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Things had all fallen into place after the Avalon incident. We even got a personalized apology from Arthur, Avalon’s father—the family had an unnatural obsession, claiming to be descendants of the legendary king—though I didn’t for one second believe that he was innocent in the enslavement of shifters. He’d probably only apologized to distance himself from any bad publicity.
Nigel had conveniently gone missing, and while I had my suspicions that Zayn or maybe even Gunnar might have had something to do with it, I kept my mouth shut. Honestly, it was best if I didn’t know. The EA and the police just thought he’d gone into hiding, and Avalon’s family wasn’t going to stick their neck out for him.
After breakfast we started moving the boxes I’d lined up in the hallway out to his truck. Since we were keeping my condo, we didn’t need to move everything, just all the magical artifacts I needed to surround myself with, my spell books, and my other favorite things. The furniture was staying. We got Salt and Pepper into their carrier, and we were off.
The drive out was just as much fun as it was the first time. And then we were there. Home.
“I have something to show you.” Zayn took my hand and led me around to the back of the cottage.
I gasped. The outdoor enclosure for the ratties he’d designed was already in place. He must’ve snuck out throughout the week to work on it.
There was a giant rat tree in the center of the enclosure, protected from the rain under the gazebo. It looked custom-built and was much sturdier than the one they had indoors. There was a tunnel leading from the rat tree to the exterior walls and ledges—complete with railings to prevent falling because Salt was, and always would be, a klutz—climbing ropes, and other fun details. There were tons of hammocks and hidey houses everywhere. It was rodent heaven.
There was even a feeding station with little ceramic food bowls for when they wanted a snack, and—
“Oh my God, is that a drinking fountain?!” It was one of the ones that moved the water around to keep it aerated. Zayn had added some clean river rocks to it to make it look more natural.
“I thought they might like a water feature. We can upgrade or tweak it later if they like it.”
“You sneaky bastard. I love you so much.” I threw my arms around him, still holding the pet carrier.
He chuckled. “It’s not completely finished yet.” He pointed to an empty space. “I wanted to create an area for you to do your yoga, but we need a rat-proof chest to store the mats and blocks first.”
Zayn had already spent enough time with my rats to realize they loved chewing yoga mats. Every single yoga mat I owned had the corners chewed off. The blocks, too. Something about the texture was just *chef’s kiss* to rodents.
We let the babies out into their new play area and cuddled up on the metal and fabric love seat next to the rat tree. Unpacking could wait.
“Thank you, Zayn. I love it.”
Salt jumped over from the rat tree, with Pepper following behind. They grabbed Zayn’s arms and started grooming his arm hair.
“And they obviously love it too.”
Zayn cupped my face in his hands. “I never got to build you a proper nest. That burrow in the woods didn’t count: I looked it up and nagas build their mates mansions.” He looked around. “You already had the perfect place, so I decided to at least build a mansion for your ratties, and do everything I could to make this a forever home for both of us.”
Warmth filled my heart. “We can build our nest together.”
“What’s our next project?” he asked.
“I think the downspout—”
“Way ahead of you,” Zayn said triumphantly. “Already fixed. And I ordered the UV clarifier for the algae in the pond.”
“Ooooh, talk dirty to me, baby,” I said, laughing. “What’s next? Vacuuming topless?”
“Better.”
“Better than you cleaning in nothing but briefs?” I gasped. “Impossible. Surely you jest.”
“Salt and Pepper have been practicing a new trick for you.”
“Oh really?” This I wanted to see.
“Yup. Salt. Pepper, go get The Thing.”
I frowned when Pepper ran straight to the corner of the enclosure as if he’d been here before. Clearly, I was the last one to find out about this place. Zayn had “borrowed” my rats for “company” this past week. He must have been here teaching them to…to what? This was going to be good.
Pepper returned from behind a rock holding a little velvet box with a ribbon tied around it to make it easier to carry in his mouth. Salt “helped” by batting at it and generally making the entire process more difficult.
