EPILOGUE 1 FERAL
Two months after the seal repair, I stood at the edge of Elizabeth Thornwick’s gardens with Victoria’s hand in mine, staring at what had to be the most elaborate brunch I’d ever seen.
Early autumn had painted the trees in shades of amber and copper.
Spelled decorations drifted through the air like lazy faelights, occasionally pausing to rearrange themselves into new patterns.
The scent of fresh bread and roasted meat drifted from tables laden with more food than seemed reasonable for any gathering.
Laughter and conversation rose from clusters of people scattered across the lawn.
This reception was for family and friends. People who genuinely wanted to celebrate what Victoria and I had found together.
Victoria squeezed my hand, watching me with that expression she got when she’d noted something significant.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re nervous.”
“I’m not nervous.”
“Your pulse just jumped.” She pressed her fingers against my wrist. “Elevated heart rate. Slight tension in your jaw. Classic anxiety markers.”
I pulled her closer. “Stop analyzing me.”
“Never.” Her smile grew. “But for what it’s worth, they already love you.”
Acorn sat on her shoulder with his tail held high, already tracking the food tables with the focus of a hunter sizing up prey.
Victoria told me what he said: The feast awaits where love has grown. Hearts now beat where seeds were sown.
“He’s feeling poetic today,” Victoria added.
“He’s feeling hungry.”
Elizabeth waited at the garden entrance like she’d been expecting us at exactly this moment.
She wore a gown made of deep purple cloth that caught the light when she moved, and she’d pulled her silver hair back in an arrangement that probably had meaning I didn’t understand.
Her smile suggested she’d orchestrated every detail of this gathering down to the exact angle of sunlight hitting the flowers.
She probably had.
“Feral. Victoria.” She approached and took both our hands, studying us with the same attention Victoria gave her research. “You look good together. The bond is visible now, you know. It shows in the way you move.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Gratitude sat heavy in my chest, tangled up with the knowledge that this woman had arranged a marriage I’d been resigned to at first and now couldn’t imagine living without.
Elizabeth must’ve read the emotions on my face, because her expression softened.
“The best matches are the ones that choose themselves,” she said. “I simply provided the opportunity.” She gestured toward the gathering. “Your cousins and their spouses are eager to see you both. And I believe you have other guests here as well.”
She stepped aside, and I caught sight of Bastian making his way toward us.
He looked deeply uncomfortable in a formal tunic and pants and kept tugging on the collar of a shirt that was either new or he hadn’t worn it in years. He carried a tiny ornate wooden box.
Arana strode at his side, wearing a deep blue gown that brought out the color of her eyes. She touched his arm as they approached, a small gesture that told me a lot about their relationship now.
Bastian thrust the box at Acorn. “High-quality hazelnuts from the northern groves. The squirrel earned them.”
Acorn’s tail went rigid, and he leaped off Victoria’s shoulder, the box in his hands. He set it down and opened it, and his chittering could only be described as reverent.
“That’s incredibly kind of you,” Victoria said.
Bastian shrugged. “He helped save the packs. It seemed like the least I could do.”
Arana’s hand stayed on his arm, and they stood close enough their shoulders touched.
“The seals are holding strong,” he said. “All packs are reporting stability.”
“All of our wolves have recovered,” I said.
“That’s good news.”
“We’re discussing the ideas you sent for pack consolidation,” Arana added. “We agree there’s value in closer cooperation.”
Bastian actually smiled when she spoke. A real one.
A small squirrel with a white patch on one ear slipped from the garden path on our right and came right over to Acorn. He gestured to the box, sharing the treat with her. The two of them chittered, their tails intertwining in a way that made Victoria press her lips together to hide a smile.
She leaned close to translate. “He’s telling her about optimal storage locations for winter. She’s commenting on his organizational skills.” She paused. “Now they’re being affectionate in ways I’m not going to repeat.”
Even the squirrel had found his mate.
The pair launched themselves into the air together, gliding to a sunny branch along the edge of the garden.
Cyrene came over and wrapped Victoria in a hug that lifted her off her feet. Flowers bloomed nearby, responding to her joy magic. “You look so happy. I mean really, genuinely happy in a way that makes me want to do research on the physiological effects of wolf king proximity.”
“Please don’t,” Victoria said, but she was laughing.
“Too late, I’ve already started a file.” Cyrene pulled back, studying Victoria’s face with frank delight. “You were the last to marry but the quickest to fall. What was it, three days?”
“The emotional data collection was simply more efficient,” Victoria said, her researcher voice arriving fully formed. “Accelerated exposure to relevant variables produced faster results.”
“She’s been practicing that explanation,” I said.
Victoria’s elbow found my ribs.
Cyrene’s husband Kieran joined us, the vampire’s movements carrying a quiet authority that made most people step back without knowing why.
He nodded to me with the particular respect of someone who’d sized you up and decided you’d passed.
Cyrene’s drake companion sent a small jet of flame toward the garden hedge and Kieran redirected it without looking.
“He’s adding ambience,” Cyrene said.
“That’s one word for it,” Kieran said.
Adele and Raoul appeared next, Adele already holding scrolls and talking before she’d fully arrived, her basset hound waddling at her heels.
She and Victoria immediately fell into a conversation about magical flow patterns that I followed for approximately ten seconds before exchanging a look with Raoul that said everything.
Sasha and Dominic found us shortly after, the fae king watching his wife the way I watched mine, like he still couldn’t quite believe his luck.
Victoria looked at all of them, something quiet moving across her face. “Each of us found such different matches. Joy witch and vampire. Weather witch and dragon shifter. Strategy witch and fae. Researcher witch and wolf shifter.”
Elizabeth called out, urging us to join her where she stood on a small platform, prepared to make a speech.
“Family,” she said after we’d joined the other guests.
“Alliance. Love. These are the strongest magics of all.” She paused, looking at each couple in turn.
“I guided you, yes. But I didn’t force. Each of you chose your own path to happiness.
That’s what makes this work so well. May you all have many happy years together. ”
Victoria’s hand found mine and squeezed.
Elizabeth stepped down off the platform and urged everyone to fill plates and pour drinks.
The gathering continued, and we ate and talked and celebrated. After we’d finished eating, Victoria caught my eye and smiled. Understanding passed between us, one that didn’t need words. We’d done our duty here. It was time to slip away. We rose and started edging away from the group.
“You’re leaving your own reception again?” Sasha called out.
“We seem to make a habit of it, don’t we?” Victoria said with a grin, her hand tight in mine.
“We have important research to conduct,” I said, keeping my expression serious.
Adele snorted. “That’s not a weather pattern you’re studying.”
Elizabeth waved us away with one hand.
Acorn appeared on a nearby branch with his friend, and Victoria relayed his message. The wolf and witch who slip away have earned the right to spend the day, in ways that make old squirrels blush, and speak in rhymes that make me hush.
Victoria’s face went red, but she laughed as we escaped into the deeper section of Elizabeth’s gardens.
The noise of the party faded behind us. We found a secluded spot beneath an ancient tree with a carved bench that looked like it had been waiting for us.
“We’re terrible at receptions,” Victoria said.
I pulled her down onto my lap. “We’re excellent at knowing what we want.”
She leaned into my chest, and we looked back toward where the party continued without us.
Four couples who’d started as arranged marriages and chosen to make them real. Elizabeth’s matchmaking had worked better than anyone could have predicted.
I thought about how close I’d come to losing this by staying isolated. I’d tried to hold everything together alone instead of accepting help.
“I nearly missed you,” I said. “If Elizabeth hadn’t arranged it, I would’ve kept running my territory on my own until everything broke.”
“I would’ve kept myself buried in research and called it enough.” Victoria wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “We would’ve missed each other.”
We sat there in silence, watching the flowers bloom and the grass sway in the breeze.
“I’ve been thinking about expanding our family,” she said.
I lost the ability to breathe. “Tell me more about this thinking.”
“Well.” Her smile gave her away. “Genetically speaking, the combination of wolf shifter and witch could produce fascinating results.”
“You want pups.”
“Babies. They’re called babies.”
“Same thing.”
“It’s not the same thing.” She twisted to face me properly. “Babies are human infants. Pups are canine offspring. The terminology matters.”
“They’re baby wolves. That makes them pups.”
“They’ll be human children who can shift. That makes them babies.”
I grinned at her. “We’re going to have this argument for their entire childhood, aren’t we?”
“Probably.” Her expression softened. “What do you think our children will be like?”
“Smart. You are, so they will be too. And they’ll be completely unmanageable because they’ll inherit your stubbornness and a touch of my wolf.”
“They’ll ask a thousand questions and want to research everything.”
“They’ll climb trees and howl at the moon and drive us both wild.”
Small bodies running through our compound. Laughter echoing up the hundred and four steps. The suite filled with the chaos of children who belonged to both our worlds.
“Maybe we should start making them,” I said. “Whatever we decide to call them.”
Her smile rose. “Maybe we should.”
I kissed her and everything else fell away.
After, I watched her laugh and thought about the hundred and four steps and the flowers I’d nearly killed and the mop we’d ridden and the moment she’d gone first with her vows because she had the evidence ready.
I’d run my territory alone for thirteen years. I didn’t know what I’d been missing.
This woman was my forever. She’d walked into my life with a notebook and a squirrel and dismantled every defense I’d built.
She’d solved problems I couldn’t fix alone.
She looked at me like I was worth choosing again and again.
We didn’t need documentation for this. No notebooks or careful observation. Just the two of us choosing each other over everything else.
“Ah, Acorn.” Victoria sighed. “Let me tell you what he just said.”
The witch who measured all she found, discovered love can’t be bound by logic, reason, or a chart. It lives eternal in the heart.