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“Hey!” Hunter jogged over, addressing Ava. “Did you ask Mom and Dad about the bonfire? Aw, who’s this guy?” He held out his hand for Argos to sniff.
“The bonfire is fine,” Max answered. He’d been enjoying watching them all interact so much that he’d almost completely forgotten about the question. There was a certain joy that came from hearing both of his kids refer to himself and Sarah as Mom and Dad, too. After such a long time of being estranged, it helped him know that they were truly together again. “Make sure any other kids who might want to roast marshmallows have what they need, too.”
Hunter and Ava ran off with Argos at their heels.
“I should probably go speak with Rex for a bit while I’m here,” Janice said, smiling as she watched the kids go. “I have a lot to learn about being an Alpha, and I sure didn’t learn anything about it from Edward.”
Max’s hand was still entangled with Sarah’s, and he tugged her toward him. “How are you holding up? I know this is a lot for you, and you were a bit nervous right before it all started.”
“I was,” she admitted as she slipped her hands around his waist. “Logically, I knew everything would work out, but there was still this little nudge of fear at the back of my mind. I imagine it’ll be there for a while, but I’m working on it.”
He kissed her forehead. “I don’t want you to ever be afraid again.”
“That’ll come with time. Knowing that the Greystones are firmly in good hands will only help that, as well as the alliance with the Glenwoods. But don’t worry about me, Max. I’m fine. I’ve got you and the kids, and that’s all I really need. You know?”
He held her tightly against him. It was unbelievable just how much time they’d spent apart, longing for the other. They’d held on, hoping and waiting, and it was all worth it. He had his mate back, the one woman he wanted in the entire universe, and she looked up at him with such desire and contentment in her eyes. His kids were a short distance away: the son he’d been raising and the daughter he was overjoyed to meet.
Both of their packs surrounded them now, and Max felt his life was finally complete. “I do.”
THE END
If you enjoyed Max and Sarah’s story, read on for a preview of Dawn and Gage’s story,Rejected Midlife Wolf!
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Dawn
“We’ve got one coming in on the ambulance. It sounded like a bad one over the radio. Animal attack of some sort.”
“Really?” Dawn’s heart pounded as she finished cleaning up and pulled on a fresh pair of gloves. Her wolf was on high alert as she followed Nicki to the back of the ER. She knew animals didn’t just attack people, at least not usually. The same fears that had driven her into the medical field in the first place also made her job far more difficult.
The doors burst open as the paramedics raced in with the gurney. “He’d bleeding badly. Unconscious. Looks like he was ripped apart by something.”
Dawn’s eyes scanned the pressure bandages that’s been placed on him just to keep him together. There wasn’t a single thread of them that wasn’t soaked with blood. “Vitals?”
“Not good. His BP keeps dropping. We worked on him the whole way here, but we couldn’t do much more.”
“Name?” She grabbed her flashlight and moved up toward his head while several more clinicians came crowding in. This was a bad one, and it was going to take a team. Dawn was about to check his pupils and see if he could hear her, but as she stepped toward his head, she paused.
Blood dripped from a wound near his scalp, and one eye was quickly swelling shut. He was older now, with gray dotting the stubble along his jawline, but Dawn would recognize Gage Edwards anywhere.
Her mind flashed back to a crisp October day, and the pain stabbed through her heart all over again. She’d been so hopeful. What the two of them had could’ve been so right, and she’d only wanted to make it better. His angry words echoed in her mind, his face twisted with hatred.
“Dawn? Earth to Dawn…”
She fell back into the present, sure she’d been gone for only a moment, and looked up at Nicki. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“Some lady found him on the side of the road like this,” the paramedic supplied in response to her earlier question. “All we have is what was on his license, Gage Edwards.”
No matter what she knew about him, she had a job to do. In fact, it wasbecauseof what she knew about him that her job was all the more important. Shifters were everywhere in the Eugene area, but the vast majority of the humans had no idea they existed. It was her duty to make sure no one caught onto Gage’s true identity.
That meant she had to pretend she didn’t know a damn thing. Dawn reactivated herself, willing her body to fall into the typical routine of a trauma patient. She checked his pupils and frowned. “Mr. Edwards? Gage? Can you hear me? Move your fingers if you can hear me.”
Nothing happened.
The paramedics got out of the way and onto their next emergency, leaving them to their job.
