Epilogue Cordelia
The weather has turned warmer, flowers are blooming, baby birds are everywhere, screaming shrilly for food, and I am celebrating the release of book three.
“I still can’t believe you had Bastian Sun join their pack,” Yolanda says with a laugh.
I wink at Bas and sip my coffee.
“And where are you?” Sebastian demands, leaning towards me. “When does the pack meet you?”
“That’s book four.”
He huffs. “It had better be. There is no world, fictional or real, where we aren’t together.”
He drags his seat around and kisses my lips hard.
When he pulls back, I show him the photo I posted two days ago. It’s me, with Katsu, Fox, and Sebastian standing in the spot where Lynn Marino always takes her pictures. Every month, I go out and take another photo. I have three photos now of us standing on that spot, three posts on social media.
To my surprise, my fans have been amazing. Our love story is almost as well known as Cat and Wolf’s. If anyone starts getting too carried away, the town interrupts in the typical Sunshine Cove way. But it’s all settled down now that we are a pack.
People are just happy for us.
And surprisingly, they love Bastian Sun, and love that he’s part of the pack now.
Everything worked out, and I know I’m lucky to be so fortunate.
“What are you thinking about?” Sebastian murmurs, his hand covering mine.
“You. I’m always thinking about you.”
He kisses me hard, in public, on Main Street in Sunshine Cove with all our friends and family around us.
“Do you want to break up?” Sebastian whispers.
“You just want to fight with me.” I laugh and pull him in for a kiss.
“I want to make up with you.”
I shake my head, but his phone pings. He checks it and groans.
“Devil horse!”
“Where are you going?” I ask as he leaps up.
“Got a message. Gale is on the beach.” He blows me a kiss, while I’m still trying to get my brain around that. My horse is still managing to escape, and no one can figure out how. He’s a regular Houdini, but luckily, the town looks after him.
I blink. “I put on a bike chain. How did he get a bike chain off?”
Fox plops down in Sebastian’s seat outside the café and smiles widely. “Katsu’s parents are all settled. They want everyone to go over for dinner tonight.”
“Sure,” I say, but I huff sadly. Katsu has been gone for three days. He’s been packing up the last of their belongings and sending them here. I just want him home.
Fox leans in close. “Or we could, you know, run away again. Go MIA. Find a beautiful reason to be alone and…”
“I don’t need a reason to be alone,” I protest. “Not with you.”
“So, you want to run away with me?”
I put my hand behind his neck and drag him down to me. “No, baby. We’re going to go and have dinner, and you are going to learn patience.”
“Aww,” he whines. “But celebrating. There’s a scene I really want to try.”
I shift on the seat, slick pooling between my legs. I know the scene he’s talking about. It’s so hot, we haven’t been able to get through it without dissolving into a hot fuckathon.
“You can narrate,” he teases.
“Mmm,” I murmur and bite his lower lip. “Or we could save it for tomorrow when we get to the hotel Katsu is surprising us with, and we have alone time for four…whole…days.”
Fox’s eyes brighten; he drops to his knees and puts his face in my lap.
“You are wise beyond words, beautiful beyond measure, and cruel as the oceans.”
I lean in closer, my hair hiding our faces. “There’s a surprise waiting for you in your saved videos.”
His head pops up, his mouth drops open, and he stares at me in hungry awe. “Cordie.”
A magpie lands on the table with a seagull beside him. They fight and squabble, then turn vicious eyes on us.
Fox sighs heavily. “It was easier when I was the enemy.”
“Sucks to be the official Sully whisperer, doesn’t it?”
He glowers at me. “That spiked ball of creep was digging up the pavers again last night.”
Mat climbs onto Fox’s shoulder, while Sully does the same on the other side. I have had to learn to share my alpha, and I’m not sure how happy I am about it.
“Aww, Needles won’t hurt you,” I tease.
“He is the freakiest thing I’ve seen yet.”
“What about Gary?” I sip my coffee.
“Who is Gary?”
I freeze. Damn it, Cordelia, not a good idea. “Uh, maybe don’t go in the toilet when you get home, darling.”
“Why? What’s in the toilet?” he asks suspiciously.
“Fox! I need you!”
Fox slumps. “How did I get roped into being the person who is all things Trick Knot Treat?”
I shrug. “Iunno, I’m a full-time author. I couldn’t do it.” I beam at him unapologetically.
He sighs dramatically. “Fine. I have to go help plan how to get people laid. We haven’t got long left. A few more weeks. Lorelei is going to work us to death. You should save me.”
I snort a laugh. “Love not laid, and if I could, I would.”
“Both,” Fox says sullenly.
He walks away and is swiftly crowded by Lorelei and the Pack Makers, Katsu’s mothers, who have both decided to join the fun, and a very unhappy Sofia.
Yolanda comes out, laughing over her shoulder as Grigori says something that has transformed her from a quiet mouse to a beta who looks as happy as I feel.
“Here’s your roll, and I have a message for you.” I jolt, turning to her, frowning.
“Thank you. A message? For me?”
“Katsu said for you to come find him.”
The happiness that expands in my chest steals my breath away. I take my roll and stand up, searching for him, my heart slamming. He’s been gone for three days, and it’s been three days too long. She laughs softly, placing her hand on my shoulder.
“Good luck.”
I wander down towards the beach, but like a compass, I feel him and turn away, finding him standing in front of me with a bouquet of crimson roses.
I stare at him, feasting on him.
“You’re home?”
He nods.
“No more trips?”
He shakes his head.
I run to him and leap up, flying into his arms, knowing that he will catch me, and he does, holding me close, burying his face in my shoulder.
“I’ve missed you,” he whispers.
“It’s only been three days,” I protest, but I don’t mean it. I missed him, too.
“It’s been too long. I told you, even a minute is too long.”
He sets me down but keeps me pulled up against him.
“Katsu!”
I pull away and just manage to get out of the way before Fox slams into our alpha. Sebastian appears, too, summoned by the bonds we all share.
“You’re home,” he says.
Katsu dips his head. “I am. What are we writing about today?”
I smile. “I don’t know. Anything might happen. I feel like writing something new, something different.”
“Oh?” Sebastian says.
“Another love story, a happy ending. Maybe what happens after the happy ending?”
“Shall we go and rehearse the scene?” Fox purrs.
This time, I can’t say no. I glance from one to the other. Fox, Katsu, and Bas.
“Yes, let’s go practice happily ever after. It needs to be perfect.”