Epilogue
Evangeline: Five Months Later
“Close your eyes.”
“I’m blindfolded.” I deadpan.
“And I still don’t trust that you won’t peek.”
“How dare you!”
I totally would. But this blindfold must be expertly made because I cannot see a thing behind it. Even when I wiggle my nose.
“You know your scent gives you away, right?”
Damn it.
“Brat.”
He keeps pushing me. I smell the forest: leaves and trees. Fresh air blows gently around us. Yet we could be anywhere. Nothing distinctive stands out to me.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes,” I laugh. “Let me see already.”
“Alright, alright.”
His hands swoop into my hair, combing through the long strands and tug on the ends of the fabric. The soft material slowly falls from my face. I expect the light to be blinding, but it’s soft, golden, and glowing around us. The tree canopy blocks the harsh glare, leaving streams around us.
It’s my woods. My forest.
I would recognise it anywhere.
But it’s different. A brick walkway lines the floor, a path heading to a line of trees and bushes.
My feet walk across, thudding unnaturally on the Alphamade stones rather than the mud they are used to.
Cas guides me, and I follow wordlessly. We come to a gate, and I push it open, forcing myself to walk through.
No.
I can’t believe it.
My shed.
It’s gone.
Tears fill my eyes. Pain blooms in my chest.
“Welcome home.”
That bastard.
A home.
My home.
Our home.
My shitty shed has been turned into a beautiful cottage. Big stain glass windows, a cobbled path weaving its way around the flowers and trees. Flower baskets on the windowsills.
It’s magical. Something out of a fairytale.
And I hate it.
“You—” I can’t find the words to describe my heartbreak. “Destroyed my shed.”
The sound I make is croaked, broken, and pained.
That did not come out right. I shouldn’t care about the shed. He made me a home. I don’t need the shed anymore.
But it was mine.
The only nest I’ve ever had.
I never got to say goodbye.
He picks me up and presses me into the hard lines of his body. His comforting smoky scent is helping, but the pain of something I love being gone is still echoing inside me. He carries me behind the beautiful (monstrous shed killing) house.
Standing where it always has been, with a small window and purple flowers painted on the door.
My shed?
It’s painted, and the roof has been fixed. But it’s still here.
“I would never. I wanted you to have a home, but I would never get rid of your shed. This way, if you need to run, or need time to be by yourself, you can come here. But I’ll be right over there, and I’ll know that you are safe.”
“You kept my shed.” Fat tears roll down my face.
“I think I saw your raccoon friend. The construction noise scared him off, but I think he lives down by the river now, if you want to visit.”
“You built me a house in the woods and you kept my shed.”
I bury myself in his arms. This Alpha. This perfect mate, and he’s all mine.
He kept my shed.
He built me a house.
“The house!” I shout, pulling myself out of his arms.
I slide down his body, momentarily distracted by his gloriousness, and push him. He lets me move him. Laughing as I use all my strength and he still has to pick up his feet to move.
The house is everything I have ever wanted. It’s surprisingly more spacious than it looks from the outside. But cosy, warm and the complete opposite to the apartment.
I run between the rooms, looking at every detail he’s added to the space. Apollo watches me lazily from the new dog bed in the corner, too comfy to bother moving.
Cas follows me, or rather, lets me drag him, and answers all the questions I have.
I know exactly how he got this right.
Subliminal messaging. I need to get the girls in on this.
Anna would thrive with this kind of knowledge.
The trick is to wait until they fall asleep and whisper all your dreams and desires into their ear.
They’ll dream about it and have fleeting memories of it while they are awake.
Presto, you have everything you could ever want.
With the added bonus of not having to ask for it.
“I got the hint.”
Fuck. He’s on to me.
“What hint?”
“The pillows, blankets, flowers, candles.”
He’s not on to me? I have no idea what he is talking about.
“Angel. You were not subtle. You painted the walls in the apartment before we had even met. You hated it there, and I did too. I hated seeing you somewhere that made you miserable. It was suffocating you. I want you to live somewhere you love, not put up with.”
I beam up at him, hands resting on his chest.
“I did hate it.”
“I know.”
That smirk. Fuck. It melts me.
“You know there’s only one thing I left for you to do.”
“What?”
“Nest.”
* * *
Cassius: Two Hours Later
It’s a mess.
A complete mess.
But she looks so happy and smells so proud.
Maybe she’s the raccoon?
There are clothes and blankets everywhere. No rhyme or reason, no colour palette. It’s a glorified pile of laundry. I know she has her shed, but I want that to be her alone space. This is for us.
I can’t see the floor.
“Don’t you love it?” She burrows further under.
“Hey! Don’t get lost under there.”
The image of her suffocating swallows me whole. The blankets move, shifting as she wiggles through and pops out, only her head exposed.
On the other fucking side of the room.
How did she get over there?
Her grin is massive, and my heart melts.
I guess we are nesting in a laundry pile then.
“I like being under it all. I like the weight.
“I can bring you the weighted blanket, and that way I won’t accidentally step on you.”
She shakes her head, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
“How about we make a roof?” I hum.
“A roof?”
“Like a pillow fort, or one of those drapey fabric things? Then you can be underneath it and inside it, but I don’t have to worry about my mate suffocating.”
“Yes! But for now.”
She wiggles her finger at me, drawing me in.
I stand in the doorframe, refusing to enter.
She frowns.
“Invite me.”
Her pupils dilate, and her mouth drops open with a mix between a moan and a squeak. She rearranges herself. Moving onto her knees, her hands splayed on her thighs, and her head dropped. She tilts her neck, elongating and exposing my mating bite.
My cock hardens instantly.
My Omega.
“Please, Alpha,” she begs so prettily.
I’m powerless against her. I climb in, taking her in my arms. My lips find her neck, pressing kisses, licking, sucking and biting her skin. Leaving marks surrounding my mating bite. My scent coats her, and I groan at the reminder that everyone will know she is mine.
She moans, groaning and rubbing her perky little tits against my chest, her hips unknowingly, uncontrollably grinding against my leg.
Poor thing. So needy.
I lower her onto her back and spread her legs.
Her slick glistens along her thighs, and I press my lips to her wet skin, letting my growl vibrate against her. My tongue lashes out, tasting her. I rip her panties away and push my tongue into her. Alternating between sucking her clit and tasting her slick.
Her back arches, her screams get louder, and her tiny fists tighten in my hair. Slick gushes from her, and I devour her.
I lean over. Pulling her into my arms, her boneless body slumps and I thrust in, to the hilt. She comes alive. Her hot, tight body welcomes me. We groan in unison. Her nails rake down my back, and I lean into it. I want to bear her marks.
I adjust my angle and pick up my pace. Moving inside her at a brutal speed, but she loves it.
The small amount of pain makes her pleasure that much more desirable.
Her pussy spills slick around me, coating my thighs and filling the air with her delicious, spicy scent.
She flutters around me, her legs tighten and her body shakes. She’s close.
My knot swells, and as much as I love pressing it into her and feeling her stretch to accommodate me, there’s nothing I love more than covering her in my cum. The sight of her, wet, sated, and smelling like our love, is what my dreams are made of.
She screams, exploding around me, her orgasm wrecking through her body. I let her take what she needs. She grinds, riding me and getting the most out of her pleasure. The second her breath hitches, I know I can pull out. I grab myself, tightening my fist around my bulging knot, and move over her.
Her eyes glaze over, and she watches me, fascination and hunger on her face.
I pump my fist once before my balls tighten and my spine tingles and I cum, splashing my scent over her tits.
I rub it in, needing to know my scent is more than surface level. Her nipples tighten under my touch, but she nuzzles into me, and I know she’s about to fall asleep.
“Cas?”
“Yes, Angel?” I whisper, lifting one of the thousand blankets that surround us and tucking her in, keeping her pressed to my side.
“I know what I want to do.”
“Yeah?”
“I think I want to work with my dad.”