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We all leaned closer, and Becca gasped and started tearing. She ran to Millie and gave her a hug. “I love it, Millie!”
“That looks just like us,” Brandon said. “And my wolf, strolling down the sidewalk. You did good, Millie.”
“Jill and Luc, you two are in your painting, too, with your wolf,” Millie said.
“You’re not going to tell us where?” Luc asked, standing up to take a closer look at his painting, Jill right by his side.
“Yours was too much fun to mix into the sea of people. Thought I’d let y’all find it for yourselves.”
“Well, while they look, I want to see the third painting. Bruno and Jacob have been keeping it a secret,” Mom said.
Millie went into the room and brought out our painting. The silence that swept across the room meant more to me than any other showings of appreciation. They all knew the spot well.
“Fated mates,” Mom said, looking at Dad. “It never fails to amaze me.”
“So, son,” Dad said. “You going to go on your world travel soon?”
I looked at him and didn’t know what to say. Everyone laughed.
“He was the first to know about your secret spot. You think you could keep your life dream from him?” Dredge said, squeezing my shoulder as he walked by.
“I think it’s time you went to explore a bit. Do less planning and just live for a while,” Dad said.
“I . . .” I was dumbstruck. I looked at Millie, only to find she was smiling.
“I’d love to go with you if you’d still like to travel, Jacob,” she said. “Like you said, we should meet new people, and maybe the other shifters Denis mentioned. We could gauge the changes that are happening outside of Sugarville on behalf of the pack.”
“Yes! Denis and I can steer you two on which packs to meet first, if that is what you’d like to do,” Dad said.
Finally finding my voice, I said, “This is wonderful, Dad, thank you. We’ll start planning. But I would like to wait for Bruno to be back before leaving, though.”
“I think he’d like that too,” Mom said, giving my hand another squeeze.
“Maybe he’ll have found Lira by now, and we’ll have four weddings to plan soon,” Sandy said, still scheming about our weddings.
The laughter that filled the room sent joy straight through to my heart. My family was strong. Stronger than anything Pac could throw at us. And with my mate by my side, I’d do anything to make sure she stayed safe.
Epilogue
Pac
Miti stoodin front of me, her face thunderous. “I know what you’re up to, Pac, and you need to back down before you really see the McCullough wrath.”
“You think you do, but you have no idea what I’m up to. Luc, Brandon, and Jacob might be saved, but what about Bruno and Sandy? What about your own daughter and her husband? Even you know he’s too far gone to survive what’s coming.”
“Bruno will be safe soon. He has his mate.”
“If she wants him,” I said with a laugh. Finn would make sure Bruno didn’t have a chance to win Lira back.
“The tonic you made is rudimentary. I have found a way to cure the others.”
“But you don’t have the final ingredient, do you?” I wrapped my hands around the bars where I was being held prisoner and sneered at her. “You don’t have that last bit to tip the antidote to a full cure. You can only slow the mutation down. I heard what you think I’ve done—targeted their strength and used it against them. That I’ve taken away Theo’s and Dredge’s alpha powers. But you haven’t quite figured out what the mutation is doing, or why it’s still there even though you’ve done everything you could. You’re missing the special ingredient, and you and I both know it.”
The look on Miti’s face would give me sweet dreams tonight. Without saying another word, Miti turned around and marched away. I sang “The ants go marching one by one” in my head as I watched her figure get smaller and smaller and vanish into the forest.
“Finn!” I called out when she had gone.
“Yes?” Finn walked toward me from where he had been standing guard, no one the wiser that he was on my side and no longer under Theo’s rule.
“You heard everything?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Make sure Bruno gets another dose of the tonic you gave Suzy. We’ll keep the family focused on him while Esmi brings in the rest of our reinforcements.”
“Yes, I’ll take care of Bruno.”
He walked away, and I settled into the back of my cage. The McCullough pack didn’t know what was about to hit them.
* * *
