The wind blows calmly, like the calm before a storm. Except that the storm has already happened and has swept away everything that seemed pristine, staining it with mud and destroying it down to its foundations.

Nine years. Nine years since the disaster; since the storm. Ever since the Sons of Ruin perished and the North Dragons took over, it all seemed like a mere chapter in a story. A book that had already closed its covers and been forgotten on a dusty shelf.

Serpent's hand—well, Dominik's—reaches into the pocket of his leather jacket; and he brushes his fingertips over the small badge he keeps there as a reminder of his small victory. *A year clean and sober.* That's the most surreal thing of all. He's no longer a criminal, and although it took him many years, Dominik has finally given up drugs. Not for himself. But for his woman.

His free arm slides down her back, gently pulling her against him; letting her head rest on his shoulder. “How are you feeling, babe? Back pain a lot?”

He still doesn’t know what he did to deserve her. She’s been there since the beginning; since he came to her house for comfort. She took him back one of the many times he ran away from the detox clinic even though he broke her heart a thousand times. And there she is. By his side.

“Knox called me, he’s soon coming to see us—” a smile slides across his features, placing his hand, the one he had in his pocket, on his woman’s bulging belly.

She couldn't be more radiant, and Dominik is happy just because she is, even though at first he was terrified of being a father because of his own father and all the things he did to him when he was little. But damn, now that she's nine months along, almost ready to give birth, he couldn't be happier. The storm has passed, and he's going to have a child. A child he already knows he'll name Zephyr.

And if any North Dragon tries to harm his now family, they'll have to deal with Dominik first.

His hand pats his wife's belly. “—And he is also going to see the first *grandson of ruin*.”