Epilogue
Will
About half a year later.
“I can’t fucking believe he got himself a human finally,” Sage said as they walked out of Peter’s house far too early in the morning, as Sage had pointed out on the way here, along with a steady stream of curses.
“Can’t believe he has food in the house,” Will said.
He looked over his shoulder. He’d come to this very door in the middle of the night about a year ago, scared, ready to sell himself to get free.
But Peter had never taken anything from him.
He had given him Sage instead. The vampire was a mean alpha, but also a good one, despite all the murder, and Will loved him for it.
In a way. “He’s kind of cute though. The human, I mean. Peter’s scary.”
Sage glowered. “He’s—yeah. He’s so fucking…I don’t know. Not innocent, but…”
“Clueless?” Will pulled the driver’s side door open before he rounded the hood to the passenger side of Sage’s car.
“Yeah. Clueless. That’s it exactly. How do you think he’ll react when he figures out Peter is completely in his element when he can bring his totally ethical vampiric justice to people?”
They closed their car doors at the same time. “Maybe he thinks it’s hot? Some people get super turned on by competence, and Peter is hyper competent when it comes to violence.”
Sage considered that. “That’s true. But to be honest, it’s too fucking early to think about this, and too fucking early to deal with the implications of Peter dating someone…
so much younger. He had his ghoul friend scare the shit out of me when I was a kid and then denied me ice cream on top of that.
I mean, damn. How’s he in a relationship? ”
Will eyed his mate. His mate. The word had slipped out when Kira and Carl had been over for pizza and a movie the other day, but Sage had been surprisingly fine with it, a fact that still made Will’s heart swell.
“Are you jealous, oh mighty wizard?” Will asked.
The slight color rising in Sage’s cheeks gave Will all the answer he needed. “Jealous? Of the kid? Don’t be ridiculous.”
Will giggled. “He’s very cute. I think it makes sense for Peter not to let him go.”
“Peter doesn’t do cute—you know what? Fuck it. I do not care, and it’s none of my fucking business. All I know is we didn’t have to be here this fucking early, but at least there’s going to be food in the house now. See? I adjust to changing circumstances.”
“How about we change our current circumstances. You drive us back home, and we head back to bed? I want to feel you.”
Sage locked gazes with Will, nodded, and started the car. They drove home in silence, though Will reached across the middle console to take Sage’s hand.
When they crossed the threshold to the house, Will was overcome by a wave of nostalgia, probably brought on by visiting Peter’s home.
This witch house had become Will’s home without him even noticing, and the man who’d lived in it alone, the man he loved more than the full moon and either or both of his skins, he had given Will everything: love, a mate, time to heal and find himself again.
What Will felt for Sage was a calm and quiet certainty of belonging, a feeling that complemented the love between them and made it stronger. Sage was his own self, but he was also Will’s, and the same was true for Will in turn.
“You look pensive,” Sage said, one foot already on the bottom stair.
“What do you think Theo would be to you? Your step-godparent?”
Sage narrowed his eyes. “Peter is so fucking right about your manners, you know.”
“Good. Don’t need manners when I’m about to make love to you.”
Sage grinned and sprinted up the stairs.
Will followed the breadcrumb trail of shed clothes, all the way past the room he no longer lived in, up to the attic where he and Sage slept and loved one another.
The scent of smiles and sunshine got stronger as Will made it up the last few stairs, and he found Sage already on his back, staring up at him.
“Your step-godparent is a cutie-pie, but you’re just the whole cupcake package,” Will said, and Sage promptly threw a cushion at his face.
There were still far too many cushions in this house, even if Will had secretly grown fond of Lemon.
The cushion seemed to cherish Will’s feet more than anyone else’s.
“Get in here.” Sage patted the bed, and Will undressed and did just that.
Will shivered when Sage carefully hugged him close during their initial kiss—not the kind of shiver that came with the muscle memory of terror, but the kind of shiver brought on by anticipation.
Letting Sage touch him had got easier and easier, but some days, he still freaked out without knowing why.
Sage never complained. He always let Will set the pace, and if Will couldn’t be physically close to him, he never made a big deal out of it. Never.
Will broke the kiss and licked his lips. “What would you say if I went to therapy?”
Sage’s brows rose. “I’d tell you that’s awesome, and ask what you need from me.”
Will looked off to the side. “I’ve been thinking about it. For a while now.”
“You could try it. No pressure. Just see if it works for you. You know, one of our customers is both a gorgon and a psychologist. I’ll drive you.”
“She said to give her a call, actually. If I wanted to talk to her.”
“Call her.” Sage cradled Will’s cheek in his palm.
Will kissed Sage’s hand. “I think I will.”
From there, he kissed down Sage’s arm, all the way to his neck, down his chest, and lower.
He’d learned to drive Sage mad like this, licking and sucking.
It was exhilarating to know Sage would buck his hips and curse the skies if only Will wrapped his tongue around him in the right way, or grazed that sensitive skin just slightly with his teeth.
Will’s wolf would do it for hours if he could, but Will never had the patience.
He didn’t today either. He did all the licking he wanted, and then he licked back up Sage’s body, the skin of Sage’s abdomen and chest now salty with musk and sweat.
“I want you inside me,” he told Sage, who looked sweetly annoyed about the fact that Will’s mouth was no longer taking care of his cock.
“The new quince lube.”
“Yes.”
Will had no idea why anyone needed quince lube, but Sage had recently started selling his organic, non-magical lube online, and quince was the newest flavor. Sage fished for the bottle on the floor, popped it open, then stopped.
“Do you want me to stretch you open, sweetcakes, or do you want to do it?”
Will checked in with himself. He felt his wolf inside, relaxed and willing, so he nodded. “I want you to touch me.”
Sage slicked his fingers. “Okay. You tell me if you need me to stop or go slower.”
But Will didn’t need that. He lay on his side, one leg bent over Sage’s arm. Sage’s fingers inside him felt good, so good Will rocked against him, buzzing with need.
When Sage pulled out, Will growled, and Sage giggled. “So impatient.”
Sage pushed his cock inside Will, both of them lying on their sides and looking deep into each other’s eyes. It wasn’t always as easy as this, but when it was, Will could almost feel himself the way he wanted to be. Truly mended.
He wasn’t yet, but he would be, and moments like these, when the past stayed firmly in the past and only the present mattered were tastes of what he wanted.
“I love you,” Sage said.
“Love you back.”
Little else mattered as their bodies rocked against and into one another, as they rose like kites on a steady wind and came together, color and scent and the rhythm of each other’s hearts blocking out everything else.
When the world came back into focus, they held each other without the need to speak. This was home. This was safety. It was the place where Will had healed so much already, and where he’d heal until the wounds were nothing but scars resting smoothly under the raven wings of love.
Truly mended I will be, Will thought, but in his human form, it took words to make it happen. He’d work for it. He’d fight for it. He licked Sage’s neck and enjoyed his low chuckle.
Truly mended I will be, and then I’ll give you all of me.
“I love you so much, sweetcakes, even with the licking.”
Will settled in against his mate. These were the best kinds of mornings, and the wolf agreed.