“Do you remember me?” Rae asks.
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A knowing look glows in her eyes.
Time passes. She holds the baby against her chest as she lays on the ground. “When you’re born,” she whispers, “I’ll tell you your story.”
Rae blows across her face. The baby kicks lightly against her stomach.
“The good, the bad. Everything.”
She holds her sister’s body. Her old body. The one she knew.
Heavy, cold, and lifeless, she rests against her shoulder as she walks toward the edge of the particle accelerator. Lowering her into the center, she whispers, “This isn’t the end. Not by a long shot.”
The power is fired up. The machine is spinning. Everything is ready to go.
She lets go of her body.
And she fades like a fallen leaf. Her person distorts until she disappears. A distant memory, wiped to dust.
No detonation. No final extinction. Just the wind.
Rae falls back with tears. None of this came easy. None of it.
She did what she had to do. That’s life.
“Hard part’s over,” she mutters.
Rae climbs down faces the pack. Aiden and his daughter stand by, solemn and respectful.
Rae turns her back to the past and begins an ascent to the future.
It’s over.
She holds the baby near her heart and walks away from the accelerator. Closing her eyes, she listens to the sounds of her sister’s breathing. Maybe she’ll never be the same, but she’s still there.
“Life does not grow from happiness, nor from sorrow. It grows from impact,” she says. “My sister is dead, but she sure as hell made an impact.”
Everyone agrees out loud, and the baby starts to fuss again.
Omegas like her sister aren’t just born. They are made from blood, sweat, and seed. And she will never die.
Lucas walks forward, battle worn but hardly weary. “You know I’m with you. To the end and back again.”
“There’s a back again?” she asks, knowing in her heart that there’s no way real way for him to answer that question.
Lucas nods. “The end is never really the end, is it?”
Killian relaxes his arms. “And the beginning is never what it seems.”
“Just don’t ever leave me again,” she says. “I need the three of you. I yearn for your fuck.”
From behind Killian’s legs, her three children crawl toward her. Her heart explodes with love. They’re so much bigger than she remembers.
Ruby drops to their level, unable to hold back her kisses and tears.
The three alphas stand together. “They’ve been through a lot,” Vash says. “Can’t say we’ve been the best fathers in the world, but we’re here. We’re not leaving you ever again.”