in her voice.

Giselle twirls beside me, beaming like a blood-drenched banshee. “We’re gonna build a life where it can learn to bite and laugh and worship the gods properly!”

“And joy,” I add, quietly. “And safety.”

Lux’s voice is thick when he speaks again. “You’d really leave this life… for us?”

I shake my head. “Not just for you. For us.”

He exhales, slow and rough. “Fuck. I don’t know what to say.”

Indie squeezes his hand. “You don’t have to say anything. Just accept it.”

He nods, finally. Just once.

We all gather closer, no spotlight, no stage. Just ash underfoot and the bones of a new beginning.

Together.

Lux gave me the night I dreamed of. I spilled blood for the gods. I was heard. And now, we’re needed for something more.”

Giselle throws her arms around my neck. “We’re gonna raise a murder baby together!”

I grunt. “A strong one. Taught the old ways. The runes. The hunt.”

“And laughter,” Indie says, pulling Giselle into her arms.

“And fuckin’ glitter!” Johnny adds.

We stand like that, wrapped around each other, a knot of blood and love and something impossibly new.

The smoke from the altar curls into the sky.

And for once, the gods are silent.

Maybe even… proud.

We walk away together.

Not from each other.

But toward something better.

Toward family.

chapter fifteen

giselle