Epilogue
Seven months later…
Tabby
My belly is swollen with pups. I waddle about the palace with a small retinue of ladies who are similarly resident. I never had friends in my pack. I had family, but that’s not the same thing. I’ve learned that friends hardly ever organize you to be pawned off to the nearest three warriors.
“You have three mates? How does that work?” Terri says. She’s a mate to one of the king’s favorite guards, and that gives her a certain amount of gravitas. She’s very nice, though. Everyone is very nice.
I shrug. “I don’t know. They just share me. It works somehow.”
“You must have favorites, though.” Liz nudges me.
“It would be nice to have three mates,” another lady, Lenora, says. “That way, when I’m angry at one of them, I can have two others to also get angry at.”
Everyone laughs at that.
The conversation continues. I’m partway aware of it, half concerned with the sensations in my belly.
The pups are not far away from being born.
There will be three, two boys and a girl.
We know all about this because there have been all kinds of tests and things.
I am well looked after here, and have access to wonders that simply did not exist where I come from.
There is peace in this palace, a peace I never thought I would know.
I used to imagine my life would be comprised of birthing a few pups I might never be able to raise, and losing them or myself to the mountains.
Here, the expectations for a life are so different.
Here, the other wolves talk about getting old, retiring.
There is no retirement on a mountain full of horrors.
I am enjoying myself. I am enjoying the recreation, the relaxation, but there is something missing. From time to time, I wonder if I am still truly myself. Did the girl who left the mountains die in the leaving? Is there anything left of the animal I once was?
Something moves in the shadows, flits over the roof, then drops into the hall. I see a glint in the figure’s hand. A silver knife.
In an instant, every old instinct returns.
I know instantly that the palace is under attack.
It’s said that the wolf king has his enemies.
There are the humans who loathe wolves, there are other wolf factions, and of course there are vampires.
This is probably not a vampire, but it could be either of the other two.
The politics of the palace have not interested me until now.
It has been months since I experienced any kind of fear.
Strangely, it does not feel bad. It feels like an old friend returning to me after a long absence.
The dark figure moves toward us at a sprint.
The others haven’t truly recognized the threat at the moment I first notice it, but as the attacker turns its energies toward us, they react.
Someone screams and drops back, dresses billow as finely dressed pretty palace ladies shift from their painted human forms and flow into glossy wolves.
I do not take my wolf form. I rely on my old instincts, the ones that kept me safe in the world from which I came. I forget that I no longer have my magic, and that means the attacker is almost on me when my hand makes the short jabbing motion that in the past would have ensured my protection.
Boom!
Lightning strikes, a single bolt from the heavens, straight and true. The attacker is instantly rendered no longer a person. They are a charred husk. The silver blade lies in their ash, rendered useless.
The screams of the other ladies ring in my ears, and soldiers and guards descend upon our position.
There is chaos for a time, as the palace is secured and everyone is questioned as to what happened.
My delicate condition ensures that I am taken deeper into the palace to ensure my safety.
Krall and Thorn come to ensure that I am okay, then are called to take up defenses.
I am left in our chambers, trying to come to terms with all that just happened. It’s not possible… is it? Do I still have my powers? Did they come back? Is it to do with the babies?
“So.” Skor’s voice comes to me from the shadows. I jump a little. I didn’t hear him approach. I didn’t know he was in the room. He’s a sneaky guy. Or maybe it’s just a secret skill all middle children are taught.
“Yes?”
“I heard a lightning bolt incinerated an attacker on an otherwise clear day,” he says, walking around to stand over me. He slides his fingers under my chin and lifts my face to his.
“Of course you’d make a big deal of it. Krall and Thorn didn’t say anything.”
“Krall and Thorn are busy.”
“Shouldn’t you be?”
He smirks handsomely. “You have all the power you always had. If anything, you seem to have more.”
“I guess I do,” I say, feeling defiant, though I don’t really know why.
“It might be because you’re pregnant. It might be because our pups are going to share your gifts.”
“Maybe.”
“Four little witches in the royal palace,” he smirks. “Won’t that be an interesting situation for us all. Krall trying to suppress what cannot be tamed… Thorn pretending it’s not that big of a deal…”
“I don’t think anybody is going to care about it.”
“I think they’re going to care very much,” Skor says. “I think they’re going to do all the things little magical creatures do. They’re going to draw attention to themselves. They’re going to set things on fire by accident. And you are going to do whatever it takes to keep them safe.”
I can’t tell if he’s gloating, trying to warn me, angry that I have my powers and he had to sacrifice his to end his family’s curse… it’s hard to tell.
“Yes,” I say. “I am.”
He smiles broadly. “I am so pleased. The thought that your gifts had been lost in my chaos was almost too much to bear. You have always been more than any of us can handle, and these babies are going to push this city to its limits.”
“I think that’s projection, Skor. I think you’re going to be busy keeping up with them, as much as I am. And I think you’re going to have to be careful.”
“Oh?” He arches a brow at me, and little sparks of sexual energy zip between us. He loves it when I threaten him. He’s excited that the magic is back. This is what a happy Skor looks like. Hard to tell because he’s very rarely genuinely happy.
“Yes,” I tell him. “Because I’m never going to stifle the magic in these pups, or myself. And if this palace is under threat, which it seems to be, you should know I’m going to fight back every time I need to.”
“So no sitting back, being a good mother,” he says, pricking at my conscience.
Joke’s on him. I don’t have one when it comes to him.
And I know damn well that nature has nothing more fierce in all her glory than a protective mother.
I will make these palace guards look like mewling kittens in comparison to my fury if anybody ever tries to hurt my babies.
I respond to his little verbal jab with one of my own.
“You want to get on your knees? Last I recall, you liked it down there.”
His deep blue eyes spark with ire.
“You still have a mouth on you,” he growls. “I did what I had to do to save our bloodline, and I took a hell of a lot of shit for it. Krall and Thorn got to keep thinking they were the good guys while I did what had to be done.”
“I mean the kneeling in front of me,” I remind him. “You’re never going to live that down because I loved it.” I grin back at him, reach out for his hand, and pull him down in front of me.
He could resist easily, of course. He could stand on ego, or refuse me out of spite. But he grins rakishly as he sinks to his knees. That spark between us lights again as he pushes my dress up my thighs and moves his mouth to service, pleasure, and worship me just as I deserve.
“Good boy,” I smile, running my fingers through his thick dark hair.
“Don’t push it,” he growls back, his ire making my core vibrate. “You can still be fucked in your tight little ass.”
His threat makes me wet. I close my eyes and enjoy the feeling.
Oh, to hell with it, one last time, just for luck…
“Good boy.”
The End