Page 89 of Merciless
"We wouldn't miss therealparty," Dyno scoffed. "Where your boys at? Making fools of themselves?"
"Oh, I hope not yet," I groaned. "It's still way too early for that."
Grudge broke off from his men and embraced Shadow in the dining room. The two men clung to each other tightly and slapped each others' arms. We'd seen the Sons regularly since bringing Reaper home, but those two always greeted each other like they hadn't seen each other in months. It was sweet to see a deeper appreciation of the friendship and bond they shared.
Seeing Grudge and Shadow reminded me of the slip of paper in my bedroom. I had just gotten it from the hospital and planned to show them together. I excused myself quickly and headed back down the hallway. My heart pounded as I retrieved the folded piece of paper from the desk drawer, the beat doubling in speed as Shadow looked at me with such love and adoration as I approached.
"Hey, lover," he said, reaching for me.
I let his protective, unbreakable embrace fall around me and planted a kiss on his mouth before producing the paper. "Do you guys still want to know?"
Grudge's eyes widened at the paper and then at me. Shadow squeezed my waist, the pulse in his neck accelerating. "Is that...?"
"The results from your blood tests, yes," I confirmed. "I picked them up from the lab yesterday. I haven't looked at them yet. I figured you guys should be the first to know."
Shadow took the results from my hand, loosening his embrace as he held it out to Grudge. "Should we do this together, brother?"
"Mm." Grudge jerked his chin down in a nod and grasped the other end of the paper in his fingers. They unfolded it together and I waited with my breath in my chest.
The two of them peered at me after a few seconds. "I don't know what any of these mean, lover. What is X-DNA?"
"Oh sorry!" I laughed, taking the paper from them. "Allow me to translate." After a quick scan of the results, a smile overtook my face as I looked up at them. "I knew it!"
"Mari." Shadow's warning growl of my name was low and playful, lighting up heat between my legs.
"You two are half-brothers," I said. "You share the same Y-chromosome, which means you have the same father. Your X-chromosomes don't match at all, which means you have different mothers."
Grudge made a noise like a scoff, glancing away for a moment until Shadow thumped him on the back. "I know, brother. He was most likely an evil son of a bitch, but he's hopefully dead now. And if he's not," Shadow clapped his shoulder, "take comfort in knowing we are huge disappointments to the old man."
"Heh." Grudge looked back at him with a lopsided smile, gesturing between the two of them and then pantomimed counting on his fingers.
"That's right. We could have a whole bunch of siblings out in the world." Shadow's jaw tightened, returning his gaze to me.
"Maybe, maybe not." I perched myself on his thigh. "But family isn't determined by blood."
"Mm-hm." Grudge nodded in agreement.
"I'm glad we know for sure, but you're right." Shadow nuzzled my face, planting a kiss on my cheekbone. "Nothing has changed. And life is so fucking good."
The party wenton late into the night. I had only sat with Shadow and Grudge for a few more minutes when we heard Larkan's shout of, "Whoooo! I'm gonna be a daddy!" reverberate through the house.
That victory cry kicked off the real party atmosphere. People cheered, shouted congratulations, and the alcohol flowed through everyone's good mood. Someone brought out a guitar and couples started dancing in the backyard. Reaper and Shadow weren't dancers, but I had a blast being passed back and forth between Jandro and Gunner. Slick and his new girlfriend stayed huddled to themselves for the most part, but she did manage to drag him out to dance for a couple of songs.
When I headed inside for a quick restroom break, I spied a tipsy, pink-cheeked Finn with his shirt off, getting tattooed by Shadow.
"What is this?" My voice was high and probably a little too loud from my own tipsy state. "What are you getting?"
"My old lady's name, of course." My father-in-law smirked.
"Oh my God!" Shadow had indeed sketched "Alisa Forever" with a pen on Finn's chest and was currently in the process of outlining it. "How sweet. Does she know?"
"She will soon." Finn laughed.
"You crazy kids," I teased him.
"I don't recommend it until you've been together a minimum of thirty years," he added with a grin.
Time passed in a blur. I drank and danced some more, kissed my men, and laughed with my friends. It felt so, so incredibly good to have fun for essentially no reason. Yes, we were celebrating being alive but now we knew tomorrow would come. And the day after, and the next week, next month. Next year, and many more years. We were celebrating a future we never thought we would see.
