Epilogue - Cecelia
One Month Later
“Oh, my Goddess!” Donna exclaims when I turn from the vanity chair and take Delphine's hand to get to my feet. My best friend walks over to me, her mouth agape as she stares at my face in awe. “You are so beautiful, Cece!” She gasps as she reaches for my face, but Delphine swats her wrist.
“Don't ruin my hard work!” Delphine scolds her daughter, then turns to me. “Although it didn't take much effort when you are so beautiful to begin with.”
“Oh, my Goddess!” I blush profusely, fanning my face with my hands when I become teary-eyed. “You're gonna make me cry.”
Delphine clicks her tongue. “No crying! Today must be perfect for our perfect bride!”
I smile as Delphine leaves the room to check that everything is prepared downstairs. Donna holds her hand out to me, asking if I'm ready.
My hesitation lasts only long enough to glance at the photograph perched on the dressing table. When I see my parents’ joyful smiles, I nod and slip my hand into Donna's.
“As ready as I'll ever be.”
Donna and I walk down the flight of stairs in my new home that I share with Dominic.
After we'd left his swearing-in ceremony and he surprised me with a beautiful date he'd planned, we returned to town, where he surprised me again and showed me an old building beside the harbor that he was planning on having renovated.
We'd just moved into our new home a few nights ago, and today is the day we exchange vows in front of the pack.
Life is…perfect, if such a thing exists. Some days, I still struggle with the reality that I'm living a dream I never dared to dream of before. Taking a deep breath behind the front doors, Donna steps in front of me with her hands on my shoulders, smiling encouragingly at me.
“In just a few moments, you're gonna be my sister. Officially,” she chuckles, giving me the courage to giggle wholeheartedly and let any remnants of my inhibitions subside.
I roll my eyes playfully. “How's that gonna change anything? It's not like it's gonna change your mind about moving to the city.”
“The alpha shouldn't have suggested it in the first place. That's something you need to take up with your husband,” she snickers.
“You still have free will, Donna. I thought you wanted to practice in Nightmist. What about all these wolves who need help?” I haven't been able to accept that my best friend will be leaving Nightmist once she graduates from college.
She'd been set on practicing psychology in Nightmist when she heard her brother was coming back home, but he's the one who suggested that she remain in the city, among the humans who could use her skills out there without exposing her werewolf identity.
I'm far from convinced that she's making the right decision, but she seems happy about exploring the world outside of Nightmist.
Donna shakes her head as she returns to my side. “You're deflecting, Cece. Today isn't about me. It's about you.”
Sighing heavily, I turn to the doors as the music begins, taking a deep breath. Unlike Donna, Nightmist is the only place I can consider “home,” since home is where the heart is, and my heart is standing at the altar, waiting for me to walk down the aisle.
As the doors part, opening up to the burgundy aisle that leads to the altar, my breath catches at how beautiful the scene is. Log benches on either side of the aisle are filled with members of the Lunaris Pack as fairy lights hang over their heads.
It's hard to imagine that I would smile as they stand up, or that the pack members would stand up at all when they saw me in a white wedding gown, my ripe belly showing off my pregnancy as I carry the alpha's heir.
But ever since Dominic's swearing-in ceremony, when he cleared my father's name and declared me his fated mate, most of the pack members have been treating me better.
While there are still a handful who look at me with scorn or turn their faces in disgust, my livelihood in Nightmist has greatly improved, and I've made some real friendships through the volunteer work I continue to do at the pack center.
Despite becoming the luna and wearing Dominic's possessive claiming mark like crown jewels, I decided that I would still work in the pack center, at my own pace and whenever I feel like it.
Agatha has been forced to accept this, just like most of them have.
It's not like they have a choice. Their alpha has threatened to send anyone who utters a bad word in my direction into exile, and no one wants to join Simon there.
But despite my better standing in the pack, nothing matters more to me than winning over the heart of one particular, majestic wolf. I find his eyes glowing with admiration at the altar where he waits for me to walk down the aisle.
A heartfelt smile lights up my face as I keep my eyes on Dominic, taking each step toward becoming his wife in a ceremony that has never been done before in Lunaris.
Marking me was appropriate to signify our mate bond and becoming the pack's Luna, while a wedding ceremony was one of Dominic's implemented changes in the pack to signify love.
It's something we both value above the fated mate bond, since it's what drew us together even before we were able to recognize what fate wanted from us.
As I near the altar, Dominic offers out a hand as Donna takes mine and places it in his. I turn to her with a grateful smile, then see my friends waving from the front bench.
Donna heads that way to join Lily and Delphine in the front. As Dominic helps me climb the stairs, I notice some familiar faces on the bench on the other side.
Dominic's closest friends, Tyler and Nicholas from black ops, are attending our wedding, and I give them a courteous nod before turning toward the altar, where the skull of Dominic's ancestor has been placed in front of us.
Since this is a new tradition, Dominic and I are paving a new way and making up the rules as we go.
We don't have anyone officiating the ceremony, since Dominic will be the one officiating all weddings that come after ours.
It'll be the responsibility of the pack's alpha, and since we're writing history, we get to choose how things work around here.
Dominic begins by turning to face me, then lifting my hand and placing it on the relic skull. He places his hand beside mine, then lifts my free hand and smooths my knuckles with his thumb.
“I, Alpha Dominic Rivera, take you, Cecelia Morales, as my mate and luna of the Lunaris Pack. I take you as my wife, my soul mate, my one true love, until the day I close my eyes. Even then, I will be with you in the spirit realm, where our souls will be eternally bound through fate.”
My heart skips a beat as his declaration, believing every word as he solemnly speaks it.
“I, Cecelia Morales, accept you, Alpha Dominic Rivera, as my mate. Forever and always.” There's no need to repeat what he said word for word, since he knows how I feel. He's so attuned to me that sometimes it feels like he's reading my mind even when I try blocking him out.
The crowd erupts into cheers and whistles when Dominic swiftly pulls me closer and captures my lips in a heated kiss that has everything around us fading until it feels like it's just the two of us on that stage.
I lose myself in his lips, in the feeling of his protective hand resting on my growing belly, knowing that this is exactly where I'm meant to be.
This is home.
Dominic pulls away and chuckles lightly as he presses his forehead to mine. “Is that a deal?” he whispers mischievously, prompting me to giggle as I stare into his eyes.
“Wanna shake on it?” I quip with a quirked brow.
“I can think of something better to do than just shaking on it,” Dominic teases with wiggling brows, and I can't control my giggling.
“Are we leaving another gathering?”
“That's exactly what we're doing,” he responds as he turns to the crowd, scoops me off my feet, and cradles me in his arms. The Lunaris Pack members cheer and applaud for us as he carries me down the aisle, but all I'm focused on is Dominic's eyes as they darken with evidence of his ravenous desire.
“You know…” I begin as he carries me through the front doors of our new home. “We can't keep sneaking off from these gatherings. We're the alpha and luna.”
Dominic chuckles as he sits me on the sparkling kitchen counter. “That's exactly why we can leave when we want to. We get to do whatever we want.”
Giggling as I wrap my arms around his neck, I whisper into his lips. “So, Alpha Dominic…what do you want to do?”
“This…” he says as he dips his head at my neck, nibbling my flesh with loose nips and peppering open-mouthed kisses on my scent gland. As I throw my head back and moan lightly, I immerse myself in the pleasure he administers.
“I love you, Luna Cecelia Morales Rivera…” Dominic whispers in my ear as he pulls away to stare into my eyes.
Despite how dark they've become with lust, there's a flicker of soft, warm light in the golden specks of his chocolate brown eyes. A sparkle that makes my heart flutter.
“I love you, too, Alpha Dominic Rivera…”
Our lips meet with love on our tongues, our souls uniting when he touches me.
The best thing that's ever happened to me wasn't discovering that I was the alpha's mate.
It was opening my heart to him and realizing that I had always loved him.
*****
THE END