“Thanks for taking care of my female,” he said.

“And thanks for nominating my male.” Xhex grew serious. “It meant a lot to him.”

“He deserves it. He’s a helluva fighter.” Murhder leaned in and dropped his voice. “And brace yourself.”

“For what?” When he didn’t respond, she frowned. “What am I bracing for?”

Murhder winked at his old friend. “Let’s just say the era of the Brotherhood being a boys’ club only is officially over. And I understand you’re pretty damn good with a lys.”

It was so satisfying to stun the symphath into silence.

“That’s right,” he said as he saw John Matthew come for her. “We’ve got our eyes on you, soldier.”

Murhder stepped aside as John swept his female up and the two kissed like they hadn’t seen each other in years.

Good example to follow. Murhder strode through to the billiard room, and the instant Sarah saw him, the glow of love in her face was a beacon he would follow to the ends of the earth. Pulling her into his arms, he held her up off the floor and twirled her around.

After he kissed her, he reached around and drew Nate in. “Group hug!”

The young male folded into the pair of them as if he were an essential piece of their unit, and Murhder thought about Ingridge reaching out to him all those months before. Thank God, she had. Thank God for … everything.

“So I’ve invited Nate to live with us,” Sarah said as they stepped back from the huddle. “I hope that’s—”

“Fantastic!” Murhder put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You up for that, son?”

“Yes, please.” The hope on that face was almost painful to witness. “I promise not to get in the way—”

“You are welcome always.” Murhder tucked his Sarah into his side. “We’re your family. All of us here, are your family.”

Someone offered him a beer and he accepted it with thanks, and then he just hung back and enjoyed the view into the foyer. Fritz and some doggen brought in a sheet cake, and bowls of punch, and then balloons were falling and people were cheering.

It felt so good to be a part of it all. Once again.

So many familiar faces, laughing, talking. He missed Darius, though. The male should have been—

Through the grand archway into the dining room, John returned from the back of the house, his robe still on, his face still shining with pride and happiness. He was carrying something—no, two things. One was a black dagger, and the other was …

A green apple.

The newest member of the Brotherhood started peeling the Granny Smith as he wound through the crowd and went over to Zsadist, who was standing next to a beautiful female and holding a young in his powerful arms who looked just like him. The brother was laughing and smiling at his shellan, until he saw what John was doing with the apple.

Instantly, his face grew serious, especially as the two males locked eyes.

After John had peeled the apple in one long strip that fell on his bare foot, he cut a piece of the white flesh with the black steel of the dagger—and offered it to Z on the blade.

Zsadist reached out and accepted the slice, popping it into his mouth.

His smile was ancient. And beautiful, even, if not especially, because of his scarred face.

John ate the next slice. And then the young got the third.

No words were spoken between to the two, and Murhder was pretty sure that the party all around them was totally forgotten as some sort of debt was repaid with happiness on both sides.

“Oh.” Sarah stiffened as she looked out into the foyer. “Oh … my.”

At first, Murhder wasn’t sure what she was focused on. There were all kinds of couples hugging and friends laughing and Wrath had picked up his dog, who was so excited at being reunited with his master that his tail was going a mile a minute—

But then Murhder saw what the issue was.

Lassiter, the fallen angel, had come into the billiards room after a clothing change … and he was wearing gold lamé on his golden body. Which wouldn’t exactly have been a problem, except …

“Are those ass-less chaps?” Sarah asked. “Or am I seeing things wrong.”

Murhder put his big body in the way so she and Nate were spared the vision of two golden globes making waaaaay too much of an appearance.

“Um, yeah,” he muttered, “I don’t think you need to get your eyes checked. Unfortunately.”

“Who is he?” Sarah asked as Nate started to laugh.

“That’s our deity. You know, the one who runs things from above? He’s a fallen angel.”

His mate did a double take. “You’re not serious.”

“No, he really is magical. I know it’s hard for humans to understand the magic in our world, but there is another realm, and Lassiter does live there. According to what Tohr told me, he took over from the Scribe Virgin who—”

“Oh, I get all that. I don’t have a problem with the paranormal.” She laughed and kissed him. “I mean, hello, I’m going to marry a vampire. But how are you guys ruled by something that would wear ass-less chaps?”

Murhder glanced over his shoulder. Yup. Still butt all over the place.

“Well,” he said, “you know, it’s probably best to have a god with a sense of humor, don’t you think? I mean, all that stuffy stuff just gets tiresome, and sometimes, you do have to pray for crazy things. Plus, he does have a good ass. I mean, honestly, if you look at it objectively, he doesn’t have a thing to apologize for.”

As Sarah and Nate started laughing together, Murhder put his arms around the two of them, and decided that all was right in the world.

After all, if you had the love of your life, your friends, and your family … and a god who watched over you lovingly—even if he was only partially dressed?

What else was there to the mortal coil?

Except then the angel in question came over, and Murhder wasn’t so sure those golden globes needed to be so—

The angel held something out to Sarah. “A gift of welcome to you.”

“What is it—” Sarah flushed. “Wait … this is a diamond.”

“And you know what they say about them.”

Murhder’s breath caught. “Forever. A diamond … is forever.”

All at once, a glow suffused Sarah’s body, and she looked down at herself in alarm.

Lassiter smiled. “Another gift as it were. Enjoy your long life with your males. Both of them.”

Sarah gasped. “What did you do to me …”

But the fallen angel was already walking away. Flashing that ass.

In the wake of Lassiter’s departure, Murhder wasn’t sure whether he should laugh or cry. So he gathered his true love to his heart … and did both.

“I think we just got our happily ever after,” he whispered in her ear. “And we owe that angel …”

Sarah inched back. “Can we start by getting him a real pair of pants?”

“Excellent idea, scientist mine …”

And then Murhder kissed his eternal shellan.

With so many thanks to the readers of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books! This has been a long, marvelous, exciting journey, and I can’t wait to see what happens next in this world we all love. I’d also like to thank Meg Ruley, Rebecca Scherer, and everyone at JRA, and Lauren McKenna, Jennifer Bergstrom, and the entire family at Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster.