Epilogue
EPILOGUE
T he wolf chases his mate between the trees, her silver tail swishing with each leap through the snow. She growls playfully, turning around to face him, jaunting back and forth on all fours. The moon highlights the white tips of her gray fur as he sprints for her. This time, she doesn’t run off. The pair roll across the snow, nipping at each other, nuzzling under the stars. No one enters these woods in the winter, making it the perfect playground for these Frosts to leap and bound through.
She’s still getting used to this form, along with her immortal one, but her mate is captivated by her beauty in them all. He growls, pinning her down by her throat, his canines grazing her fur. He licks her face before darting away, and it’s her turn to chase after him.
As the sky brightens, the wolves disappear from mortal view and tend to their Frost duties. The harbinger paints each oak he passes in a shimmering white until every tree in the forest is under winter’s spell. Icicles hang from branches, glistening around the mouths of caverns, and a light layer of white is scattered through the grass.
Hiding behind a deadened tree trunk, he crouches down and watches her.
His mate.
She twirls along holly bushes, flicking delicate strands of ice atop their pointy leaves. She prances, gliding across the snow on her tiptoes, waving her arms, brushing the wind with such force that it rattles the plants surrounding her.
Always his tempest.
Her laughter chimes along the breeze, unnoticed by the families strolling through the park early this morning. She knows he’s near, it’s impossible for her not to sense him. The mate mark in her chest glows brightly.
Popping out from the trees, she dashes out of reach, and he follows, giving her a bit of a head start before capturing her in his arms. He spins her away, then back in, snowflakes flurry out from her fingertips. They dance for no audience, unworried about the steps but completely in sync—as if their shared heartbeat never faded away. All they see is each other. The world merely exists around them, a blur of silver and white.
Fate watches from her ledge, admiring her handiwork. Ripples across a rainbow-streaked pond, some she set in motion, others beyond her control. The silvery stone appears beneath the whirls of colors as she stirs it with her palm. She knew she could get them here, even if the path had been washed away—or crushed within her grasp. They’ll never know the lengths she went to, but watching them together fills her with pride that can only be achieved through struggle. Enduring.
Catching the rock, she lifts it out of the pool and presses a kiss to it, feeling the biting chill of frost nip at her lips. She slips it into the pocket of her skirt, letting it clack against the others.
Waltzing to the scale, she furrows her brow and leans closer to inspect each nook and cranny, checking for any fissures that could throw things off balance with her latest additions. Once she’s given it her seal of approval, she reaches into her dress and pulls out the silvery stone between two fingers, marveling over the nearly imperceptible feathered markings giving it a rich texture. Holding her breath, she thumbs over them as she slowly sticks the stone on the right side, knowing before it happens that it’ll sink, lowering an inch as the other side lifts higher. And higher.
That won’t do.
Luckily, she has a plan. A way to balance the scales. Drawing three rocks out from her pocket, she swirls them in her hand, listening to them scrape against each other. Spinning back toward the left side, she rises up on the balls of her feet, placing them on the flat surface one at a time. First the lavender, then the seafoam green, and finally the gold. They clatter, one after another, and the scale groans as it shifts.
Perfect.
Pride blossoms in Fate’s chest at the sight of her harmonized creation. Her assistance with Jax Frost proved to be more meddlesome than she’d planned for, but with a few tweaks, everything should balance out soon enough…
Starting with spring.