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EPILOGUE
A MONTH LATER
My head’s cocked to the side, hair cascading over my shoulder as I sit at my kitchen table, waiting. I’ve got a loose curl wrapped around the pointer finger of my right hand. With the left, I’m running my fingertips over the thin white scars that pepper my collarbone.
That’s not the only place I have marks. There’s a noticeable bite on the side of my throat, a couple of slivers that trail the rounded curve of my boob from where Duke used one of his fangs. At my urging, he marked one of my butt cheeks, and that’s not counting all of the tiny scars I have from when he gets too excited and his claws come out during mating.
I’m a shifter. If I wanted to, I could heal each and every one of those injuries without leaving even the hint of a scar. But that’s the thing. I don’t want to. I spent my whole life being the empty-headed pretty girl with a bad attitude and a selfish streak. For so long, I believed the only thing I had going for me was my looks. I used to think I was perfect.
Ha.
A human might look at the white marks that cover me and wonder if I’m some kind of walking pincushion. A supe would wonder why my intended—because we’re not fully bonded just yet—felt the need to scratch me up like that. But a she-wolf… she would know that I kept my marks because I treasure the physical proof that I’m wanted.
That I’mloved.
The first time we mated, I marked Duke. I know now that that was my wolf finding a way to send us both a message. Even if I was stubbornly oblivious to my feelings for him, my wolf, at least, recognized who he was to us. She was laying claim to him the only way she could.
Every time after that, I implored him to take his turn. My big mate was hesitant at first… until he woke up next to me the next morning and saw that the bite on my throat was still there. It nearly broke my heart when I realized he expected me to have healed it after he finished. As if. This male is mine, and he has been since I scratched his neck. It was only fair that I showed all of Accalia that I was his, too.
As if the rest of the pack didn’t know. Audrey admitted that Grant was running a small pool, taking bets on how long it would take before Duke got up the nerve to tell me that we were mates. Seems as ifeveryoneknew except for me, but because of his standing as one of Ryker’s top enforcers, they didn’t want to interfere in case I rejected him.
I can’t even say that they’re wrong. Duke knew for four years that I was his, but he watched as I did everything I could to get Ryker to choose me as his mate. He believed—like I did—that I was in love with the Alpha. That’s why I never recognized the promise of a mate bond with Duke. He purposely shielded me from it so that I could shoot my shot with Ryker. And when he thought that I would be better off without him, he tried to leave.
Good thing I didn’t let him go. I begged him to stay with me, and he has.
I wish I could say that, if he’d told me back then, everything would be different. I don’t know if that’s the case. That Trish might’ve done just what my packmates feared and thrown away a good male for one she could never have. No, Duke needed the Trish that went through hell and came out on the other side of it a better match for him.
Do I think I deserve him? Not even a little. He’s too good for me, though he begs to differ; that’s why he tried to leave me, because he thought I’d be happy without him. Doesn’t matter that he’s wrong and I’m right. Selfish Trish marked him, she’s mated him, and when he returns from tonight’s council meeting, I’m going to make him my forever mate so that he can never try to leave me behind again.
Maybe then he’ll finally get it through his thick skull that’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me…
I just… I can’t imagine what’s so important that Ryker needed to call his entire pack council to the den earlier this afternoon. Every single mature shifter in Accalia knows that tonight is the night of the full moon. Unmated shifters will be looking for some way to scratch the itch, bonded mates know better than to be separated when the Luna is at her peak, and an intended pair won’t want to miss the one night of the month that their bond can be blessed and made whole.
The Wicked Wolf is no longer a threat to our pack. His Beta and the few sycophants he still maintained after the Western Pack disbanded are either dead or underground. The upheaval that happened in the Fang City on the edge of pack land when the old head vamp was murdered back in February has finally settled down.
For once, there’s no hint of a Claws and Fangs war on the horizon. The vampires are keeping to their own business, and the shifter world seems to be calm again after the Alpha collective decided that the Luna-touched female with the gift to break bonds isn’t a concern to the rest of us.
Any traitors in Accalia have been sussed out. Aidan Barrow—may the Luna curse his soul—was the last one, and though I know Audrey will never get over her brother’s betrayal, it’s been almost a year since Shane disrupted Ryker and Gem’s Luna Ceremony. We have an Alpha couple that has brought stability back to the pack after the loss of our last one, and I finally have my future to look forward to.
Claws crossed.
As long as my future includes Duke, I can handle anything life throws at me. I proved it already, and though I had to rely on the strength of my mate to get this far, isn’t that what a mate is for? A partner in life, someone who can hold me up when I’m too tired, too weak, too frightened to stand? Someone that I can be possessive over, and claim as mine, whether by the marks on his throat or how deeply my scent gets embedded in his skin.
Duke smells like something musky. Something woodsy. A hint of pine, of course, but also cinnamon. He smells like me.
Over the scent of the roast I have resting on top of my stove, sides prepared for a pre-mating dinner I made specifically for Duke, I search for some hint of him. Though he didn’t know why the meeting was being called, either, he promised he’d be back before it got too late.
That was three hours ago, and I’m still waiting.
It’s fine. I’m not worried that he’s not coming back. I’m not afraid that he’s realized what he’s getting into, or that he’s rejecting me. I know Duke now. In some ways, I’ve always known him. He’ll be here.
He has to be.
Through the whisper of a bond that stretches between us, I sense him before I catch his scent. Jumping up, I make sure that I look okay. Because we both know exactly how tonight’s going to end, I changed into one of my old shift dresses while I was waiting for him to come back to me. No bra, no panties, just a simple dress that will make it easier to get naked once I have my male where I want him.
Running my fingers through my curls, I pronounce myself as ready as I’m going to get. I have to remind myself that, while performing the Luna Ceremony is a much bigger affair for the Alpha couple, tonight is just for me and Duke. He loves me no matter what I look like, and even if I didn’t do my hair and put on some make-up, he wouldn’t care.
Still, it’s definitely a boost to my confidence when I throw open the door for Duke a second before he reaches for the knob and my male’s jaw drops when he gets a good look at me.
