Epilogue
October, 2037
Samantha, age 48
Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve
“Ash! Rowan! Get in here, you two,” I yelled from my front porch, frowning at my teenage twin males who were about to collapse from running around playing some made-up werefootball game with their father's wolf, who just got a glare from me. He was the one should know better, and instead he was usually the main instigator among the three of them. He contritely tucked his tail between his legs and gave me a sad look before darting off into the forest. The faker. The pups stumbled into our mud room, red-faced and breathless, toed off their boots and carelessly shrugged off their jackets, before yelling: “Mooom, is lunch ready?”
“Shower first, you both reek.”
I missed Sage. She’d left for college in August and I'd been missing her like crazy, not only as my firstborn pup and only daughter, but also as a female presence in the house. I was now outnumbered by males and I felt and smelled every second of it. I tried calling her again, but it went to voicemail. Again. I hadn't heard from her in two days, and I was starting to get worried. She knew that three days was the maximum radio silence period that I would be willing to tolerate (and that during exam season!) before jumping on a plane and going to rescue my pup from some imaginary harm. She’d better call me back, soon.
My Sage had gotten acceptance letters from multiple medical schools, but she'd settled on one in Illinois. I was glad that if she was already going to be so far away from us, she’d at least be close to my parents and Lainey. With me and James co-running the Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska, we were kind of stuck in the wilderness in case of true emergencies. And since aunt Alaina and uncle Lucas were her inspiration for becoming a doctor (she was leaning towards trauma surgery for now), I was sure she would keep in touch and visit them regularly, which calmed my mamma wolf heart greatly. I loved our current posting, and I hoped to stay here indefinitely. Living in the biggest national park in the whole country, at 13.2 million acres, was the experience of a lifetime. We'd moved to Alaska ten years ago, when Sage was 9 and Ash and Rowan were 5, and I was still discovering new things every day – whether it was one of the majestic glaciers (one of them 53 miles long!), the snow covered mountain peaks (9 of the 16 highest peaks in the US were right here), subpolar icefields, a 14.163 ft tall active volcano, the rivers spawning salmon, the wildlife, the ocean - all of it was straight out of a winter fairy tale. One thing I knew for sure was that my pups had been given the best childhood possible: spending their days in the purest nature there was, playing outside for hours without any screens or technology clouding their young minds, far away from pollution and stress. It was now in their blood, and no matter where life took them, I knew they would eventually find their way back to it.
Our Alaska pack, Fireweed, was a true pack - entire families lived on the Preserve territory and could function like a traditional pack since we were isolated enough from human settlements. James had grown into the most driven and focused Alpha I’d ever met, and I could only hope that I was bringing the same level of dedication and fierceness to my Luna role. He kept reassuring me that I was, but most of the time he was trying to get in my pants, so I took it with a grain of salt. Right as I felt a tiny jolt of arousal at the thought, strong arms caged me from behind and James licked his mark on my neck, knowing full well that the action would cause my knees to give out, regardless of whether our children were in the house or not.
“What is my naughty mate thinking about?” he rumbled into my ear, and God, I wanted to jump him right there. Maybe the twins could apply for early admission to college, after all, they had walked in on enough things to be scarred for life so they had a lot of material for their personal essays. That thought knocked some sense into me and I deftly escaped his cage.
“The boys,” I hissed and he laughed. He knew exactly why I was so freaked out. He raised his arms in mock surrender.
“Did you manage to get a hold of Sage?”
“Not yet, I'll try again tonight. If she doesn't pick up, I'm buying that ticket,” he nodded thoughtfully, knowing I needed an outlet for my anxiety. I checked my phone again and I saw a missed call.
“She called!” I jumped and hugged James, who laughed joyfully and hugged me back. I heard the boys thundering down the stairs.
“Lunch is in the oven,” I yelled. “I'm calling Sage now.”
“Say hi to Sage,” they said in unison and then grinned at each other.
“Hi baby, I’m here with dad,” I said as I put her on speakerphone. “Where have you been, young lady?”
Sage laughed and cheerfully said: “Hello mom, hello dad, hello Rowan and Ash in the background!
And to answer your question of where I've been,” she paused dramatically and I gripped James' hand, feeling like we were on the precipice of something.
“I have met my mate!” she squealed happily and I squealed back. James remained silent but had tears in his eyes.
“Oh my God, baby, tell me everything,” I was hyperventilating and I could tell the boys were extremely amused by the whole scene.
“Mom, I am running to class right now, I'll call you tonight to give you the details but the bullet points are: his name is Benjamin, he's the best, he is also a med student, not in my year though, he wants to be a psychologist, he has waited for me and we love each other very much,” she gushed as James and I shared a relieved look. “OK, gotta run, talk to you later, love you!”
And with this she hung up and I just sank into my mate’s arms, both of us smiling, forever grateful for our life.