EPILOGUE
THREE AND A HALF YEARS LATER
“Honey!” Bianca clipped at me as she bustled into the suite we were using to get ready. “The ceremony starts in half an hour! You don’t even have your dress on!” She strode over to where I sat at the antique vanity and gave my hair an affectionate fluffing.
“Don’t worry, Bianca,” Harriet called from the corner of the lavish room where she was shimmying into her dark purple bridesmaid dress. “I will keep her on schedule.”
“See that you do, Harriet,” she replied, giving us both a wide smile. “Alright, I am headed outside to make sure everyone is in place. Be downstairs with your dad in thirty minutes, missy.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied with a little salute. I watched her through my mirror as she marched out of the room, looking beautiful and fierce in her cream skirt suit.
It warmed my heart to see Bianca thriving.
It surprised no one that our Alpha was no closer to taking a mate than he was back in high school, so he instead anointed his mother the “Alpha Matriarch.” She continued to fill the traditional role of the Alpha Mate, which made her the social leader of the Pack.
However, Knox also gave her a real, honest-to-goodness paid job with the Pack as its top marketing executive and events coordinator.
From the looks of it, she was born for this kind of thing.
“Ugh, where the fuck is Anita?” Harriet groused from the corner as she messed with her earrings. “She went out to get our champagne like half an hour ago.”
“Good question,” I replied. I stood, still wearing only my lingerie and silk robe, and ambled over to the door. We were currently in the nicest suite in the historic guesthouse that the Pack ran as a B&B for fancy visitors to the Pack territory.
I cracked the door and peered into the hall just in time to see Anita, my best friend from college, tiptoeing out of one of the adjacent rooms, still in her bridesmaid dress and looking… disheveled.
“Anita! What the fuck?” I hissed at her, and then wouldn’t you know it, the Alpha himself slunk out of the room behind her, tucking in his dress shirt and zipping his suit pants.
Anita gave me a slightly guilty look, but I just raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t resist seeing what all the fuss is about, huh?”
“Yep, and I am happy to report that the ride was as good as advertised.” She winked at me. “I figured if I was going to try out wolf dick, I might as well go for the top-of-the-line model.”
Knox laughed and shot me a cocky smile, then slapped Anita on the ass like a caveman.
“Bring your friends to visit anytime, Mave,” he said, and then he sauntered off down the hall.
“Never change, Ice Man!” I called after him.
Dad beamed at me as I entered the fancy foyer of the guesthouse. He stood alone by the door that would lead us outside into the lush back garden where a small gathering of our friends and family would watch Blake and me take each other as chosen mates under the light of the full moon.
My ceremony dress was the lightest shade of lavender, and I’d had it custom-made to remind Blake of the dress I wore to our first dance together.
The top was a strapless sheer corset covered in lace, and the thin skirt was made of soft flowy tulle.
The high slit showed enough leg to please my mate, and I wore strappy, low wedge sandals.
Harriet had done my hair, of course, and I wore it down in simple, soft waves. And, as was customary for a female wolf during a mating ceremony, I wore a crown of flowers as a nod to nature.
“You look beautiful, sweetheart,” Dad said as I stepped up to grasp his arm.
“Thanks, Old Man,” I replied, squeezing him. “Let’s get this show on the road, huh?”
“Anxious to be mated?” he teased.
“Weird, isn’t it?”
He laughed. “Too true. If someone had told me four years ago you’d be mated before you were twenty-five, I’d have laughed them right out of the room. But I’m glad you found Blake, sweetheart. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted for you.”
It was everything I ever wanted for me, too. “Love you, Dad.”
He swung open the door, and we stepped out into the warm night air.
Bianca met us at the entrance to the garden.
“Everything is in place and we are ready!” she said excitedly. “Oh honey, you look beautiful!”
I gave her a quick hug. “Thank you for everything, Bianca. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to plan this for me.”
She touched the little earpiece she’d taken to wearing at all times. “We’re ready.”
Soft music began to play. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my quickening heartbeat, which I was pretty sure was a mix of a little bit of nerves and a lot of excitement.
I’d been looking forward to this day for six months, ever since Blake dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him during one of our casual picnics on the beach near our college in California.
He’d presented me with a gorgeous princess cut diamond engagement ring in the human custom, and then he’d asked me if I would also take him as my chosen mate under the Moon when we returned to Shreveport over the summer.
I’d screamed in excitement then bawled my eyes out at the overwhelming happiness of that moment.
And now, our mating ceremony—and our wedding—was finally here.
Dad lead me into the garden as the music announced our entrance.
We’d descended some old stone stairs off of the back porch of the guesthouse, and we were now surrounded by blooming azalea bushes and flowerbeds lined with lilies, tulips, and other colorful flowers.
A narrow stone path bisected the garden, and our guests sat to either side in simple white chairs.
As soon as we stepped into view, the guests stood, and I locked eyes with Blake, who stood at the end of the path next to his groomsmen.
He was so handsome in his dark gray suit.
A purple flower was pinned to his lapel, and his dark hair was styled to perfection.
He still wore his small gauges in his ears, and his purple tie was hanging loose around his neck, reminding me of how he used to wear his Blackstone Academy uniform when we first met.
His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped ever-so-slightly as he caught sight of me. Then his face broken into the biggest smile, and he lifted his hand to rub his chest right over his heart—where he now had a beautiful golden wolf tattooed on his skin.
I beamed back at him, then Dad and I began our careful walk down the stone path. I tried to take in the faces of each of our guests as he led me down the aisle.
Blake’s parents were here, along with a few members of the coven from New Orleans, including Aunt Augusta. She was the most uptight woman alive, but I found her oddly endearing, especially after she took one look at me on my first visit to the coven with Blake and just said, “She’ll do.”
As Blake had predicted, most of the coven didn’t bother him again about “matching” with another mage once they got whiff of my “aura.” This was handy since we ended up visiting the coven more than we might’ve normally because Harriet was in school at Tulane.
We made sure we were in New Orleans several times a year so that we could see her.
We’d started taking Anita with us to visit Harriet and to attend to coven events, too, since—what were the odds—she was a mage.
It was a fun day at the coffee shop when I’d dragged the funny boho girl who I’d clicked with in my English class to meet my boyfriend, and they’d spotted each other’s abilities immediately.
Apparently she hailed from a small coven in Sacramento that kept mostly to themselves.
We’d all had a good laugh, and then from that day forward I had a best friend from whom I didn’t have to hide my secrets.
Next, I saw Mason with his moms, and he gave me a warm smile as I passed.
He still rocked that man bun, and he was apparently killing it as Knox’s number one beta under the mentorship of his mom.
I heard he was taking college courses by correspondence, and he’d also taken to leading combat training for the Pack enforcers.
Somehow, he and Knox had sweet-talked my dad into training with them, and soon he’d passed the mantle to Mason.
Thad was here, of course, with his parents also by his side.
His hair was a little longer these days, but he still had that hot-nerd vibe and had filled out a bit more since our time in high school.
He was the only one of the Elites who’d eventually left to go to college, following in his dad’s footsteps on his way to law school.
He intended to return and clerk for his dad’s law firm and work as the Pack’s deputy counsel once he graduated.
He and Ben were…. Well, I’ll have to let Ben tell you that story sometime.
Then there was Knox, standing stoically in the front row next to my parents in his place of honor as the Alpha.
From all accounts, the Ice Man had taken to the Alpha role with flying colors, having only further expanded the Pack’s reputation for inclusivity and maintained its successes—just without all of the underhanded shit his dad had been quietly known for.
It took a good year for them to admit to it, but I found out that Knox had become a frequent dinner guest at my parents’ home.
My dad, for all of his distaste for pack politics, apparently found that he enjoyed mentoring a young Alpha whose values actually aligned with his own.
Beyond the combat training, Dad became a helpful ear whenever Knox sought advice on the challenges of running a pack.
Sometimes these dinners also included any combination of Mason, his moms, Daddy Nerd Porn and his wife, and even Ian. They kept Knox surrounded by intelligent, powerful, and trustworthy advisors, and they even began to serve as a sort of early meeting of the minds on shifter-mage relations.