Epilogue
Twelve Months Later - Rory
“Carlotta, you will be late for school,” I shouted up the stairs. Things never changed. Mrs Gold bustled into the hallway, Carlotta’s lunch box in her hand.
“That girl is always running late. It’s a wonder she ever gets to school on time.”
“I know. Tell me about it.” I took the box from her and placed it in Carlotta’s backpack.
“The house would be a lot quieter without her. She’s brought joy to this place, and we wouldn’t have her any other way. She keeps Smokey from under everyone’s feet too. No mean feat.”
Talking of the enormous pup, he bounded down the stairs, followed by Carlotta.
“I’m coming, Papa. I was saying goodbye to Smokey.” She grabbed her bag from me and placed a kiss on my cheek. “Come on. We’ll be late.”
I shook my head and laughed. She never changed, and the similarities to her mamma grew with each passing day. Lucia had said the same on our last visit to Italy, a place we no longer feared visiting.
Don’t be long. I have plans for you when you come back.
Since the mating, I’d slowly got used to having Zeke in my head. It was weird as fuck to start with, but I missed him when he needed his space and time. Which he often did.
I have a meeting when I come home with the interior designer and the new chef. I know you’re pouting, Zeke, but it’s not like we didn’t have sex this morning.
An image of me sliding down his cock appeared in my mind, courtesy of Zeke. He often did this at inopportune moments to remind me how good we were together and also to fuck with me and make me horny.
Look at your face as you took me like a good boy. I want to fill you again with my cock. Or we could take the bike out again. I know how you love that.
I swore that man had an insatiable appetite for sex and often wondered how I kept up with him, but again, since the mating, my desire for him had grown to the point I’d drag him upstairs, drop to my knees as soon as we closed to door to our bedroom, and take him.
I craved him as much as he did me, but my restraint was much better than his.
Ezekiel, I need to drive Carlotta to school. That image will distract me. Now, be up and ready for when I return. This restaurant is as much yours as mine, and these meetings have been on the calendar for ages.
I could picture him sighing and rolling his eyes, but opening the restaurant had been something we’d agreed to do.
Since moving here and giving up my job, I could only so much lounging around until I got bored. He was the same, and when the chance to buy a nearby restaurant cropped up, we had jumped at the chance.
Carlotta had wanted to call it Ernesto’s after her grandfather. Zeke and I knocked that suggestion down with a resounding no, finally agreeing to call it Mia’s. She would have loved it.
Do we have time for sex before we leave?
The man was incorrigible.
No, we don’t. Now I have to leave. I’m blocking you until I get back.
Seriously, I loved him to death, but god, he was annoying at times.
“Rory, hurry back,” he shouted down the stairs. When one line of communication closed, another opened.
“I’ll be back in less than an hour. Be ready.” And I didn’t mean for sex.
The journey to the school took twenty minutes, but this morning, the commute was longer. A herd of cows blocked the road for ten minutes, something that would never have happened in London.
Carlotta had taken the move in her stride and was loving life. I’d watched her grow in confidence after the shitshow that had been last year.
“Don’t forget Jason will pick you up later. Zeke and I have appointments all day.” I wasn’t sure how long all that would take. Going over menus and deciding wine lists could be time-consuming.
“I won’t. He said we could go shopping and then visit Kristine and Sam.”
“That’ll be nice, and you get to see the girls, too.”
“I know. They’re growing so big now.”
“Are you happy, Carlotta? Do you miss London?”
“What? Are you kidding? I love it here, and I love the people. I didn’t think I could ever be happy not living in Italy, and now you’re opening a restaurant selling authentic Italian food. I might have died and gone to heaven.”
She stopped in her tracks and looked at me, waiting for me to say something. Three years since we’d lost her mamma, but Zeke made it his mission to make me feel loved and cherished every day.
Talking of Zeke.
Hurry home. I have something I want to show you.
Did that man never quit?
If it’s your dick, I’ve already seen it.
Laughter rang through our link. What was it that was so important?
A few minutes later, I was on my way back home, thinking of all the things it could be. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were his dick. I knew what he was like. He liked to parade around in the nude in our bedroom. Not that I was complaining, mind.
His body was a thing of beauty and his dick? I’d worship it every day and probably wouldn’t leave our bedroom. His demon side took some getting used to.
I hadn’t been with a man before, so our mating was the first time I’d been properly fucked, if you didn’t include his tail.
I’d blacked out, more from the mating ritual than anything else, but there’d been other times I’d seen stars.
I arrived back at the house and let myself in.
The smell of food and coffee drew me to the kitchen, where Zeke sat with Mrs Gold at the breakfast bar. So it wasn’t his dick, then. Couldn’t say I wasn’t disappointed.
“What do you have to show me?”
He looked at Mrs Gold. What had they cooked up between them?
“So, we’re meeting the interior designer today. I might have done a thing.” He said.
“What did you do? If you’ve swapped out the tiles for the floor again, you and I will fall out.”
“No, nothing like that. Well, we agreed on the name of Mia’s for the restaurant, in honour of your late wife. With Lucia’s help and with Carlotta, I might add, I arranged for this so you can hang it somewhere prominent in the restaurant.”
I’d been so busy being inquisitive I’d missed the huge canvas sitting on the dining room table.
“What is it?”
“Take off the covers and have a look. It just arrived.”
I took a deep breath and tried to calm my heart. My fingers tingled with anticipation and nerves. What on earth could it be?
Slowly I stripped back the paper covering the picture, and an image of my beautiful wife emerged.
Not a formal portrait, but a photograph of her on our wedding day.
She was laughing at something someone had said, and her beauty and grace, her sense of humour and innocence at the world shone out of the picture in front of me.
It was perfect. It was her.
I stifled a sob, remembering the day vividly, a day we’d promised to be together for all time, only to lose her tragically all those years later.
A warm hand rubbed my back. “Is it okay?” Zeke sounded nervous.
“It’s… I don’t have words. Thank you. It’s perfect.”
“There’s a plaque too, but you don’t have to use it,” he said quickly.
I slipped the small bronze plaque from the bubble wrap, and once again, the tears threatened to spill.
“For Mia, the light of everyone’s life. This is for you. Love always, Rory and Carlotta.”
“I love it.” I turned to him. “But you did this. You made me the man I am today, and you took Carlotta in with no questions asked. You are the light of my life. The man I will cherish and love until the end of our days.”
Zeke
I knew it was risky getting the picture done, but it was only fitting her picture hung in the restaurant. Rory was quiet for the rest of the day, and I wondered if it’d been the right thing, but when we lay in bed that night after another energetic round of lovemaking, I knew it was.
“I love the picture, Zeke. You’re so fucking thoughtful.”
“I didn’t used to be. I used people for my own advances. Hell, even you were a means to an end. It was only when I met you and got to know you that I realised my reasons for doing the job were flawed.”
“I’m glad you took the job. If you hadn’t, we’d have never met, and I would have carried on living a half life with nothing to look forward to. Carlotta would have grown older, moved away, and eventually started a family of her own. I’d be a sad old man.”
“You regret nothing?” Our relationship had been a whirlwind. They usually were when you met your mate. I knew of only a few who waited years before completing the process. Add in that Rory still grieved for his wife. I often wondered if I’d pushed him into it.
“Nothing. I regret nothing of our life together. All this happened for a reason. My life is complete. You complete me.”
I smiled, knowing he felt that way, and my demon, who had become like a fucking puppy since the mating, sat up and took notice.
He came out occasionally. Rory liked it rough, and he was a master at that. Not that I wasn’t, but my demon took over and knew all the things that pushed Rory’s buttons until he was a quivering mess beneath me.
Mate. Love, mate, he said in my mind.
“So what’s next? For us, I mean?”
Rory drew circles on my chest and moved to finger the tattoo I’d had done of his bite mark. A reminder of our mating.
“The world is our oyster. Do you want to travel? We can do that. Anywhere you want to.”
“Can I visit the other realm?”
“Why the fuck would you want to do that? It’s dark and depressing at the best of times.”
“I don’t know. I thought it might be fun.”
“Believe me, it’s no fun. There are far more enjoyable things to do in this realm. Talking of which.”
I shifted on the bed and climbed on top of him. I looked down into his blue eyes, which reflected the love I had for him.
“It’s you and me, baby.” No more words were needed. His lips met mine, and we got lost, swept away in the moment as we became one once more.
We fit perfectly together. Rory and me. The other part of my heart. The only thing that mattered to me, and as we came together, high on love, I knew I’d found my home.
I’d found my forever mate.
THE END