Epilogue
Devil’s Pointe felt different. The music still drifted from the house. Laughter carried from the bar. The familiar rhythm of a place built on trust moved around them like nothing had changed. But something had.
The illusion that evil always came from outside the gates was gone.
Julia stepped out onto the patio, the warm breeze off the water stirring her hair. The scent of citrus lingered faintly in the air. Her hand rested easily in Leland’s, neither tentative nor uncertain.
They weren’t here as part of an investigation tonight. Or a protection detail. They were here together. Not only here but everywhere, because she lived with him now.
That hadn’t been her idea entirely. With all the subtlety of a federal warrant, Leland presented her with two options.
Move into his secure waterfront home or watch him relocate into her safety-deficient apartment building.
If that happened, he promised, unapologetically, he’d be a bear to live with.
She hadn’t chosen the bear.
Leland paused as they reached the edge of the lawn, his gaze sweeping the property out of habit before settling on her.
“Your choice tonight,” he said.
No pressure, no expectation. Tonight was about reclaiming something that had been taken from her.
Julia’s gaze drifted over the grounds. The pool shimmered beneath the moonlight. The waterfall cascaded nearby. Beside the house, the labyrinth waited in mystery and darkness. Only one place would do tonight. The place where she’d nearly lost everything.
Even from here, the new wood gleamed. Soft curtains stirring in the breeze. The dock beyond it glowed beneath a row of solar lights.
This time, there was no unknown threat waiting in the dark. She had Leland by her side.
Her pulse didn’t race. It steadied.
She looked up at him. “The pergola.”
A dark brow arched as he glanced down the slope toward the water. She felt the tension that followed.
“Are you sure?” he asked quietly. “It has only been a few weeks.”
Julia stepped closer, her fingers brushing the front of his shirt. “That’s why,” she said. “I don’t want that to be the memory I have. I want to replace it with something much better.”
His eyes met hers. She saw concern, protectiveness, and a softness he rarely let anyone see. So deep in it with her now, he no longer tried to hide it.
“You’ve chosen the one place I nearly lost you,” he said, his voice low and rough at the edges. “Don’t be surprised if I’m a little possessive.”
Heat curled low in her stomach. “I can live with possessive.”
His mouth curved slowly, and he took her hand again, leading her toward the water.
The sounds of the club faded as they crossed the lawn together, the warm night wrapping around them until the world narrowed to the soft lights, the water beyond the dock, and the man beside her.
Inside the airy wooden structure, the curtains fluttered gently in the breeze.
Julia took in the changes. Cushions with sage-green throw pillows. In a corner, a stone planter filled with sand. Beside it, incense sticks and a lighter. “Cari’s citronella finally arrived,” she murmured with a faint smile. She picked one up and turned to Leland. “Will it bother you?”
“Seeing you spotted and scratching tomorrow would bother me more.”
Sweet and dry, and honest. She got welts the size of quarters sometimes.
Julia lit the stick. Scented smoke filled the air with a hint of lemongrass, not bad.
“You haven’t changed your mind?”
She looked at him. “No. Why?”
“You seemed like you were stalling,” he said, walking forward. “And you have too many clothes on.”
He tugged the bow at her neck, and her top fell to her waist. A little shimmy and the rest of her dress slid down to her feet. She stepped out of it, angled her head up, and asked, “Better?”
His gaze skimmed downward. “If you got any better, my heart couldn’t take it.”
She ran her fingers over his chest, warmed by the compliment as much as what was ahead. “You’ve changed since our first scene together. You’re not as intense.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“Neither, just different. I like playful Master Leland too.”
Leland stepped into her space, one hand sliding to her waist while the other tipped her chin up. “Love has mellowed me.”
She sucked in a breath. “That’s the first time you’ve said it.”
“If you haven’t figured that out by now, I must be doing something wrong. Maybe intense Master Leland needs to make a comeback.”
“No. You’re doing everything right. Perfect, in fact.”
He bent to her, lips hovering close. “Got anything to say to me?”
She hesitated. Uncertain.
“New rule. When I say I love you, you say—”
“Oh, yes! Of course… I love you, too. So much.”
Whatever ghosts had followed her there, whatever echoes lingered beneath the surface, they faded beneath the certainty in his eyes.
Tonight, instead of fear, there was only love.
When he kissed her—tender at first but turning deep and claiming—Julia let the rest fall away. The careful months. The circling. Every almost that hadn’t been allowed to become reality. None of it mattered now.
He drew back just enough to look at her. Then he sat on a cushioned bench and lifted her astride him in one easy motion.
“This,” he murmured—like he’d always known exactly how this ended.
Quiet. Certain. A man done fighting what had always been true.
She framed his face in her hands as he brought her down onto him.
The gasp that left her was full and undeniable—her whole body registering him, the reality of it, the inevitability of it.
One hand curved around her hip and set the rhythm.
The other threaded into her hair and held her there, close, his exhale warm against her mouth like something he’d been keeping too long.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and moved with him. Not surrendering. Meeting.
Not with Leland beneath her, solid and real.
Not when everything she’d wanted, everything she’d once believed was beyond her reach, had led here.
To this.
To him.
***
Rain fell steadily on the playground. One intrepid couple, already soaked, still splashed in the pool.
The others had sought shelter inside, resuming play in the private rooms and the playroom.
Some had called it a night. Others had settled into the lounge, wrapped in that soft, contented haze that only came at the end of club night.
Cari curled deeper into Dev’s side on the couch. His arm, a solid weight, rested possessively around her waist. Around them, other couples relaxed. Whether indoors or out, the lounges were never empty at this hour as the night wound down.
Across from them, Julia sat tucked securely in Leland’s lap. Heads together, they murmured quietly, words for them alone while she absently traced the swirling ink snaking down his arm. Her expression caught Cari’s attention the most.
Contentment. The kind that settled deep after surviving a horror no one should have to face and finding love on the other side.
Leland looked different, too. Still controlled. Still intense. But no longer distant. His attention never strayed far from Julia, as if some part of him needed the reassurance that she was there. And safe.
Cari settled deeper against Dev. Everything seemed back to normal. The same laughter, the same conversations, with scenes unfolding beyond the open doors. And yet, beneath it all, something wasn’t the same.
A usually bubbly, outgoing submissive paused and scanned the room before entering.
Even before the weather turned, more people played inside than out.
And except for Leland and Julia, who she suspected had a distinct purpose, she had seen very few down by the water.
It was the small things, easy to miss unless you were looking.
“Do you feel it?” she asked quietly.
Dev glanced down at her. “Feel what?”
“The edginess. It’s subtle, but it’s there.”
His gaze swept the room. “Yeah, I feel it,” he said finally.
“For years, Devil’s Pointe has been a refuge.
The killer being one of us has left them shaken.
The women especially. Requests for escorts to the parking area happen nightly now.
It has always been an option, but we’ve never needed it before. ”
Cari tipped her head back to look at him. “I know art, not security, but no one could suggest you’re not doing everything possible with the enhanced measures you’ve put in place.”
The membership reviews were stricter now.
Background checks went deeper. Callan had taken over their systems completely.
If they needed a contractor, access during the job was monitored and removed once it was done.
He was currently working on fail-safes. And Dev had overhauled the security protocols personally, from top to bottom.
“Rebuilding trust takes time,” he said quietly. “We’ll get there. But none of my men will ever let their guard down again. That’s a promise they can count on.”
Cari looked around at the subs in doms’ laps, or at their feet. That was a common occurrence, but tonight, it was more necessity than preference. Every seat was taken.
She slipped her hand into his. “I think they know that.”
“What makes you say that?”
“The club is at capacity tonight. Even rattled, they came back. This is home; the other members are like family. You don’t give that up without a fight.”
They lapsed into silence, watching the others.
Alec had stretched out in his chair, feet crossed on the table. Emily looked half asleep, curled against him like a kitten. Both had wet hair from the waterfall, their favorite spot.
He murmured something against her temple before kissing her, utterly unconcerned with the complaints Dev had received tonight about them monopolizing the play space.
Cari smiled. Some things never changed.
Nearby, Rhys and Gaby occupied one end of a love seat, speaking quietly enough that no one else could hear them. She said something that made Rhys’s mouth curve in that rare, restrained way, his focus fixed solely on her, as if the rest of the room ceased to exist.
A buzz of activity near the patio doors broke the quiet.
Mateo emerged with crutches tucked beneath his arms and a cast running the length of one leg. Three submissives surrounded him, bending over backward to help before the poor man made it halfway across the patio.
“You shouldn’t be carrying your own drink, Master M.”
“I’ll go clear a spot on the couch for you.”
“I’ll get a pillow to prop up your leg.”
Mateo sat down and blinked once as someone shoved a pillow behind him while another appeared with a fresh bourbon and a third fussed over whether he was comfortable enough.
The dark amusement spreading slowly over his face made Cari snort quietly.
“He’s enjoying this entirely too much,” she murmured.
When Mateo raised his glass for a sip, he winced.
“I think my shoulder’s bothering me now, too.”
Two subs immediately moved to massage it then argued over who had been there first.
Dev smothered a laugh.
“They’ve created an entitled monster. He’s going to milk it until the cast comes off.”
“Please,” Cari said dryly. “Mateo came that way.”
Her gaze drifted farther down the patio.
Rafe and Boone occupied one of the high-top tables near the outdoor bar, Callan sitting between them nursing a beer while what appeared to be a very serious debate unfolded.
Boone lounged in his chair, cowboy hat tipped low, one boot hooked on the rail beneath the table while two submissives hovered nearby, pretending not to stare at him and not doing a very good job of it.
One finally gathered enough courage to talk to him, which earned her a devastatingly slow grin and a murmured response that turned her bright red while her friend nearly choked on her drink.
Rafe remained his usual quiet, unreadable self, broad shoulders relaxed as he listened to Callan argue passionately about a tech-related issue.
Unlike Boone’s easy charisma, Rafe drew attention purely by existing.
Dark. Still. Mysterious enough that submissives kept finding excuses to wander near their table, only to lose their nerve when he looked up.
Callan, meanwhile, seemed completely oblivious to all of it. “I’m telling you, the encryption structure was elegant,” he insisted.
Boone took a drink then drawled, “Buddy, I understood maybe six of the thousand words you just said.”
One of the submissives asked Rafe softly if he wanted another beer.
His eyes lifted to hers. Quiet. Intent. And the poor thing nearly melted into the floor before hurrying away to fetch it.
Cari laughed under her breath. “Okay. So, it’s an unusual sort of family. But no matter our dysfunction, we take care of our own.”
Dev brought her hand to his lips. “How did you get so wise?”
“You must have rubbed off on me,” she teased.
When the sub returned with Rafe’s beer and, as a thank-you, he pulled her down beside him for some quiet time one on one, Cari mused aloud, “I wonder who’ll be next.”
Dev chuckled. “You won’t stop until every dom and sub around here is paired up, will you?”
She smiled innocently.
“Is it wrong to want my friends to be as happy as we are?”
“Not wrong,” he said, half groan, half sigh. “Just dangerous.”
“You’re as bad as me, Master Manipulator. They just never suspect a thing.”
“Perhaps,” he conceded. “But I was hoping for a period of calm. Just a month. Hell, I’d settle for a week with no drama.”
She snickered behind her hand.
“No drama. At Devil’s Pointe. That’s adorable.”
Dev’s hand slid higher along her thigh before settling possessively over her backside with a firm squeeze.
“Don’t your gallery, the club, and your husband keep you busy enough?”
Cari wound her arms around his neck and looked into the deep-brown eyes she couldn’t help getting lost in.
“There’s always time for love.”
His expression immediately softened. In an unguarded moment, gentler than the dominant confidence he showed the rest of the world, he lowered his mouth to hers.
“It warms my heart to hear you say that. Kiss me, princess.”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered warmly against his lips.
Love for him swelled in her chest. She didn’t need to shout it to the world.
All anyone had to do was look at her to know.