Epilogue
Misha
The grass was so green Misha could almost feel it between his toes as he walked across the lawn in the backyard of the house he and Grim lived in since settling in Detroit. With Grim’s skin in need of lengthy healing and Misha wanting to order prosthetic legs, Grim’s nomadic lifestyle needed to stop, at least for a while, and so they rented a small home close to the clubhouse almost a year ago.
Strelka, their German shepherd, started running all around Misha, as if the earlier walk hadn’t been enough to unload all that youthful energy. She was still very young but also strong and obedient when she needed to be. Grim insisted Misha needed a dog for protection, just in case, and they regularly attended specialized lessons with a professional, who also helped them choose the puppy. The dog was taught to obey commands in Russian and followed Misha everywhere, which made him feel safer when Grim wasn’t around.
Misha’s prosthetics weren’t always the most comfortable, but he was set on improving his mobility, no matter how much he enjoyed Grim carrying him around the house. Grim might have been burned, but over a year on, he was no less strong than he used to be. And even the doctor was surprised with the speed of Grim’s recovery, which, Misha suspected, was all about his determination to be back on his feet. They’d gotten married as soon as Grim was out of the hospital, but Grim, always the Narcissus, refused to have any pictures taken before the burn scars on his face and neck faded a bit.
Still, even immediately after the emergency services transported them to the hospital, Grim seemed no less handsome to Misha. His skin was badly affected, red, broken, but that was only a detail, which hardly mattered in a man who risked his life to save Misha’s. After a year, his face, neck, and arm still bore traces of the fateful confrontation with Zero, but the damaged skin was only moderately darker than Grim’s skin tone. It was thicker and looked a bit like broken ceramics, but Grim seemed to grow more confident about his looks every day. And just as he had promised, he made sure Misha got his new legs, assisting him along the way as Misha learned how to walk again.
Grim helped Misha take his first steps and supported him when the results turned out to be much less than Misha had expected. Wearing prosthetic limbs wasn’t a cure-all. Sometimes, it hurt and was uncomfortable, but with time, and the help of the prosthetist’s adjustments, Misha was feeling increasingly comfortable on his new feet, which Grim always compared to a sleek sports bike. They were modern looking, in dark grey and black, and didn’t attempt to imitate real legs. Misha didn’t want to pretend he was whole, and he’d rather be reminded of the things that had brought him to where he was now.Grim’s interest in prosthetics was yet another factor he took into account when choosing the design. As long as his new legs served their purpose, Misha was happy to titillate his husband.
“Grim, are you ready?” he yelled from the garden and picked some strawberries he had planted himself. He never thought something like gardening could pique his interest, but once he got into the science of it all, made growth charts and read books on the topic, he found it a relaxing new hobby. He was still good with computers, but they just never held the same appeal as before the kidnapping. And even though he was learning to be around people again, he still felt most comfortable with Grim, plants, and Strelka, who now sat in front of him, opening her muzzle and watching Misha as if he’d hypnotized her.
Grim was spending a lot of time in the clubhouse, but Misha felt safe in their house, always on call, with a dog that already knew how to attack on command, and with a cellar where he could hide if bad came to worse and someone chose to break into the home of a Coffin Nails MC member. So far, Misha had had no trouble.
Grim walked outside in all his leather glory. He called Strelka over, and after some petting, he locked her in the house before walking up to Misha with a smirk. The grimace stretched the scars on his face, only reminding Misha of all they’d been through to be together. In retrospect, he knew Grim had been right about the whole marriage thing. They were a perfect match. They understood one another and mended each other’s wounds in a way no one else could. He couldn’t imagine ever getting bored of Grim and his tender touch.
With Grim’s support, Misha even got the courage to gather all the intel he had on Zero’s organization and handed it over to the police anonymously. If more people could be saved, and more monsters punished, his heart would be much lighter.
“Ready to go?” asked Grim, putting on his shades.
“I was the one asking.” Misha came closer and pulled Grim down for a kiss, as standing on his toes wasn’t an option in prosthetics. “My pretty peacock.”
Grim blinked and squeezed Misha’s ass with a sly smile. “Wow, maybe we can finally take those pictures.”
Misha gave a fake gasp. “No! My hair’s out of place.” He ran his hands over Grim’s chest. Scars or no scars, Grim would always be his hero, always the only person Misha had eyes for.
“Obviously not now.” Grim pulled on Misha’s hand and led him to the front of the house. “Remember, you promised me at least one without the new legs. I’m counting on that.”
“Sure.” Misha reached up and fed Grim a strawberry. He’d learned to feel much more comfortable about the stumps since they became a couple. He didn’t hate how they looked anymore. He despised how they came to be, but there was no changing that. He could only look to the future. And if his stumps helped him meet his Prince Charming, then maybe the horror he’d been through was a cruel twist of fate.
Grim led the way to his bike, which was newly polished and gleamed in the sunlight as Grim mounted it. “Make sure you eat plenty. Don’t want you to get too drunk tonight.”
Another thing Misha loved about his new legs. He could safely sit at the back of Grim’s bike. It didn’t get old.
“You like me drunk.”
“I do!” shouted Grim over the noise of the engine. Misha rested his head against Grim’s back and smelled the leather cut, enjoying the knowledge that he was wearing Grim’s name. At the party, everyone would know.
Grim was the most dangerous man of all the Coffin Nails, and he was Misha’s only .
The End