Epilogue
Lina
The sun was warm on my face as I watched the kids run across the grass.
Rowan and Thea were chasing after Greyson and Cress, all four of them shrieking with laughter as they played some game that seemed to involve a lot of running and very little rules.
Greyson was Jasmine and Ryder’s son, one year older than the twins, and Cress belonged to Mick, Ryder’s sister.
Both families had come down from Moonfang for the celebration.
It had been a week since that night at the cabin.
Someone had set up long tables in the yard behind the pack house, covered in white cloth and decorated with wildflowers that Thea had insisted on picking herself.
She’d dragged Rowan out that morning to help her, and they’d come back with fistfuls of dandelions and clover and some purple flowers I couldn’t identify.
The arrangement was chaotic and uneven and absolutely perfect.
The smell of roasting meat drifted from where Noah and Sawyer were finishing up the food, both of them hovering over the grill like it might explode if they looked away, moving between the kitchen and the grill like they didn’t know what to watch first.
Sarah and Serena sat at one end of the table, their heads bent close as they chatted.
They’d been discharged from the hospital the day after the rescue, groggy but unharmed from whatever drugs Lucio had given them.
They were still thick as thieves, trading stories about their grandchildren like they’d known each other for decades instead of months.
Marcus sat beside them, one hand pressed against his side where the worst of his injuries had been.
He’d lost a lot of blood that afternoon, and the doctors had kept him for almost a week before finally letting him go yesterday.
He still moved carefully, but he was here.
He was laughing at something Sarah said, his face creased with amusement.
Knox and Hunt were standing near the grill, arguing with Noah about something that involved a lot of hand gestures and what sounded like increasingly creative insults.
Both Knox and Hunt had casts on their hands, thick white plaster covering the bones they had shattered to escape their restraints.
They were mostly healed, but I’d insisted for them to wear protection at least for a few days.
They couldn’t deny me. I was that awesome.
I grimaced at the thought. The doctors had been amazed they’d managed to do it at all, breaking their own bones and tearing through their own flesh to slip free. Knox had shrugged it off like it was nothing, but I’d seen the pain in his eyes when he thought I wasn’t looking.
Brave. Stupid and reckless, but brave.
Knox caught me staring and grinned, raising his casted hand in a wave. The motion made him wince, but he tried to hide it behind that cocky smile of his. I shook my head at him, fighting back my own smile.
Across the yard, Vivi was chatting with Jasmine and Mick, the three of them laughing about something I couldn’t hear.
Vivi had come down from Pine Valley this morning with Mika, both of them refusing to miss the celebration.
Mika stood nearby holding Blake, bouncing her gently while she talked to Cole.
My friend was mostly healed by now, though we were all keeping an eye on her. It was funny to me, at times, that we were all so injured and healing, all at the same time. Talk about bonding through injuries and trauma.
Cole had Thomas pressed against his chest, one hand supporting the baby’s head, the other wrapped protectively around his small body. He hadn’t let Thomas out of his sight since we got back from the cabin. Even now, surrounded by pack and allies, he kept the baby close.
I understood the feeling.
“Mommy! Mommy, watch!”
I turned to see Thea attempting some kind of cartwheel that ended with her tumbling into the grass. She popped back up immediately, grinning like she’d meant to do that.
“Very impressive, baby!”
“I can do better,” Rowan announced, and promptly threw himself into a somersault that was somehow even messier than his sister’s cartwheel.
Greyson, ever the older kid, demonstrated a proper cartwheel that made the twins stare in awe. Cress clapped for him, then tried her own, landing somewhere between Greyson’s grace and the twins’ chaos.
“Show-off,” Thea muttered, but she was already trying to copy Greyson’s technique.
The back door opened and Noah emerged carrying a massive platter of meat, steam rising from the perfectly cooked cuts.
“Food’s ready! Everyone grab a seat!”
The kids came running immediately, Rowan and Thea leading the charge with Greyson and Cress close behind. They were flushed and sweaty from playing, their hair messy, their clothes grass-stained. Serena tutted at the state of them, but she was smiling as she said it.
Warm arms wrapped around me from behind before I could move toward the table. Knox’s chest pressed against my back, his chin coming to rest on my shoulder.
“I love you,” he murmured against my ear, his breath warm on my skin.
I leaned back into him, letting myself sink into his embrace for just a moment. “I love you too.”
“You happy?”
“Yeah.” I turned my head to press a kiss to his jaw. “I really am.”
He kissed my neck, soft and lingering, then pulled back with a sigh. “Come on. Let’s eat before Noah starts threatening people.”
We found our seats near the middle of the table. The twins had already claimed the chairs on either side of us, arguing about who got to sit next to Daddy versus who got to sit next to Mommy.
“You’re both sitting next to both of us,” Knox pointed out. “That’s how chairs work.”
“But I want to be on Daddy’s right side,” Thea insisted.
“I was here first!” Rowan protested.
“You were not!”
“Was too!”
“Enough.” Knox’s voice was firm but amused. “Thea, you’re on my right. Rowan, you’re on my left. Problem solved.”
The twins grumbled but accepted the arrangement, settling into their chairs with matching pouts that faded the moment the food started being passed around.
“Mommy, can you cut my meat?” Thea asked, tugging at my sleeve.
“Mine too,” Rowan added immediately.
Knox was already reaching for their plates. “I got it. You go get Blake.”
I walked over to where Mika was still holding my daughter, chatting with Cole about something that had them both smiling. Blake saw me coming and immediately reached out with grabby hands, making the demanding little sounds she always made when she wanted me.
“Someone missed her mama,” Mika said, handing her over.
“She always misses her mama.” I settled Blake against my chest, breathing in her clean baby smell. “Thank you for watching her.”
“Anytime. She’s a sweetheart.”
I glanced at Cole, at the way he was holding Thomas like the baby might disappear if he loosened his grip. “How are you doing?”
Cole looked up, something raw flickering in his eyes before he controlled it. “Better. Getting there.”
“Good.” I reached out and squeezed his arm. “I’m glad.”
Back at the table, Knox had finished cutting up the twins’ food and was working on mine, slicing everything into pieces I could manage one-handed.
“You don’t have to do that,” I said as I slid into my seat.
“I want to.” He pushed my plate back toward me. “Now eat. You’re still healing.”
I adjusted Blake in my lap and reached for the bottle I’d prepared earlier. She latched on eagerly, her eyes drifting closed in contentment while I picked up my fork with my free hand.
Around us, the table was alive with noise. Serena was telling a story about Knox as a child, something involving a frog and a very expensive vase, and everyone was laughing. Knox groaned and covered his face with his good hand.
“Mom, please.”
“What? It’s a good story!”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“That’s what makes it good,” Marcus chimed in, grinning.
Noah was arguing with Sawyer about the proper way to season meat, both of them talking over each other while Ryder watched with obvious amusement. Jasmine and Mick had their heads together, laughing about something while Greyson tried to convince Cress to trade her potatoes for his vegetables.
“Mommy, can I have more potatoes?” Rowan tugged at my sleeve.
Knox grabbed the bowl and spooned another helping onto Rowan’s plate before I could respond.
“What do you say?”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
Knox ruffled Rowan’s hair with his good hand, making the boy squirm and complain.
“You don’t have a hairstyle,” Thea informed her brother matter-of-factly. “Your hair just does whatever it wants.”
“Does not!”
“Does too!”
“Eat your food,” Knox and I said together.
Blake finished her bottle and I lifted her to my shoulder, patting her back gently until she burped. She made a satisfied sound and snuggled against my neck, her tiny fingers curling into my shirt.
Knox’s hand found my back, reaching across Thea’s seat, warm and solid.
Sarah called out from across the table, and everyone raised their glasses.
“To family,” she said, her voice carrying over the noise. “To the ones who fight for us and never give up on us. To all of you.”
“To family!”
Glasses clinked together across the table. The twins raised their plastic cups of apple juice with solemn looks, tapping them against each other and then against Knox’s glass and mine.
“To family!” Thea echoed loudly.
“To family,” Rowan agreed, then immediately went back to his potatoes.
Knox squeezed my shoulder. Blake was warm against my chest, the twins were bickering again about something trivial, and laughter filled the air around us.
My heart was full. This…This was a damn good life.
THE END