AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t worry about it,” he chuckles. “Well, then…here’s what we’ve decided.”
I hold my breath, and Charlotte does, too.
“There’s an old cabin where we sometimes stay during hunts, out toward Austin,” he says. “The pack isn’t ready to let you stay here, but they’re willing to give you supplies to spruce the place up—the two of you. And you’re invited to our den meals as well, provided that you’re on your best behavior.”
“I get to stay, then?” I say.
“In a way, yeah,” Reyes says.
Then he gives me a good-natured smile.
“In fact, me and Charlotte’s other uncle will help you clean up the cottage ourselves.”
I look over at Charlotte, my heart on pause as I ask the question.
“So,” I say. “Will you move in with me?”
She nods, and a grin breaks over her face.
“I would love to.”
EPILOGUE
?
CHARLOTTE
Three Months Later
Since I came to live with the Austin pack, I’ve learned a lot of things.
The first is that we’re all still learning the rules. The pack is figuring out what it means to live together—and the chemical hierarchy that Lycans once lived under. Now that they’re under Reyes’ leadership and not controlled by the Angels, things are a little strange around here…but we make it work.
The second thing I learn is that the world can be a beautiful place, despite my first experiences of it. In the months that follow, I learn how to be a part of the pack. I get to know my new talents, which thrive under the light of the unfiltered moon, and I realize that I can heal and hunt and run with the rest of them. And it’s glorious to be something strange and different and wild and, most important of all,free. It’s something that I never had in Dallas, with my grandparents—who I’ll still speak to every so often, but I’m not ready to forgive.
And I’m learning to love Elijah.
It’s in the thing I noticed in our first days together: sly smiles and surprising sweetness, the little ways that he always stays honest with me and keeps me from slipping into the dark. And I know that Elijah doesn’t believe in God, but I start to wonder if there’s something to this whole thing with fate.
Because we really are good for each other.
The third thing I learn is a little more personal: going through your heat is a heck of a lot easier when you’re on contraceptives.
I feel the familiar shift crawl over my skin one warm summer morning, my flesh burning deliciously where I’m sprawled across the sheets. Birds sing outside, and I take a moment to savor how nice it is to wake up somewhere free—our own cabin near the den, where the fresh air blows through the windows. They didn’t want us staying out here alone, when we could always come under attack, but Elijah and I know how to keep ourselves safe.
Safe and warm and in love in our little nest.
My fingers curl against something warm and solid, and I smile against his skin as a sensation of deep desire overwhelms me. Two strong arms tighten around me, drawing me into a firm chest, and I sigh in contentment.
“Mornin’, Sunshine.”
I let my eyes flutter open and prop my chin on Elijah’s chest, looking into his blue eyes. With my knee draped between his legs, I can feel that he’s already turned on; he probably has been for hours, sensing the beginning of my heat before I was even awake. But he never wakes me up to have sex, even when I’m sure it starts to get uncomfortable.
It’s one of the many things I’ve come to appreciate about him since we got out of a situation where we were constantly fearing for our lives.
“Morning,” I reply, trailing my right hand up to tangle in his hair. He keeps it short usually, but right now it’s long—and I like treating it like a handle in certain situations.
Situations like the one we’re in right now.
