Epilogue
LORDE
“Honey, I’m home,” I called as I stepped into Max’s apartment. Correction, mine and Max’s apartment.
Other than one night apart, we’d been inseparable since the incident at the cabin, for which I’m grateful.
After everything that happened, I needed him, depended on him.
In fact, we got married in a small ceremony at his parents’ home a couple weeks after the incident, one which my father attended with a huge smile on his face.
I couldn’t remember a time when he looked so happy.
And I didn’t know what Fizz did, but he arranged for my mother and aunt to be declared legally dead. I learned with him, it was probably best not to ask questions. In my opinion, I suspected his past consisted of much more than his being a SEAL, something he would neither confirm nor deny.
“Balcony,” Max shouted through the open door.
At least it was warmer now. The bloody simpleton liked to go out there whether he shifted or not, no matter the temperature.
The first time I found him naked out there after a flight, Fizz laughed like a hyena and declared, “He’s your problem now.
” Then he left me alone and went to his wing, completely separate from ours, the wanker.
I should have known from that statement alone, this would be a regular thing.
“What are you doing out here?”
He was staring out across the cityscape. “Thinking.”
“Never a good sign.” I chuckled.
He spun around with a grin on his face and a sparkle in his eyes. “Never.”
“What?” I asked suspiciously. He was plotting, and that could be dangerous.
One time, he convinced me to go skinny dipping in Lake Michigan.
If I thought my dick curled up and hid when I ran out to the car naked, when I went skinny dipping, it tried to lodge itself in my chest as far away from my groin as possible.
I didn’t even know how I let him talk me into that.
Of course, he shifted and was happy as a lark swimming around as a swan. He was crackers.
“I know you said you didn’t want to come work for the company,” he hedged.
I rolled my eyes, and he held up his hand. I waved him on.
“The corporate life isn’t for you, and you love dealing with your books.” He paused, and I nodded.
It was true. I made a good living appraising and dealing in rare books. It was my passion, and when I had to travel for work, Max usually came with me. His father was nice enough to come out of retirement and handle things at the company whenever we decided to take off.
“What if we opened a bookstore. You could oversee your old books, new books could be sold, and we could run a reading program for adults who need help. Sometimes they are embarrassed to go to a library or school. So, if we have a back room where they can relax, what do you think? A book store doesn’t have to be as quiet as a library, we can do whatever we want, and we can help people at the same time. ”
I had to admit, it was a solid idea. “What about when I travel?”
“You won’t have to be there all the time, only when you wanted to be, which I assume will be most of the time when you aren’t out of town.”
“And do you have a name for the store?” Biting his lip, he nodded a bit sheepishly, and I pulled him into my arms. “And what would that be?” I kissed his neck.
“Happily Ever After, where magic and happy endings are real.”
“You even have a tag line?”
He swatted me but didn’t do any real damage.
I’d been to the gym with him, I knew how much he could lift, and I’d seen him hit the punching bag.
If he chose, he could probably knock me out.
“If you don’t like it, then we can pick something else.
” Max didn’t fool me. I could see the grin tugging at his lips and the way his eyes still glinted with happiness.
It went both ways; I couldn’t fool him either. I loved the name, loved him, and loved our life together. “It’s perfect.” Leaning toward him, I captured his lips with mine. I could never get enough of him.
We didn’t stop until we were both breathless and hard, but when I tried to coerce him to go to bed with me, he refused, “Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“I have two more things I want to say. First, thank you.”
Frowning, I tilted my head to the side and asked, “Why?”
“The night we met, I was a cynical man who didn’t believe in love.
I didn’t think a man would ever love the real me and was convinced they would only want to blackmail me.
For the longest time, Fizz was my closest friend.
You taught me I was wrong about it all. My curse became my blessing because it led me to you.
And you showed me what it really means to love and be loved. ”
I opened my mouth to talk and shut it again, speechless.
It took me a little bit, but I cleared my throat and said, “I could say the same thing about you. I was going through life, searching for an escape. I was unhappy, and the last thing I wanted to do was…” My voice caught, and Max rubbed my chest right above my heart.
Grabbing his hand, I held it in place. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you, Max, but I don’t regret it.
We’re writing our own story now, our own happy ending. ”
We kissed again, pressing our foreheads together when we stopped. “Number two,” he began, his mischievous smile appearing. I both loved and hated it.
“What?”
“Pack your bags. We’re going to spend two months in Fira for the honeymoon we never got. We leave in three hours.”
Certain I heard him wrong, I peeked at my watch. Six o’clock in the evening. “What about the company?”
“My dad can handle it.”
“He’s done it here and there, but you said two months. Two months?” The amount of time on the island blew my mind.
“Yes, two months, and this was their gift to us.” He stepped closer, rubbing his body against mine.
“Imagine it, the quiet island, the ocean surrounding us, and you and me doing whatever the hell we want. Besides, you have to be over in Athens next month to examine that book anyway. We’re just putting you a little closer than you would have been.
Don’t you want to be in paradise with me? ”
“Bloody hell. Wheels up in three or leave here in three?”
He grinned widely. “Leaving here in three.”
“Plenty of time.” I dragged him to our bedroom and shut the door.
Max was indeed my happily ever after and my swan prince.
MAX
Lorde gave up a lot for me to make sure I was protected, and not a day went by that I wasn’t grateful. I loved him. No one else challenged me, pushed me, and made me re-evaluate everything.
If not for being a swan shifter, for my swan, I wouldn’t have him.
He rescued me from my tower, my cage, my anger.
Being a swan shifter wasn’t a prison sentence, it was freedom.
A past we were never a part of, never wished to be a part of, had forced us together, and we took the chance that was offered.
With the good comes the bad, I understood this very well.
I wasn’t under any illusion that with a snap of his fingers, everything would be better, and no matter if he disliked her, she had still been his mother, someone who occasionally had been there for him.
There were times he still felt guilty for what happened, and in those moments, the only thing I could do was hold him and love him.
The oddest thing to come out of the whole ordeal was when Pat told us she discovered Gretchen was Mila’s mother in disguise.
She was able to transform herself back into a child.
She had been manipulating everything since the beginning, and her descendants carried the torch, taking up her cause.
Gretchen played both sides, pitting us against them, and the hate lasted for over a thousand years.
In fact, it caused Kelly and Virginia to come to Chicago, not trusting Lorde to handle this mission.
They’d known who he was the whole time but refused to give Lorde any information.
In the library, when I was doing the reading, they planted the suggestion that Mrs. Budley read that particular fairy tale.
More than that, they played with my dreams, came into my house, and were intent on playing with me mentally.
They couldn’t physically touch me, but they could get to me in other ways.
I met Lorde’s eyes and saw happiness staring back at me. Damn, I loved this man.
“Bloody hell. Wheels up in three or leave here in three?”
My smile grew. “Leaving here in three.” I realized it seemed strange to fly at night, but I wanted to get there early and decided not to wait to leave. The pilot had no issue with my plans, and the flight would have us landing in Santorini about lunchtime.
“Plenty of time,” Lorde declared, pulling me into our bedroom.
This never got old.
Our happy ending wasn’t perfect, but it was ours, and even with everything stacked against us, I found my happily ever after with my knight in shining armor. The one man who broke the chains and turned my curse into a blessing.
THE END