EPILOGUE || DANIEL #2
Sally seemed better, too. We’d checked on her a few times a week, especially knowing about her recent struggles with depression.
Obviously, the pack couldn’t fix that for her—it was a part of who she was—but having a community who understood what she’d been through and cared seemed to be helping.
The dream charm I’d made for her—I hadn’t forgotten—seemed to be working well enough to banish her nightmares.
She’d get better, but it was going to take some time.
Recently, she’d even agreed to become a kind of consultant for the pack—that is, another set of eyes and ears in town, just in case anything unusual cropped up again. And it was Crescent Springs. Something unusual would pop up again. It was only a matter of time.
Lindsey had joined us, too. She was sitting with Reed and Harris. I hadn’t seen much of her recently, but from what I’d gathered, she spent an awful lot of time with Reed. And, by extension, Harris too.
Besides, it wasn’t that weird I hadn’t seen her. After all, I’d been… busy.
I wasn’t quite sure what Lindsey’s story was, as we didn’t talk much, but I knew she was Jeremy’s sister. I found it surprising that she wasn’t part of the pack, considering she was the daughter and sister of two former alphas, in that order.
But she’d chosen that for herself and apparently, she’d found a way to block the pack magic—or to free herself from it somehow—while she’d been away from us. She alone hadn’t been affected by the sympathetic manifestations.
Speaking of which, those had completely vanished.
Except, what had happened to the pack at my initiation ceremony was much stranger than anyone could’ve predicted. They hadn’t become witches and warlocks, exactly, but they could still cast spells—sort of.
What they’d done in helping me defeat my family hadn’t been an outlier or a one-off occurrence. None of the wolves—with the exception of Hunter and Lee—were capable of doing magic, even simple spells, on their own.
But enough of them working together could.
Rowan and I had been teaching the pack how to cast spells as a group. With mixed results. Their magic wasn’t very powerful.
Yet.
I suspected it would grow with time and training.
As for Lee and Hunter… they could do the simple spells on their own. Though, they weren’t going to be defeating any monsters with magic anytime soon. But maybe they could eventually. Apart from me—and Rowan, who wasn’t yet a member of the pack—they were the strongest spellcasters we had.
My sister suspected their magic was stronger than everyone else’s because they were both mate-bonded to me. Their connection to my magic was therefore stronger. They were connected to it twice, after all.
Once through the pack bonds and, even more powerfully, because we were fated mates and therefore deeply bound.
Lee still had the occasional spontaneous premonition, but he’d been practicing and could now use his second sight intentionally.
Most of the time. It made him enormously lethal when it worked.
And Hunter had spontaneously thrown up his shield a few times since the night we’d defeated the Mara but doing it on purpose was still iffy.
Both of them were going to require intentional practice before their abilities were fully mastered.
They, however, didn’t seem to mind that one bit.
When I’d asked them about it, Lee had told me, very seriously, that it made them feel closer to me.
They understood me better now, because they were a little more magical than they had been before.
It was strange, but it worked. Which was essentially how our relationship was, too.
So it made sense that the magical side of things mirrored that.
The pack seasonal celebrations weren’t really rituals or anything, the way they would’ve been with a coven of witches. Instead, they were mostly just food, drink, and celebrating with our family.
The family we’d chosen to make for ourselves.
Hunter, Lee, and I drank beer and chatted with the pack and our guests for the first half of the evening.
Then, sometime around eight, after it had grown fully dark, Jensen showed up.
He held a six-pack in either hand. Dr. Langley, the town’s medical examiner and doctor, was standing beside him, holding a bag of chips and a bowl of homemade bean dip.
Apart from Sally—and now Jensen—she was the only one who knew about the pack.
“Is—uh—is more beer okay?” Jensen asked, standing awkwardly at the circle’s edge.
He was still dressed in his uniform, and he looked more than a little uncomfortable to be surrounded by supernatural creatures. But he’d come anyway.
None of us had thought he would.
“More beer is great,” Reed told him, beaming. “Thanks for coming.”
Sally approached him with a smile. “Hi there, deputy.”
Jensen’s eyes widened when he saw her. “Wait, you know, too?”
She chuckled. “C’mon, let me show you where to put that stuff down.” With that, she led the way across the clearing to the table we’d set up, which was piled high with food. Jensen followed her, still looking thunderstruck. Dr. Langley followed after them with a smirk on her lips.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Hunter said. He shot his twin a rueful look. “I guess I owe you a twenty.”
Sarah happened to be walking by. Given that she was—barely—juggling three beers, I guessed she was on her way to chat with Rowan and Lacey. She cast Hunter a scandalized look. “You guys took bets?”
“Not much else to do right now,” Lee and Hunter said, at the exact same time. It had been a long time since they’d done that. But they were getting closer now—even more in sync than ever before.
Sarah snorted, shook her head by way of reply, and continued onward. I’d been right—she joined Rowan and Lacey in conversation, passing them the drinks she’d gathered.
It struck me then, looking around the clearing, that this was my home. This was my family. All of the people I loved most were here.
And the pack was stronger than ever before.
“What is it?” Lee asked, looking at me sharply. He’d probably sensed my emotions through the bond. “Is everything alright?”
Hunter frowned at me as well, concern filling his eyes.
“Everything is perfect,” I told them, blinking back sudden wetness that was, for once, not humiliating. “This is—this is the happiest I think I’ve ever been.”
“Ever?” Hunter asked with a leering smile. “Not this morning? Or this afternoon? Or later tonight, if you’re down for it?”
“Real slick,” Lee said, trying to hide his grin by taking a sip of beer. “You ought to write Hallmark cards, Hunter.”
“Maybe not the happiest I’ve ever been,” I amended.
My mates traded knowing, wolfish looks at that.
I added, “But you guys know what I mean. We’re all here together and we’re a family.
A strange one, maybe, but it works. And I’ve never really had that before.
I’m not sure if I could be happier, even if I tried. ”
Lee and Hunter traded another look, more serious this time. Hunter raised his eyebrows and Lee nodded, then turned back to me. “Are you sure about that?”
I stared at them, baffled. “What do you—”
Then Hunter got down on one knee, producing a small black box from his pocket. Lee followed suit, mirroring his gesture exactly.
My hand flew to my mouth, and my knees went weak as I realized what was about to happen—a strange mix of fear and anticipation. But in the dancing firelight, my mates were so achingly handsome and tender that it made my heart feel so full it might burst.
And then there was no fear at all.
Everyone in the clearing fell silent, turning their attention to the three of us. Rowan and Lacey, at least, didn’t look the least bit surprised. They’d probably known this was coming.
“Daniel, you’ve been our best friend for all our lives,” Lee said solemnly, opening his box to reveal a white gold band that he removed from the velvet and held up to me.
“You’ve been there for us, every single time, even when we didn’t deserve it.
We want to be there for you, too. Always. In every way we can be.”