Bonus Epilogue & Teaser
[[1 year post Epilogue]]
From the Desk of Margot Julian
My dear son,
Petra has moved me from my rooms to the retiree wing. She says Soleil and the boys needed the space, which I wouldn’t have argued with if she’d done it sensibly — there are two empty children’s rooms in the Luna’s quarters, and your old bedroom has been sitting vacant for years. The boys could have grown up in the same rooms you did and Soleil could have taken one of the empty rooms. Instead Petra moved me out entirely and gave Soleil the whole suite, and I’m in a two-room suite between Ulla Beech who is ninety five and Greta Howell who has never liked me. The heating is unreliable and my only windows face north, so there is no sun to speak of.
The boys are already walking. Luca is faster. Callum started later, though you were early yourself, so I don’t think that’s from your side. Soleil won’t leave them with me anymore. She announced this at dinner 3 days ago as if it was a speech she’d rehearsed, and no one said anything to her about it. I sit with them at dinner when she doesn’t fill every chair at her table first, because it’s important that they get to know your side of the family as well.
She’s taken over the Luna correspondence. All of it — the diplomatic calendar, the regional meetings, everything. I offered my advice on a few items when she seemed to be struggling, but she doesn’t listen about that either. She thanked me and never followed up. She’s in Petra’s office every evening now, the two of them with the door shut, deciding how things should run. You managed that entire pack with a budget half the size Petra’s spending and you never needed someone to hold your hand through the calendar.
She’s also told me the boys won’t hear about you. She sat me down and delivered it like she’d prepared a speech. Your own sons, Ronan.
Since Petra’s dissolved the council, the Kesslers aren’t talking to me, and I don’t know what to do with my time. The Greymist Lunas held their quarterly luncheon and I had to find out from the kitchen staff. Yuri Belmont’s daughter-in-law runs the regional circle now and I don’t know who trained that girl but clearly there were omissions.
My hip has been bad since the weather turned and the new healers don’t know my history. My stipend covers my needs, but Petra has informed me that I am still expected to contribute to pack duties like all other members, despite my age. I’ve thought about petitioning another pack but I’d have to start over completely; I’m too old for that and we both know it.
The Belmont border agreement renews next month and nobody here has dealt with Belmont. You built that relationship from nothing. The eastern wall still hasn’t been repaired. Emerson’s new hires are young and all starry eyed about working so closely with Vasik’s commune. You would have shut that nonsense down in a second. Nobody here is thinking past next week, and when something goes wrong — and it will — there won’t be anyone in the room who knows how to fix it.
I love you. The pack misses you, even if they can’t admit it. Come home soon.
Your loving mother,
Margot Weiss Julian
Luna Emerita, Julian Pack
----
Author’s note: Ronan and Margot aren’t a plot thread. They’re just two people who earned exactly the life they’re living. I thought you deserved to see it.
But the Claimed universe isn’t done.
You’ve spent thirty-one chapters wondering about Sasha's gift, and gotten a start on the answers with the archives that were Katina’s life's work. Want to know who Katina was?
TWICE-CLAIMED is her story. Aleks built the commune before Sasha ever walked through its doors. This is the story of the woman and clan who built Aleks. And even he doesn't know all of it.
Katina was the younger sister, the quiet one, beloved and protected by her more outgoing twin — until her sister died and her family buried Katina’s name instead, because the betrothal her sister was running from - to a brutal Lycan prince in the north - couldn't be broken.
Katina will have to master her own magic, and make a terrible choice to claim the freedom she deserves.
Torin Vasik is a border guard in a pack that’s barely holding together, with no magic, no ambition, and no Alpha to follow. When a feral, half-crazed stray wanders into his territory, his immediate response is to chase her off. He has enough problems. But the situation is more complicated than it appears, and Torin's instincts tell him he can't afford to let the problem lie...
Read TWICE-CLAIMED to find out the rest of the story.