King Alaric
Forty Years Later…
As I’m sitting on my throne with my beautiful queen by my side, I’m overcome with a deep sense of satisfaction and pride.
Our children—the heirs of the Moonborne Kingdom—are running the Lunaris Vinculum ceremony for the townspeople as we watch with proud smiles on our faces.
Our oldest child, Prince Thayden, is conducting the ceremony, blessing the bond of one couple after another.
He will be a good king when I’m gone. A righteous ruler.
I’ve taught him well. He’s calm, patient, smart, authoritative, and well-respected and liked.
The pack will accept him. The kingdom will thrive.
Morwen takes my hand and smiles at me. I smile back, feeling my heart nearly bursting with love.
There’s always been an age difference between us, but we’ve finally caught up to one another.
Wolf shifters start off in the world growing and developing faster than humans, but once we hit adulthood, we age a little slower than our human friends.
Morwen and I are finally at the sweet spot where we’re the same age in body.
She looks as stunning as ever with her silvery hair and gorgeous wrinkles on her face.
All those lines around her eyes and mouth formed by decades of smiling at me. I treasure each one.
Thayden says the sacred words as I gaze at my beloved mate, remembering how it felt to stand in that same spot all those years ago.
“By moon and blood, you are bound.
By bite and bond, you are pack.
As one, you stand. As one, you endure.”
Another happy couple exits into the night, about to start their lives together as mates. They don’t know how lucky they are.
I know how lucky I am.
To have found her.
My Morwen.
Only the unbound will bind the kingdom whole.
She did so much more than that.
She not only saved the kingdom.
She saved me.
This woman bound me and held me together. She’s lifted me up and made life worth living.
I’ve cherished every moment of it.
And that will continue…
Until my last sacred breath.
The End