Epilogue
“Are you sure we are ready for this?”
Castiel wrapped his arms around Ava from behind as she stood in front of her massive closet, trying to decide what to wear for the evening. “It’s a dinner party, my love. We’re not going to war with a neighboring kingdom.”
She snorted out a laugh. “You say that now, but just you wait and see. What we are planning could be just as dangerous as a war. We’ve only been mated for a week. Isn’t it too soon to merge our friend groups together?”
“It’s going to happen sooner or later. We might as well just get it over with now. Besides, everyone wants to congratulate us, so we might as well do it all at once so that we don’t have to keep repeating ourselves over and over again.”
“That is an excellent point.”
Turning to face him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his chest. “I’m just worried.”
“I know you are, mate.” He rubbed her back in soothing strokes. “But there really is no need. Your brother and your friends just want to make sure you are happy, and mine…” He paused for a few heartbeats, then sighed. “And mine just want an excuse to have a good meal and drink lots of wine.”
That made her laugh. “Stop it. Your friends love you. That’s why they always bother you.”
“I wish they would stop.”
Sincerely, he did.
But he had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Castiel was still adjusting to the sheer volume of attention that followed the announcement of their mating.
He’d lived for centuries with the luxury of going unnoticed when he wanted to be, and he had fiercely guarded his prized solitude.
Now, it felt as if everyone he’d ever known was stopping by or reaching out.
Even people he’d lost touch with for decades were taking the time to congratulate him as if his happiness had somehow become communal news.
In a way, it was.
It wasn’t just nosiness. His contemporaries understood the cost of maintaining a belief in destiny when years turned into centuries, and centuries into endless lifetimes.
Plenty of powerful beings never found their mate.
A fated mate wasn’t just romance. It was stability, purpose, an anchor strong enough to pull someone back from the edge of desolation.
So, when it finally happened for someone, when a cherished mating bond was established for an ancient, it was treated like a victory. Not just for the couple, but for everyone who’d spent far too long wondering if the universe still handed out miracles.
It was proof that fate hadn’t forsaken them.
Castiel didn’t like being the center of attention, but when he saw Ava laughing with Seneca and Killian, playing with his wolves, teaching the reapers how to play video games, he understood why they celebrated.
Even fleeting moments of happiness could give those without them hope that one day it would happen for them.
That happy endings really did come true.
Because Ava was still so young, the reaction on her side had been complicated in an entirely different way. Her friends were happy for her. Genuinely, extremely ecstatic that she had found someone who loved her. Seeing her with a mate who made her smile and made her feel safe was a gift.
But happiness didn’t erase worry.
If anything, it sharpened it.
To them, Castiel wasn’t just the fated mate who’d shown up at the right time. He was an ancient being. Powerful. Experienced. Connected to gods who treated war and fate like hobbies. That could be terrifying to those unaccustomed to it.
He was the kind of mate who came with consequences. There was a very real possibility that loving him would drag her into a life that was more dangerous than the one she’d been building at Trifecta University.
Some of her friends worried she’d get swallowed up by his reality.
They were concerned that his wants and needs would supersede hers until there was no room left for her studio, her degree, or the version of Ava who loved late-night sculpting sessions and pancakes with friends after class.
They wondered if she would one day wake up and realize she’d traded her own path for someone else’s.
Others were worried about the idea of a bond that could outlast everyone they’d ever loved.
Those who didn’t believe in fated mates couldn’t possibly understand the depth of emotions involved when a true mating bond was formed.
To them, eternity with someone sounded like a prison sentence rather than a lifelong connection filled with nothing but joy.
They couldn’t understand the overwhelming certainty, the way the world seemed to sharpen and settle into place the moment the bond formed. It wasn’t just affection or desire, but something deeper. Something absolute. It was a deep, abiding love that could never be broken.
To outsiders, it was frightening.
To those who were lucky enough to find their mate, it was everything.
While Castiel wasn’t in the habit of proving himself to anyone, he was willing to make an effort for Ava’s friends and family.
Because they mattered to her, and that meant they mattered to him.
It wasn’t about winning their approval or soothing their egos.
It was about respect. It was about showing them, in quiet, consistent ways, that he understood the weight of what he was asking Ava to share with him.
He couldn’t blame them for being wary. So, he decided to meet their caution head-on.
He wanted to open their home instead of keeping Ava tucked away.
He wanted them to see how he interacted with her.
How he listened before he decided. How he asked before he acted.
How he held back the darker, more possessive parts of himself because she deserved a partner, not a keeper.
He didn’t want her blind acceptance in their relationship, and he sure as hell never expected her to give up anything that mattered to her. He was pleased that she kept going to class, kept working on her art in her studio, and continued to hang out with her friends.
He didn’t want to erase her identity.
He wanted to enhance it.
To carefully craft a world where she could do anything she wanted.
Could be exactly who she was meant to be.
He didn’t posture or demand deference. He listened.
He asked what Ava wanted before he moved a single piece on the board.
All of his experience with strategic planning came in handy to figure out ways to make his mate’s life as enjoyable as possible.
He wasn’t there to take her freedom.
He was there to protect it.
However, when it came down to it, all of that was superfluous.
The only thing that truly mattered was Ava and their bond.
Now that they were fully mated, they shared everything with one another.
He was a constant in her mind, as she was in his.
There was no such thing as distance or doubt.
There was no worry about subterfuge or lies between them.
It simply wasn’t possible.
He felt her emotions as clearly as he felt his own, and the same was true for her in return.
Being in each other’s minds was a level of intimacy that couldn’t be described with mere words.
Constantly being connected wasn’t a burden to them.
It felt as natural and effortless as breathing.
It made their relationship even stronger, and ensured that their bond would always remain unbreakable.
An added bonus that came with their bond was that Ava no longer seemed to have problems using her magic. The erratic stalls, the frustrating misfires, and the way her power would vanish the moment fear or adrenaline spiked. All of that eased as if some invisible knot inside her finally loosened.
It wasn’t that she had become someone else, or that his dark powers had overridden hers.
It was the opposite. Their bond had helped merge her shifter abilities, her magic, and his dark angel powers together into a single internal source within her.
She was also able to access his thoughts and memories to learn how to use those powers.
That allowed her to do magic she never would have even imagined attempting a few weeks ago.
While it was still early days, Castiel had no doubt she would only grow stronger and more confident with time. The bond didn’t make her magic effortless. Nothing worth having ever was. It simply gave her an anchor and a balance that she had been lacking.
As for her soothsayer gift, they would have to wait and see. Since they’d bonded, she hadn’t had another vision. He wasn’t arrogant enough to assume it meant the ability had vanished. If anything, it made him even more cautious.
Their bond could have been grounding her enough to keep the flashes from tearing through her at random.
Perhaps the soothsayer gift was recalibrating her visions to adapt to her new level of magic.
Or maybe fate was simply waiting for the worst possible moment to remind them that prophecies were never given for convenience.
Either way, they would be ready when the time came.
If a vision hit, she would not be forced to face it alone. Castiel would stop the world for her if he had to. He would ensure she remained safe, then they would dissect what she’d seen with the same ruthless strategy he’d once used to plan wars.
If the vision was a warning, they would treat it like one. If it was a weapon, they would learn how to wield it. And if someone tried to make her visions a problem to exploit, they would learn a hard truth.
Ava Fortier was not a prize to be stolen or a tool to be used.
She was his mate.
And he would destroy anyone who tried to hurt her.
“Will you stop thinking such morbid thoughts? We have to get into party mode,” she teased. “We only have an hour or so before everyone starts arriving.”