Epilogue - Bryce
“You know, I’m happy for you,” June said as we walked through town. “But a part of me is sort of jealous. I know that’s probably poor taste to say, but when have I ever not been honest?”
I laughed as we turned a corner, heading on a route I’d only taken once before. “Exactly. Speak your mind.”
“I don’t know… I just… seeing you and Mason coming back together, him and Cassie bonding…” She sighed. “It makes me think of my own love life. I’ve kind of not told you the whole story.”
“What?” I asked sharply, glancing at her.
Her face flushed pink, June shrugged. “You had your secrets! I haven’t only buried myself in work these past few years.
The truth is, I, um, I actually started having feelings for Jackson over the last few years.
I don’t know—just the way he, like—” June shook her head, laughing.
“It's like something clicked for me overnight, and suddenly he was all I could think about. I told him, or, rather, tried to show him one time. The pack was at the museum, and he’d come down to grab their pizza order, but I pulled him into the main office to look at some paperwork. I thought we were close enough that he felt the same, that I could just… kiss him.”
Her words were stilted, but even so, they landed, sinking into me with surprise. “You have a crush on my brother?”
June groaned, tossing her hair back. “God, it sounds lame when you word it like that. But, yeah, I have feelings for him. I tried to make a move, and he awkwardly laughed and moved away. He was nice about it, at least, but ever since, I just haven’t been able to speak to him the same.
When he stayed away from the pack, and I couldn’t see him, it was tearing me up.
I could feel his distress, you know? Is that normal? ”
I wanted to tell her it wasn’t, that Cassie could feel Mason’s, and vice versa, and I’d been able to feel Mason’s ever since we’d accepted our mating bond a few days ago. But for June to be so in tune with Jackson was odd.
Maybe good, maybe bad, but definitely odd.
“We’ll figure it out,” I told her. “I can speak to him or—”
“No!” June said quickly, surprising me, right as the door to where we’d been headed opened. “No, I can handle it. Please. We don’t need more complications here.”
“So you’re going to quietly pine for my brother?” I asked her.
“Are you talking about June’s crush on Jackson?” The voice came from the doorway, where Freya stood, her washed-out, pale, pink hair piled onto her head in a messy bun.
“Stop calling it a crush!” June cried, stalking past Freya and into her place. I followed, hurrying in. Freya closed the door behind us all, following us.
“Update,” she announced, clearly saving June from further embarrassment of her apparent feelings for Jackson.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Was this how he felt when he found out Mason liked me?
Loved me, even? “The spells I put around town after the ifrit attack are holding. They’re not the strongest, but they’ll last until we get more research done, and maybe I can call in some extra help.
I don’t know any other witches, honestly, but… ”
Her eyes slid to me, and I shook my head. “You’re not asking my daughter—”
“I wasn’t going to,” she quickly countered. “I was going to see if we could explore your clairvoyance in the meantime, to see if there are visions you could help with to locate any other aid.”
“Oh.” I frowned, settling onto Freya’s sofa alongside June. “Sure. I’ve never figured it out fully myself, so I’ll be happy for any and all help.”
“Great!” She clapped her hands, her rings clacking together. “I’ll grab books for us to look through.”
June’s face lit up.
As they talked about what topics to research first, or debated what parts different cities could hold more witch presence based on leyline patterns, I half zoned out, thinking of the very naked alpha I had waiting for me in bed when I got home.
He’d emerged from the shower as I’d been leaving, with Cassie with her uncle, who practically couldn’t stay away from her now that we’d all become a proper family, and I had buried my face in Mason’s neck, tugging his towel away from his waist before pushing him onto the bed.
“Stay,” I’d ordered him playfully, pointing a finger at him, before backing out of the room. His eyes had darkened, and yet he’d stayed, done as I asked, happy to participate in this little game.
I wasn’t the outcast anymore, and in the week since the fight in the woods, I’d already had a group dinner with the pack above the museum.
So far, they’d taken well to embracing me, laughing with me now, rather than at me, and it was a disconcerting but welcome change.
I trusted Mason when he said he was ruling a new era for the pack.
One where another shifter would never have to go through what I had.
I never thought it possible for me to belong with the Honeycreek pack, yet I did.
I was home. After running for seven years, I was finally, peacefully home. I wasn’t the broken girl who’d left town all those years ago. No, I was the alpha’s mate, a woman who could be and was independent but was slowly learning that it was okay to trust others, to let them take care of her, too.
I was strong and capable, and the pack was already looking towards me for orders if Mason wasn’t there.
I didn’t care if ifrits remained a threat in the future. We’d face them all together. I had my family; I had friends, both old and new ones, and I had my alpha, the man I had always loved. My neck was bruised with his mark, and forever would be, twining our souls together.
Smiling to myself, I listened to the rest of Freya’s and June’s conversation, but my mind was back on when I’d return home.
When I did get home, I found Mason not waiting for me in bed, but lifting our daughter high above his head, pretending to make her fly—only for him to stiffen when Cassie tried to leap out of his arms when she spotted me.
“Mommy!” Cassie cried, easily jumping to the back of the couch and racing for me. She launched herself into my arms, and I held her tightly, kissing the top of her head.
“Baby,” I murmured, hugging her. My eyes met Mason’s as he walked towards us, wrapping us both in his arms. “My alpha,” I whispered into his ear, feeling him smile against my cheek.
“My mate,” he murmured right back, drawing me into a kiss.
“Mommy and Daddy,” Cassie sighed, hugging us both as if she were afraid any of us would leave. But we wouldn’t. No, we were staying—both with her and with the Honeycreek pack.
*****
THE END