Epilogue
A Few Weeks Later
Arabella looked down at her three sleeping children and willed her feet to move. She'd kissed each of them goodbye, as well as checked five times that Lorna and Ross had enough supplies for the night.
Her dragon spoke up. It's okay. Freya only shifts when you or Finn are near. I don't think she'll change the pattern now.
And if she does?
They have some of Dr. Sid's experimental medication. And even if that fails, Layla will use a diluted dragon slumber drug. Freya will not go rogue.
At her side, Lorna spoke up. "It's all right, child. I know what I'm doing. Besides, you and Finn deserve a wee break. What with your father visiting Melanie, Tristan, and their twins, you have no excuse not to enjoy some time with your mate."
Arabella hesitated and her beast sighed. She's right. Besides, it's been too long since we had our mate. We're healed and ready. And I want to see what he has planned as a surprise.
She touched the head of each of her children in turn. "Be good for Mummy and listen to your grandmother."
Her triplets continued to sleep.
Part of her wanted them to make a fuss at her departure, but another part was glad for Lorna's help.
Lorna touched her arm. "Go and see what Finn has planned for you, lass."
"You know what it is?"
"A bit. However, I'd rather not know the details."
Lorna's words piqued her curiosity. After a few more seconds of staring at her babies, Arabella turned toward the front door. "Call if anything happens. I don't care if Finn brought in the human British Queen to our cottage as part of his surprise, my babies come first."
Smiling, Lorna pushed her toward the door. "Aye, I know. But we'll be fine. Faye and Grant are supposed to come over in the morning to help, too."
Taking a deep breath, Arabella bobbed her head. "Thanks, Aunt Lorna. I'll be here tomorrow afternoon."
"Take your time, child."
With that, Arabella exited Lorna and Ross's cottage and walked briskly toward her own.
With each step, her worry was replaced with another emotion—nervousness. Finn had been patient with her, even though the doctor had cleared Arabella for sex two weeks ago. She craved her male, but carrying and birthing triplets had changed her body. She hoped Finn wouldn't be disappointed.
Her dragon huffed. Of course not. He loves us as we are.
Ignoring her dragon, Arabella quickly reached her home. But as soon as she could see the front door, she stopped and blinked.
A giant picture of a kitten with rainbows behind it was taped to the door.
Memories of her early courtship rushed back, and she smiled. Finn had once threatened to leave a pile of rainbow kittens on her front step.
While it was less than a year ago, it seemed like a lifetime. So much had happened between then and now.
Curiosity took over and she forgot about her nervousness. Arabella reached the door and entered the house.
Instead of more rainbows and kittens, there was a giant, pink stuffed unicorn smiling up at her from the floor.
Another thing Finn had threatened her with. Well, if threaten was even the right word. Although Arabella detested pink, so maybe it was.
Picking up the stuffed beast, she noticed sprigs of heather on the floor, leading up the stairs.
Instinctively, she touched her chest where Finn had pinned some heather during their early days. She hadn't known it at the time, but it had let everyone on Lochguard know she was Finn's true mate.
At the top of the stairs was a picture propped on a stand, of her and Finn on their mating day. Another stand had a picture of her, Finn, and their triplets in the delivery room. Then each of her babies' tattoo pictures were lined up.
She stopped at the next set of photos—framed ones of Finn's parents and another of her mother and father. Arabella had no idea how he'd found the picture of her parents as it was from over a decade ago. But as she lightly traced the frame, she willed herself not to cry. It seemed that she now had all of her family, past and present, to display proudly on her giant family tree in the living room.
After a few beats, she forced herself to keep going and finally reached their bedroom door. It was closed with a large piece of paper taped to it, a black question mark filling the space.
Placing the unicorn down on the ground, she entered the room.
Finn lay on the bed, a kilt around his hips and nothing else.
She took a second to admire Finn's muscled chest and arms before reaching his face.
He grinned at her. "Like what you see, lass?"
"And here I expected you to have a rose clutched between your teeth."
"I've never given you a rose, so that would ruin the theme."
While she enjoyed bantering with her mate, Arabella smiled as she recalled each thing Finn had placed along the way. "I can't believe you remembered all of those little details."
He sat up. "Aye, of course I did. I remember anything related to you, love." He put out a hand. "Come. I have more surprises for you."
She did as he bid. "Let me guess? You naked and inside me?"
"In time." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her skin. "First, I need to make sure you understand how much I want you, lass."
He maneuvered until he sat with his legs spread, and then he guided Arabella to stand between them. "Undress for me, love."
No sooner had she tugged her top off then Finn leaned forward and kissed her abdomen. The light flicks of his tongue sent heat straight between her thighs.
He chuckled, the vibrations only making her wetter.
His voice was husky as he said, "It's good to know that even after the trials of childbirth, you still want me, lass."
Running her fingers through his blond hair, she answered, "I'll always want you, Finn. Even if you grow a weird barb on your penis."
"I don't want to know where you got that idea."
She smiled. "I have quite the imagination."
"Do you now? Care to share some of that imagination with your mate?"
"Oh, I have lots to share. But later." She stepped back and finished undressing. The desire burning in Finn's eyes gave her the courage to do it as quickly as possible.
When she was done, she moved back between his legs and tossed up his kilt. Taking his hard cock in hand, she stroked a few times. "I want to have you inside me first. Then we can tease and play."
As she straddled Finn's thighs, his hands went to her hips. His eyes never moved from hers. "Take what you want from me, lass. I'm yours, always."
For a second, Arabella couldn't believe Finlay Stewart was her mate. But then her dragon spoke up. Of course he is. He should be lucky to have us.
Finn rubbed his thumbs against the skin of her hips and murmured, "Tell your dragon she can have me later. Right now, I'm yours, Arabella."
Raising her hips, she positioned Finn's cock at her entrance and slowly sank down. She was glad to be on a form of birth control, because she loved feeling his long, hard length as she took him in.
Once she had him to the hilt, she leaned forward and nipped his jaw. "Then take me, Finn, and show me how much you love me."
With a growl, Finn flipped them over and pressed one of her legs back. "After I'm done, you'll never doubt how much you mean to me."
Finn took her lips in a rough kiss. As he moved his hips and devoured her mouth, Arabella forgot about everything but her mate—the strong, wonderful male who made her laugh and treasured her as much as any dragonman could.
As she screamed his name, it also served as a reminder to the world that Finn was her true mate, partner, and love of her life. No matter what happened in the future, they would have each other. And there was nothing they couldn't tackle together.
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I hope you enjoyed Finn and Arabella's follow-up story. Between Freya and Holly and Fraser's twin girls, I think the future is going to have a lot of strong, adventurous females on Lochguard! The next story in my Lochguard series will be about Alistair Boyd and will be called The Dragon's Discovery. While waiting for that story, you may want to check out my science fiction romance series. I'll include an excerpt from the first book, The Conquest, after my Author's Note. And to stay up-to-date on information, .