Epilogue
Piper
Five Years Later
After that attack, we took Alanna to King Asharien because we were worried about Alanna having powers at only a few months old. And rightly so, because the King was so concerned her powers had switched on early that he had them sealed until she came of age at seventeen.
Which meant that Riggs and I had one less thing to worry about when she hit her teens.
Otherwise, I could totally see her zapping me with lightning when she got irritated with me.
Even with her getting her powers back at seventeen, I idly wondered if I needed to invest in a rubber suit. Just in case.
So we had until her seventeenth birthday to teach her things that every teen wants to learn. Things like kindness, respect, responsibility... and even forbearance. Because as much fun as it would be to zap sucky people, it was still against paranormal law—except in extenuating circumstances.
But today I was trying not to worry about when she got her powers back, because today marked almost five years to the day that I first came to the Lodge.
The day I had met my mate.
I came out onto the front porch of the Lodge with a steaming cup of hot cocoa. I could hear giggles, even though I couldn’t see Alanna counting aloud behind a tree as bear shifters scampered across the lawn, hiding in various places.
She could only count to fifty, so that was how long the bears had to hide.
I smirked into my mug as Matteo slid into the hot tub with a quiet sigh and tried to keep his head low so Alanna wouldn’t spot him.
Taco hid in a trash can, no surprises there.
Mathan and Alistair hid behind trees in the yard, and Drew flattened himself in a clump of wildflowers.
She found him first.
Really, it was his own fault. It wasn’t like the flowers had invisibility powers.
Seeing the trash can move suspiciously, she marched over to it, her tulle princess skirt gently lifting in the wind. Instead of touching the filthy trash can, which she would hate, she picked up a stick and whapped the outside of the container.
“Taco, that’s gross!”
Taco poked his head out of the trash can and made faces at her until she ran off giggling again. She found Matteo last, so the hot tub had been a good hiding spot after all.
Matteo had healed completely from the poison he’d been injected with within six months, but they had been a difficult six months for him. Shifter biology healed faster, but there were always certain conditions it couldn’t naturally power through quickly. The elven potions had saved his life.
Matteo splashed Alanna, and she giggled. I idly wondered where Matteo’s mate had gone off to, and why she wasn’t out here playing hide-and-seek with Alanna and the bears. She normally was the first person volunteering.
Arms came around me, and I sighed as I settled back against Riggs’ chest. He stole my hot chocolate out of my hands and took a sip, but it was too sweet for him, and he made a face.
“You eat honey plain. How can that be too sweet for you?”
He nibbled my neck and my ear. “I like salt with my sweet. Like you.”
I laughed and turned, setting my hot cocoa on a window ledge so I could wrap my arms around my mate.
“Did Levi go down okay?”
“Like a champ. He should be out for a couple of hours.” He kissed me. When we finally pulled apart, his eyes were stormy. “Go get dressed. I’m taking you out.”
I was gone so fast off the porch that his laughter followed me in. Levi was a few months old now, and Riggs and I hadn’t been on a date in months.
I had no worries about either of our kids, because the bears would look after them.
It would be polite to ask them, but I had a feeling my mate had already done that.
One of the perks of having a Clan full of bear shifters who adored my children was the free babysitting. And they spoiled them rotten.
I showered and got ready quickly, then went to find my mate. The bond was always helpful when I was trying to track him down.
I heard the sobbing before I came upon them.
“What happened?”
Alanna was sobbing in my mate’s arms. He was soothing her by rubbing little circles on her back and holding her against his chest, murmuring something low to her. When Alanna heard my question, she cried even harder.
I sat next to them and tried my best to soothe her as well. I combed the hair away from her wet face with my fingers and looked at my mate for an explanation.
She doesn’t want us to leave.
She’s having separation anxiety again?
We’d gone through this with Alanna in the first few years of her life. Draven believed it was because the first few months of her life were so tumultuous and chaotic. She had a deep fear of people leaving her and never coming back, and she also suffered from a lot of anxiety.
I sighed, ready to concede my evening out, but my tenderhearted mate was one step ahead of me.
We can’t leave her, he said, and his inner voice sounded raw and wounded at the tears and pain of his little girl.
It just made me love him more.
I kissed him lightly. Of course we can’t. Let’s set up a movie and do a family night instead.
His blue eyes met mine. Do we include the Clan?
Of course. They’re family too.
Riggs called everyone in, and the bears went to work setting up a pillow and blanket fort in front of the couches.
Drew got Alanna’s favorite princess movie ready, and Alistair got the snacks.
Taco provided entertainment by trying to cheer Alanna up and made her giggle a time or two.
Mathan had the baby monitor clipped to his pants, listening for Levi, while Matteo quickly showered, changed, and joined us.
Thirty minutes into the movie, I was snuggling with my mate on the couch, and Alanna was snuggling with her bears in their blanket fort.
When she laughed at something on the screen, I smiled softly and kissed my mate.
Life in the Clan could certainly be chaotic... but it was also joyful. When my sister was killed, I had been going through the motions. Scared. Alone. Frazzled and weary. But finding Riggs, and finding the Clan... it had saved us.
It had saved me.
And I was grateful every day that they’d come into our lives.