Her Given (Editing)

Epilogue

Avelyn's POV

"Charlotte Grace Gravaldi! You get your butt away from that stove! And Bash, stop fighting with your brother!" I shout, no room for arguing in my tone.

"But mom," Bash whines. "Sam started it."

My eyes harden as I give him the look not to push it. Noticing my expression, he promptly releases his brother from his headlock and Sam runs screaming. Rolling my eyes, I walk over to Charlotte--or Charlie, as we like to call her--and pick her up, carrying her over to the barstool and setting her down, away from the stove.

Her flaming eyes pout and her mouth droops as a lock of her silver hair falls in her face. I sigh and tuck it behind her ear, lifting her chin up with my forefinger and thumb so she'll look at me. "It's okay, baby. You know mommy always tells you that it's dangerous to be near the stove, yet you still disobey me. I just don't want you to get hurt."

She sighs too with a downcast expression, but her bubbly personality immediately returns, just like her daddy. She may have her dad's personality and eyes, but she has my hair and is the only one of my children to receive this trait. "Okay, mommy. I promise I won't do it again." Her voice is soft and chipper and I lean in to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"Good girl. Now come on, your uncle Dom and aunt Nicole are gonna be over soon for dinner," I tell her, and her fire eyes light up even more, the flames even brighter than her father's, if that's even possible.

"Ooh, does that mean cousin Aurora is coming over, too?" She asks, as giddy as ever.

I giggle and nod. "Yes, she's coming."

"Yay!" She screams, ecstatic that her only girl friend is coming over. And with that, she jumps off the stool and runs into the backyard to join her other siblings, wanting to roll in the mud and wrestle just like her big brothers. And there's a lot of them. Seven, to be exact. And Charlie just so happens to be my only daughter.

You see, this house is filled with so much testosterone, that I'm afraid Charlie and I won't survive. She's the youngest of the eight, very rambunctious children--only six years old. But don't let that fool you, she's probably stronger than all of them and her favorite thing to do is pull pranks on her brothers.

I even help her on some occasions. Us girls gotta stick together in a house full of boys. She's Cole's only child, making him extra protective of her. We'd tried for a kid together for years, but it seemed we could never conceive. So when we found out I was pregnant with Charlotte, we were so incredibly happy. I couldn't stop crying; she's like our little miracle. And her brothers are just as protective of their little sister.

My oldest is Blake at 15; he thinks he practically runs the house and believes that just because he has a girlfriend that he claims to be his mate and the love of his life, that he's a man now and can make his own rules. He thinks that just because he's the oldest and that his father is the alpha to our little pack, as my husbands like to call it, that he gets to boss around all of his younger siblings. He gets his strong mind and options from Xavier--and his red hair and green eyes, of course. He's basically the sitting image of his father and looks nothing like me. And I know, as with all of my sons, he'll be a real hit with the ladies. They all received very good genes.

And the triplets. Lord, don't even get me started on the triplets. All three of them--Aaron, Anthony, and Alex--are the trouble makers of the house! Charlotte may play pranks on them and her other brothers, but they play pranks on everyone! I found a snake in my shoe one time, and I don't even want to know how they got that. They have their father's charcoal black hair but my ocean blue eyes and they're 14, all completely identical. Though, I can still tell them apart... thank God. I'm sure their pranks would only be worse if I couldn't.