Epilogue #2
Still chuckling, the three of us fell into step together as Ricky escorted us toward our condo—the one Calder and I once again shared. It seemed silly for him to stay in the inn when I had a perfectly good bed he could sleep in. Not that we’d done much sleeping in the last few days.
When we reached the town square, all three of us stopped.
The clocktower was glowing. That alone wasn’t abnormal—it glowed all the time. But normally, it ebbed a contented deep blue or a violet purple whenever it welcomed someone back. Tonight, however, it glowed a deep, throbbing magenta.
“I’ve never seen that color before,” I murmured.
“Me neither,” Calder said. “Maybe it’s a side effect of the repairs? Last I asked, Selene did say it might take them a few days. Apparently, Wren caused more damage than they’d expected.”
“Sorta like a computer rebooting, maybe?” Ricky surmised.
All three of us shrugged.
“I’ll visit Selene tomorrow and see what’s up. The gargoyles are still asleep, so I think it’s safe to say this is just because of the repairs.”
I pulled away from Calder and Ricky and peered closer at the runes, pleased to see that they were alive and kicking again. I didn’t sense any manipulation. A good sign. Maybe the Ravenspells were almost done with the repairs.
It made me wonder why it was glowing this specific color, though.
I quickly went through the whole spectrum in my head, running through the entire list of alerts. Eventually, I landed on pink and frowned.
“Hey, isn’t pink supposed to be for humans?” I asked. “I remember my parents telling me that once. Wasn’t there a rhyme?” I laughed as the childhood nursery rhyme suddenly popped into my mind. “Remember, Ricky? Blue means all is well, pink means humans slipped the spell.”
Silence.
“Ricky?”
When my brother didn’t answer, I looked back to find he’d crossed the street. He stood dead center in the middle of the road, completely frozen beneath the flickering glow of a streetlamp, his nose lifted in the air.
“Ricky?” I called out again, stepping off the curb.
I approached his side just as a low, disbelieving laugh rumbled out of his chest. “No way.”
“What? What is it?”
“I smell my mate.” He took off without another word, crossing the rest of the road in long strides.
“What?” I squeaked, much louder than before.
I took chase after my brother as he stalked down the sidewalk to where a woman stood in shadow at the other end of the square. She stood frozen against the brick wall of the bakery, clutching the strap of a heavy duffel bag like it was a shield.
Calder chased after me, laughing. “Thorne.”
“What?” I hissed, practically vibrating with excitement. “If he’s found his mate, I am absolutely not missing this.”
A muscular arm clamped around my waist, hauling me backward. Calder chuckled, pressing his chest flush against my back to keep me from bolting. “Whoa, hold on. Give them some space.”
“But she’s his mate!” I whispered frantically, smacking at Calder’s solid forearm. I bounced on my toes, practically bursting at the seams. “Did you hear him? He actually said it! Let me go say hi!”
“You’re going to scare the poor girl to death,” Calder teased, his breath warm against my ear as he easily held me in place. “They just found each other. They need space. Don't be that sister.”
“I am absolutely going to be that sister,” I shot back, prying his fingers off my hip.
Once freed, I took off after my brother. He stood utterly still in front of her and didn’t utter a word. Ugh. Men. Sometimes we had to help them.
The poor girl stared at him, then at me, fear shining in her eyes—which was a bit odd. Even stranger, I didn’t recognize her. And we knew practically everyone in town.
I raised my hand, about to introduce myself, but the breeze shifted, carrying a fresh wave of the stranger’s scent right to me.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
My giddy smile vanished. I flared my nostrils, pulling the scent deep into my lungs, searching for the underlying current of magic. The metallic tang of a vampire. The ozone of a pixie. The heavy musk of a shifter.
Nothing.
There was no magic in her blood at all. Just sweat, fear, and something entirely, impossibly mundane.
I slowly turned to look at the clocktower, its massive glass face still throbbing with unapologetic magenta light.
Pink means humans slipped the spell.
“By the gods,” I whispered, the words slipping out on a breathless exhale. “She’s human.”
Calder fell silent for a moment, then he hooked an arm around my middle and pulled me back for a bracing cuddle. “Oh boy. And here I thought our lives would finally be quiet.”
I stared at the woman, stunned beyond belief. “Well, maybe ours. But definitely not Ricky’s.”
His life was about to get hella messy.
Did you enjoy Thorne and Calder? Continue reading for a sneak peek into Chloe and Ricky’s love story, One Bite And I’m Yours!
CHLOE
Good gracious, how did I even get here? I was just looking for a cheap motel, not a hidden town full of…
monsters. Floating teacups and man-eating plants aren’t even the strangest part—it’s the six-foot-four, dreadfully foul-mouthed werewolf who claims I’m his “mate.” Ridiculous, right?
But then why does my heart race every time he gets close?
There's just one teensy problem. Eternity Falls has a strict no human policy.
And someone is determined to uphold that law—even violently so.
After a rather alarming attempt on my life, Ricky appoints himself my bodyguard because, apparently, an asthmatic human has no chance of surviving this town alone.
Honestly? He might be right. Which means I have to trust the big, bad wolf long enough to stay alive.
.. all while trying not to fall in love with him.
RICKY
My life was simple: annoy my family, break some laws, and mind my own business.
But the moment the clocktower wards break, my semi-quiet existence goes up in flames.
A human has slipped into town. And not just any human.
My mate. Chloe is entirely too soft, polite to a fault, and literally needs human medicine to breathe.
Eternity Falls will eat her alive. Hell, I want to eat her too.
But the second some coward tries to kill her, the rules change.
The council thinks they can take her out to protect our secrets?
Dead wrong. She’s mine. I’ll rip anyone apart who even looks at her wrong. And I’ll enjoy it too.