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“Oh great. Perfect for paying on the new house.” Kayla had been so eager to work on the house plans that Nate was glad she hadn’t seemed at all worried about it.
“If I lose anything in the woods, I’m coming to the two of you to help me find it,” Darien said. Lelandi, his mate, agreed.
“I guess the reward money will make up for them ruining my tires,” Nate said.
“And them being charged for the crimes will make up for them chasing us through the woods,” Kayla said.
“We’ll keep you informed as to when the court date will be so that you can testify against them, but until then, it’s time to celebrate.” Peter raised his glass of punch in another toast.
The siblings and their mates joined Kayla and Nate and smiled at them. “Only the two of you could take a vacation and turn it into a wild adventure,” Landon said. “And then come home from your vacation and continue the adventure.”
The jaguar sisters joined them then. Both were blue-eyed, but Odette was the taller of the twin sisters and the older. “I was going to offer our JAG services to make sure these men were put behind bars, but the two of you did all right on your own,” she said.
“Yeah. When our good friend Gabrielle mated Blake, we thought this was a perfectly safe place for her to be,” Zelda said, her dark hair sun-lightened to lighter than her sister’s.
Gabrielle smiled. “It is. Everyone has everyone else’s back.”
Dance music began to play, and several people started to dance.
“They’re playing our tune,” Kayla said, taking Nate to the dance floor and slow dancing nice and close to him.
“Oh, yeah?” He kissed her cheek. “I didn’t know we had a tune.”
“Yep. Any that is nice and slow like this? That’s our dance. You see, I’d planned to ask you to mate me today, so the celebration was supposed to be part of the seduction.”
He laughed. “So you were in charge of the playlist.”
“You better believe it. Wolves love to cuddle with wolves, so no one will object to my choice of dance music.”
He smiled and held her close. “Me, least of all.”
After feasting and dancing, they all headed over to the pack leaders’ home to set off an extravaganza of fireworks that would continue when Nate and Kayla returned home to their own special fireworks that said just how much the two wolves loved each other.
Tomorrow wouldn’t be just another workday, not now that they had each other to share their dreams with. Every day would be an adventure, and good or bad, they were ready to tackle it together.
“What did Phil’s parents say when you told them Phil was alive and well?” Kayla asked on the way home.
Nate shook his head. “They wished they hadn’t hired me.”
“Because you learned the truth about what Phil had been up to.” Kayla smiled at Nate as they got out of the van at the apartment. “Tonight is the final stage of our Fourth of July seduction. At least for a little while. Tomorrow? It starts all over again.”
“I was just going to say this is just the beginning.” Nate swept her up in his arms and carried her into their apartment.
This wasn’t exactly what she’d planned, but it had sure worked out well for her too. That was the thing about their relationship. They both added so much to it—planned or otherwise—to make it super special.
Epilogue
Three months later, the men involved in the robberies and Manning’s murder were all going to trial, and Kayla and Nate were ready to testify, hoping all of the men would be put behind bars for a very long time. At least Sarah and Ann took a deal to testify against the whole lot of them.
Kayla and Nate had their wedding and were staying at the same cabin for their honeymoon. They’d had a wild adventure last time, but they figured it would be quiet this time. And they’d made reservations for the cabin in between the new moon and the full moon so Kayla could shift at will. She loved that, though Nate was all for taking her someplace else for their honeymoon, far away so they could really be away from everything here. But she loved being here with the pack close by.
Here, they could still run as wolves when they wanted to. It was fall, perfect for warm fireplace fires and roasting hot dogs outside on the firepit. S’mores too. And cups of hot chocolate at night. The aspens leaves were bright yellow, fluttering about in the chilly breeze that night, bold orange to red maples, green pines, just beautiful. Thetemperature was sixty-six during the day, nearly freezing at night, but it was fine for running and swimming as wolves.
The fall was also great for snuggling during the day or the night! And it would be the last time that they could get away like this before their siblings’ twin babies were born.
Their first order of business was making love; then they ran as wolves and decided to make their way up to the waterfalls to watch the sun set. But as soon as they reached the top of the cliffs, they saw three men wading in the stream, trying to reach the edge of the Greater Silver Waterfall.
Not déjà vu. She glanced at Nate. He let out his wolf breath in frustration, his warmed breath a frosty mist. They should just let these people deal with the consequences of their actions. But if they got into trouble, Kayla and Nate didn’t want to have these men’s deaths on their conscience.
