Page 65 of Violet

Liam smirks. “Then we'd better get started.”

Epilogue

Violet

“It's going to take me a while to get used to you looking like that,” Betty says as we walk up the front steps to Spell Library.

“I’m really sorry I lied to you about who I was, Betty. I—”

“I know you had no choice and I understand, my dear.” She pats my hand warmly. “And I’m so happy you’re mates with my Liam. Makes you my granddaughter, you know.”

“Now that’s going to take a while to get used to,” I tell her honestly as she starts to open the library door. “Betty, wait. Are you sure I should even be here?”

“You still have a library card, don’t you?” She asks. “And we can’t have a Mood Tea and Books meeting without you. It wouldn’t be right.”

I’m not sure being here is right, but I step inside anyway. I can’t avoid the library forever—it’s where all the books are. Plus, Nole works here, so I’m bound to end up coming to his workplace to see him. Not to mention that I really do love this place... and even if I can’t work here, at least I can still come here to read.

“Meo-uff!” Stacks races up to me, tail wagging, the moment we step through the door.

"I missed you, little guy." I bend down and scratch him behind the ears.

The cat-dog flops onto his back, belly up.

“Are you coming to Mood Tea and Books, Stacks?” I tease as I fall to my knees so I can give his belly a good rub.

My brand new jeans pull tight and ride low—a feeling I’m not used to after a year in Granny Wear—but if the benefit is that I get to look my age, I’m so not complaining.

I give him one final scratch, get to my feet—pull up my jeans—and follow Betty across the main floor. A main floor which, I realize, is completely empty.

“Where did everybody go?” I frown. Nole’s not behind the front desk, and there’s absolutely no sign of the new librarian he said would be starting today. Plus, the tables, the couches, the shelves—they’re completely devoid of people.

“They’re probably already in the program room,” Betty says, like it’s perfectly normal not to have a single patron on the main floor.

Then again, nothing about being back at Spell Library feels normal. Since the first day I set foot in this building, I was always the eighty-year-old librarian, but for the first time, I’m just me. And I don’t even work here. Plus, crossing the main floor to the program room takes under a minute, instead of ten that leave me breathless, which definitely feels foreign.

"Surprise!" everyone shouts as I step inside the program room ahead of Betty, and I jump back so quickly I nearly crash into my old friend.

“What’s going on?” I ask, looking around the crowded room. It’s filled with familiar faces—library patrons, friends, and family alike.

All three of my mates are here—instead of at work, like I thought. My sister’s standing next to a table of Mood Teas with all three of her mates. And Violet’s smiling happily up at hers.

My old friend no longer has her walker, and even though she still looks eighty, she told me this morning that she feels like she’s twenty. I shifted into her—what, I spent a year in her body... I had to see for myself—and it’s true. All the aches, all the pains, and the constant exhaustion—all of that was gone. Instead, there was just youthful energy packed into an older body—a body that her mates don’t seem to mind one bit. There is so much heat in the vampires’ eyes I’m surprised all four of them don’t go up in flames. Though it does explain why everyone keeps sneaking peeks at them. I guess a Granny Harem is going to take some getting used to, even in a town like Silver Springs.

A loud cough echoes across the room, and the crowd parts to reveal the town mayor. The ogre stomps across the room, heading straight for me, but just knowing that I’m not alone gives me courage I didn’t think I had.

“Hello, Mayor Shchnarl.” I give him my friendliest smile.

“Violet.” His red eyes bore into me. "I'd like to offer you your old job back.”

My jaw drops. “You would? Why?”

“You’re supposed to say ‘I’ll take it’,” Violet chuckles, as do a few other people in the room.

“Of course I’ll take it,” I tell the mayor quickly, before he can change his mind. “But I thought I was fired?”

“You probably shouldn’t remind the mayor of that,” Violet says helpfully. I kind of want to strangle her. In a ‘I love my best friend but she’s driving me nuts’ kind of way.

“It turns out you’re good at your job and people like you,” the mayor says, like the whole concept is foreign to him. “I received a petition to have you reinstated, and it has over a thousand signatures.”