Chapter 15 Happily Forever After
Happily Forever After
The final notes of My Love Mine All Mine by Mitski dissolve like stardust in the softly lit hush of the reception hall.
Celeste Stavros catches her new wife’s waist in one hand and the nape of her neck in the other, dipping Winnie low over her arm.
She presses their lips together with a reverence that looks like forever.
Around them, fairy lights create a magic all their own. The DJ whispers the next track into being, and Celeste spins her wife outward, their fingers trailing from wrist to fingertip until they finally—reluctantly—break contact.
Celeste finds her teary-eyed father at the edge of the dance floor, where he waits for his turn to lead her in their father-daughter dance.
Nix loses sight of Winnie as she disappears in the crowd, her white gown trailing behind. He’s surprised when she reappears behind him, her gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Hey Nix, would you…” She gestures to the dance floor where her wife of three hours is dancing with the first (and only) man she has ever loved.
Nix doesn’t waste a second before taking her hand and tucking it into the crook of his elbow.
Jamie pats him on the back, and when Nix looks back at his mate, the sentimental alpha already has tears in his eyes. Nix must be wearing a matching love-struck expression when Winnie snorts and bumps him.
Thankfully, she lets it slide.
There’s a brief tangle of limbs and laughter as they both hesitate—each instinctively yielding, both too used to letting someone else lead. But after a few shuffled steps and a near toe-crush, they find the rhythm.
“You look surprised,” Winnie teases, eyes bright with mischief as she falls into step with him. “Walking me down the aisle didn’t give you any warning?”
He had been surprised—and incredibly honored—when she asked him to walk her down the aisle this week. He and the pack had arrived en masse for their annual trek to Florida, her wedding timed perfectly so all fourteen of them could attend, kids and chaos included.
If you’d asked him before that, he would’ve guessed she’d pick her brother for the first dance. For that sacred walk down the aisle.
The young beta has recovered entirely from his experience and is working with Ignatius at The Guild.
It turns out, having someone sucking your soul dry for seven years triggers some latent magic when it grows back.
Nothing major, but Ansel is thrilled to be using his new skills to help the Novices learn.
It’s a silver lining on a horrific experience, and Nix can’t imagine what Ansel would have been like without the magic he loves so much.
Nix does a lot of thinking about destiny when he thinks about Ansel Chappelle.
“Well, since that night in Ansel’s hospital room, you’ve been like a Dad to me. You know?”
“Hey, I’m not that much older than you. Be nice.”
She chuckles, and Nix feels his heart twinge. She’s always been beautiful—but today, she’s radiant in a way that doesn’t feel like makeup or lighting.
“Hey,” she says, voice teasing, “get that look off your face, mister. I just reapplied this mascara.”
Then, softer, her hand tightening just slightly on his arm: “I know you’re not old. But I wanted to tell you…er, show you—how you’ve changed my life.”
Nix doesn’t know what to say. He hadn’t done more than offer her little family shelter and introduce her to the Stavros family almost eleven years ago. “You’re welcome, although I think you’ve changed our lives, too.”
She rolls her eyes, stopping on the dance floor so she can hold his cheeks in her hands.
“Nix. Just let me tell you I love you, without all your humble bullshit, yeah?” She squeezes his cheeks, and Nix tries to blow them out to dislodge her, but instead, he just succeeds in making a weird fishy face and blowing a raspberry.
“Yeah, okay. But just this once. I rely on my humble bullshit to convince people I’m harmless.”
“Harmless? I doubt that.” She looks skeptical. “But, I’m serious. You changed everything for me and Ansel. So, yeah…thanks.” Her voice cracks at the end, and the normally tough-as-nails-woman lets a tear slide down her cheek.
“Hey, you just fixed your raccoon eyes. If you make me cry, Jamie is going to barge in here and ruin our father-daughter dance for real. No! Don’t make eye contact. He’ll see it as a reason he should butt in.”
“Yeah, but who will he be whisking away, me or you?” It’s a good question. Jamie loves Winnie. He has done so from the start. Treating her like the younger sister he’d never had. But also making sure the Chapelles had wanted for nothing. In truth, it’s Jamie who has changed their life.
“Do we want to find out, though?” Nix asks as he twirls her around toward the opposite side of the dance floor.
As they pass, Nix catches sight of Grayson at the bar, deep in conversation with Ansel.
Both hold half-drained glasses, their postures relaxed but animated.
Probably Guild business. Grayson’s scheduled to lecture and run two seminars at The Guild this week, showcasing his Plain-infused artwork to a new audience of prospective staff and students.
Outside the restroom, Finn is reluctantly holding court with at least four physicians Celeste had invited. It’s as if they’d been lying in wait for him, ready to pounce the moment he emerged, eager to dissect his latest Andrological research like it’s the evening’s real main event.
He listens, nodding as if this happens all the time. It does.
Leo had magnanimously offered to take the kids and Rowan home, given the evening’s festivities were geared more to the over-eighteen crowd than the twelve-and-under, or those who can transform into a wolf.
Gideon and Luca are somewhere, and based on their glowing bonds, engaged in some risky, exhibitionist sexy times.
“No, this is my dance,” she says and hugs him closer. “I’ll be sure to tease him later and see if I can get him to shake it for a Long Road Home song. I have three in the queue.”
Nix laughs. There might be enough booze for the alpha to get up and sing something, too, if she asks nicely. Or if she can’t stop him…it’ll be a toss-up.
“You’re still happy,” she whispers—almost to herself. “Even after everything.”
He’s not sure if she’s asking or if she’s making a very accurate observation. “Mmm. Very. They’re all…wonderful. Why?”
She looks over his shoulder, so Nix turns her ninety degrees so he can see what’s caught her attention.
Celeste is holding up her sobbing father.
They’ve come to a standstill on the dance floor.
Nix doesn’t speak more than a few words in Greek, but Mr. Stavros is clutching his beloved daughter to him like he’s lost her forever, and like they don’t just live next door.
“I love her, you know. More than anyone or anything. It’s…”
“Scary.”
Her eyes snap to his, “Yeah. I’m petrified. Petrified, I’m going to lose her, or love her too hard, or whatever…it’s a lot.”
Nix can identify with that. He’s got seven mates that he loves in the same way. He won’t tell her it’s sometimes worse with the kids. “But it’s worth it.”
“I know it is. I know. But how do I live with it? It hurts so…good.” Another tear makes its way down her cheek.
Ansel appears behind her shoulder, on the edge of the floor and the familiar song is coming to an end.
Nix pulls the cotton handkerchief Lauren had pressed into his hand when she’d put them into the cars. It had a tiny yellow sun embroidered on it. He dabs at Winnie’s tears before tucking it into her palm.
“You live. You love her every day, the most you can; and you live. That’s it. Be sure to tell her all the time. Show her how much she has changed your life for the better.”
Nix can’t help the love he sends across his bonds, lighting his mates up wherever they are.
He hears Jamie’s gasp from across the room and knows he’s going to have a protective alpha on his hands in ten seconds.
Grayson is quicker, hovering behind Ansel, his soulmate filling their soul with adoration and a sizzle of desire.
He hears Nix? across his link with Finn, who has stopped speaking mid-sentence. They’re still working on the two-way nature of the bond, but so far, they can manage this and one other thing.
I’m good, Finnie. Love you.
I love you, too.
He focuses on Winnie again just as the last notes of the song play. She hauls him into her arms and turns so she can kiss him on the cheek. “You make it sound easy, but I think I can do that. Thanks—for everything.”
He kisses her cheek in return, watching as Jamie and Grayson play rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to dance with him next. There’s a soft hand at his waist, and Luca slips up behind him with Gideon in tow.
“Can we have this dance?” Luca asks, smelling of mocha-thunderstorms and satisfaction. Yum.
Gideon already has his hand on Nix’s hip when he hazards a glance at the two distracted alphas, not realizing they are about to miss their opportunity.
Whispering so only he can hear, he chuckles. “Love you, Oswina Stavros-Chappelle.”
“Ditto, Nix Rhodes. I’ll see you later, yeah?” she says, waving the handkerchief at him before walking into her brother’s arms. Her moment of concern is whisked away by an exaggerated tango. Nix hopes her feet survive.
He lets Gideon and Luca hold him close as another song starts up.
“You happy, Kitten?” Gideon kisses his temple.
Just to hear him squeal, Nix nips Luca’s cheek.
Grayson and Jamie finally call time on their game, admitting they’ve been outmaneuvered and deciding to dance together instead. Within moments, they’re jostling for the lead just like Nix and Winnie had.
Finn cuts in with a wry grin and leads both enigmas in a surprisingly creative shuffle that makes everyone laugh.
As laughter rings around him, Nix lets his love for each of them unfurl down the threads of their bonds, gentle and warm, reaching even across the distance to Leo and Rowan, who are probably reading bedtime stories and playing video games with their kids.
He feels the love flow right back just as bright.
“Yeah, I’m happy.”