Epilogue
EPILOGUE
T wo days later, and I’m fighting over a donut with Nathan during a boisterous breakfast at the Blackshaw farmhouse when Savannah declares.
“I’m pregnant!”
We all fall silent to look at her.
Mornings are loud. Then again, so are lunchtimes, and dinners. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Well, yes,” Nathan says. “We knew that days ago.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Savannah asks as Jeremy wraps his arm around her shoulders and drops a kiss on top of her hair.
“Figured you’d tell us when you were ready,” Dayne stops feeding Patrick to say.
“Any plans for your land?” Nathan asks.
Jeremy shrugs. “Not sure. I guess we could just keep using it for runs. Our hands are going to be pretty full from now on.”
“You could sell it,” Nathan suggests.
Everyone turn to him, curious. “Sell it to who?”
“We met a couple on our way here,” I explain. “Simon and Matilda. I’m not sure if they would want to settle here, but I think they might. One day.”
“They were interested in buying land but were having trouble figuring out where to settle. I gave them my number,” Nathan says.
“Simon was looking for underdeveloped land to build something,” I tell Dayne.
Dayne sits up in his seat. “Build what exactly? And do you know if he has any experience in construction?”
Talis laughs. “He’s not going to want to extend the house for you.”
Dayne shrugs. “He might. But it’ll have to be after.”
I glance up at the ceiling. Marshall and Jenna are upstairs, still sleeping, or at least Jenna is. Her due date is a week away, so there’s going to be no building until after the baby comes. “Have they picked a name yet?”
“Nope. Jenna said they’d know the perfect name when the baby was born,” Savannah says.
“Sounds risky.” Jeremy sits back in his seat and shakes his head. “Both their brains are going to be fried after the birth.”
Savannah leans against him. “Like yours will be when ours is born.”
As everyone is talking, coming up with potential baby names, my back pocket starts vibrating.
Nathan is talking with Hallee. When I look at him, there’s no hint of anguish in him.
I smile as I push my chair back and get to my feet.
Nathan turns to me at once. “Peach?”
“I’ll be back,” I assure him. “Just have something to do.”
I feel his eyes track me as I walk out of the kitchen, fishing my cell phone from my back pocket as I wander down the back porch to answer the call. “Hey, sis.”
“You’re staying, aren’t you?”
I thump onto the top porch step. “What happened to hello beloved little sister? How are you this morning?”
She snorts. “When have I ever said that?”
“Now seems like a good time to start,” I helpfully suggest. “And yes, I’m staying.”
I look out over the backyard, into the forest, as the sunlight floods the area with a warm glow. This is home now. And I think a part of me knew it the first time I set foot here.
“Because it feels like home?” Martha asks softly.
“Because I fell in love and at the same time, I realize I’ve been as bad as you at shutting the world out in case it hurts me. I think I shut out a lot of good as well as bad.”
“You always look on the bright side.”
“Not always,” I quietly admit. “I blamed myself for it.”
“For what?”
I lower my voice, not wanting to dampen the laughter and happiness spilling out from the kitchen. “What happened to our pack. I thought it was because I was an omega.”
“Clara…” She sighs. “It wasn’t because of you.”
I nod, though she can’t see me. “I followed you, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you told me to stay in the forest while you went?—”
“ Clara !”
“Yes, I know I shouldn’t have.” I have paid for that decision for years. In my mind, all I see are memories of blood and death, and I will never forget it.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Martha says quietly. “I don’t know why they attacked our pack. I don’t think we will ever know why unless we went and asked, but I can’t imagine that would ever be a good idea.”
“Yeah, I know.”
We’re both silent for a beat.
“You really love him, huh?” she eventually asks.
“I do.” I’m not used to sharing my life with a person the way I have with Nathan.
I’m used to doing what’s good for me, only worrying about my happiness. It was different with Martha. We’re family. I’d annoy her and it wouldn’t matter. She knew me, understood me, and loved me.
But Nathan…
I worry about hurting Nathan by snapping or saying something I don’t mean. I think about whether he’s going to wake up with a smile and if he doesn’t, what I can do to put one on his face.
He means the world to me and I don’t want to mess up and lose him.
“You’re grinning like a lovesick fool, aren’t you?” Martha sounds like she’s grinning herself.
“No, I’m not,” I lie.
“Well, I guess if you too are busy humping like?—”
“K, bye. Love you!” And I hang up on my laughing sister.
She texts me seconds later, telling me to call her about coming down to Dawley for a visit. I’m still reading her message with a big stupid smile on my face when Nathan drops beside me and scoops me into his lap.
I rest my cheek against his chest and inhale his cedar and mint scent. “You didn’t have to come out here.”
“I did. You finished with your call?”
I nod.
“It happens sometimes.”
I peer up at him as he wraps his arms around me. “What sometimes happens?”
“When packs are too close. I think that’s what happened to your pack. The more territorial pack will push until they claim all the land for themselves.”
I should’ve known he’d be eavesdropping. I should probably get used to it before I move into the house.
Nathan is still sleeping with me in what was once Savannah’s cabin, but we eat all our meals at the house and hang out in the den with everyone. We’ve talked about moving into his room, to be closer to the pack and leaving the cabin for the next person who needs a little forest sanctuary.
“How do you know?” I frown..
“Jeremy and his brother Jackson spent a good part of their lives as lone wolves. Something similar happened to Jackson’s old mate’s pack.”
I nod, thinking it over. It does make sense. It also might explain why Jeremy and Savannah bought the neighboring land so no one else could. Especially not another pack.
The Blackshaws aren’t like the family I lost. They never will be. But that’s okay. I was never looking for a replacement family. Just somewhere I felt like I belong. Somewhere that felt like home. And here does.
“So, what happens now, Blackshaw?”
He gives me one of the soft forehead kisses I have become obsessed with. “Now we spend the rest of our lives together. We have fun. Make each other laugh. Make each other happy. Maybe go visit your sister and have her come visit us. And maybe…”
“Maybe what?” I prompt.
He kisses my throat and my breath catches in response. “Maybe one day I bite you right here and we become mates.”
“And?” I prompt.
“Maybe we bring our own little Blackshaw into the world.”
I smile as I lean toward him. “I think I like the sound of that.”
The sound of an engine distracts me from Nathan’s kiss. “Who is that?”
“Not sure.” Nathan snags my hand, lacing our fingers together as we stand.
A white truck comes to a stop a few feet from the house. The driver’s side door swings open and Dayne steps out of the house, frowning as an unfamiliar man slips out of the truck.
“What’s up, Mart?” Dayne jogs down the porch steps and shakes the man’s hand. “We don’t usually see you up here.”
Mart’s smile is apologetic as he scrubs a hand over his salt and pepper hair. He’s wearing jeans and a blue apron that reveals he must work at the grocery store, and he has the same eyes as Fisher. “Sorry to be stopping by so early and interrupting your breakfast.”
“You interrupted nothing,” Dayne says. “What can we do for you?”
“It’s Fisher.” Mart’s frown deepens. “He went for a hike days ago and no one has seen him. He’s not answering his phone. Can’t even be sure he has cell phone signal where he is, and?—”
“We’ll organize a search,” Dayne interrupts. “If Fisher is missing somewhere in these mountains, we will find him.”
I recall Fisher, the guy Nathan and I bumped into outside the grocery store. He had a hiking bag so big he must have been prepared for every eventuality. But if he’s been missing for days, what if he ran up against something he hadn’t prepared for?
Something serious, like a bear.
I meet Nathan’s concerned, but determined, gaze.
“You up for a hunt, peach?”
It’ll be as wolves where we have the best chance of finding him. Hopefully before something bad happens to him. “Definitely.”
Can the Blackshaws find Fisher in time?
Find out in Wild Alpha – Now Available to Pre-order!