Epilogue
roadtrip!
maybe gus can sneak inside of a suitcase…
— gus
There are three things I learn in the first couple of weeks after I became Riordan Lobo’s bonded mate.
One: wolf shifters—when they’re not despicable ferals—are adorably clingy.
Two: wolf shifters who spent years believing they would never get to claim their mate and who arrived in time to save them from a psycho witch in pink are really clingy.
And three: if said wolf also happens to be the chief deputy of a supernatural town, he has enough authority to convince three other wolves that finishing up with re-shelving the last of the library is somehow a matter of public safety.
So while I had every intention of going back to the Moonburrow Library after everything calmed down following the reveal that Delilah was murdering members of her own coven in order to ‘save’ the town, between Riordan’s nesting need to keep me close and my own anxieties surrounding his near-death, we’ve spent most of our time on pack land.
We did have dinner with Max and Honey (and Gus) last night.
It was a reminder that I still have everything I brought with me from Salem—and everything I purchased in town before I moved in with Riordan—in the apartment over Dough You Believe in Magic.
After we left their place, I told Riordan that I needed to take care of that.
The library, too. Especially since I’m not sure how long I’m going to be gone…
Riordan is currently standing in the corner of my former bedroom, tapping away on his phone.
Gus followed us upstairs rather than stay down in the bakery with Honey.
She says he misses spending time with us after our latest investigation ended.
Me? I get the feeling the opossum is acting like our chaperone as I pack up my belongings.
My mate offered to do the packing for me.
Considering how anal Riordan is, he’d take five minutes to fold every skirt, every blouse, every single pair of cozy pajamas I own.
They’d be completely wrinkle-free before he laid them neatly inside one of my two luggage cases because that’s just Riordan.
He takes pride in his appearance and everything he does, and while I love that about him, I don’t have that much time.
My flight is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, and I thought I’d throw everything haphazardly inside of my suitcases, buy a sticky bun from Honey, then drag Riordan to the library so that I could do a little more shelving because I’ve been feeling guilty that I left the mess to Ash in the aftermath of everything that happened.
Especially now that I understand the spell…
like most of them lately, it actually did kind of work.
I used magic to help me find a book that would interest a witch, and I’m sure there’s something in each and every one of those tomes that I would find interesting.
However, it wasn’t until we found Garnet’s journal among the piles and it basically bit me that I realized it was the exact book I needed to help solve the mystery of what was up with the latest murders in Moonburrow…
and the twisted witch who was trying to eliminate the supernatural town before turning it into the witch settlement of legend.
Even after breaking the lodestone and turning off its power, I still wasn’t confident enough in trying to use a spell to put the remaining books back where they belong.
However, when I mentioned to Riordan that I thought it was time for us to visit the library and put in a little time shelving, I discovered just what it means to have a dominant alpha wolf shifter with a badge as a mate.
I add another blouse to the open suitcase, murmuring more to myself than to him: “I still can’t believe you did that.”
Riordan glances up from his position on the other side of the room. His phone disappears as he asks, “Did what?”
I pause with a skirt in my hand so that I can stare at him. “You know what.”
He arches an eyebrow. I nearly swoon.
I stuff the skirt into the suitcase, then turn to grab another outfit from my dresser.
Technically, it’s Honey’s dresser. Or Grandma Jean’s.
Honey’s witchy grandmother offered to come back to Moonburrow after Delilah was outed as a murderess, but she was having such a grand time in Europe with a small Irish coven that it was easy for Honey to convince her grandmother that she didn’t need to do that.
So, for now, Honey still runs the bakery, and with me moving out of the apartment at last, she’s planning on keeping it as a spare apartment until she finds someone who needs it.
I did once. It was supposed to be a temporary stay that somehow lasted longer than it should’ve.
Temporary… it’s almost like some part of me always suspected that my life would change in Moonburrow.
I remember how nervous I was that day, when I approached the borders and my stomach tied itself in knots.
It was only supposed to be a job, but it became forever—and now, for the first time since I came to help the chief deputy, I have to leave him because someone else needs a cursebreaker.
That’s my job. That’s what I do. It’s why I was in Maryland in the first place. I came to Moonburrow because Serena sent me here to break a curse. I was supposed to help Ashton Morgan, report back to Salem, then wait for the next person who needed me.
Instead, I discovered that Ash wasn’t cursed at all.
I accidentally made Gus talk. I got arrested for a murder that hadn’t actually happened yet.
I discovered that the gorgeous chief deputy who arrested me was cursed, accidentally got ordered into silence by him before he left town, cast a locator spell that I thought glued him to me when he finally returned, helped solve not one, not two, but three murders, uncovered the remains of a forgotten witch settlement, and mated the aforementioned (and still gorgeous) chief deputy.
That’s not all, either. I was almost sacrificed by a deranged witch who—turns out—really hated wolves even more than they terrified me, and after her death, I was offered the job as head of the Moonburrow coven.
So, yeah. It’s been wild. Busy, too. Even though I had to politely decline the offer—for multiple reasons, including my position as a member of the national coven no matter where I’m based—I’m slowly building a new relationship with the Moonburrow coven and the new Serena-approved coven leader, Linnet.
I like her. Riordan invited her to the sheriff station and, in his role as chief deputy, he basically interrogated her to make sure she wasn’t harboring any ill will against the Moonshadow Pack or that she was involved in Delilah’s plots in any way.
As my mate, he also wanted to make sure that she was no threat to me.
I don’t know what he said during that interview, but both Riordan and Max accept that she’s a good choice to lead the witches who decided to stay in town.
We’ve had an increase in outsiders petitioning to join the coven, too.
Ever since we discovered that this town was built on the ruins of an old witch settlement, word’s gotten out.
Historians and researchers like poor Garnet have queued up to request a stay at the coven house.
Serena told me to be her eyes and ears in Moonburrow, and while Linnet is in charge, I make sure there’s no more witchy trouble going on.
With Riordan’s help—and that of some of his most trusted packmate’s—of course.
But while I’m supposed to help keep an eye on what’s going on in Moonburrow, I always knew there would be a time I was called out of town. Just because I’m mated, that didn’t stop me being a cursebreaker. When someone needs me, I have to go…
“Pen?”
I blink. “What was that?”
Gus hops on top of the bed. He runs over it, meeting me near the middle where I have the open suitcase sprawled out. He nudges the dress in my hand.
I realize that I had pulled it out of the drawer, started to fold it, but got so lost in my thoughts, I spaced out instead.
I give my head a quick clearing shake.
Riordan pushes away from the wall he was leaning against. Gus whips around, his tail following like a snake behind him.
While Riordan comes to stand next to me, Gus jumps over the edge of the suitcase.
Next thing I know, the opossum is curled up on my favorite blue skirt while Riordan is bracing his hands on my shoulders, tugging me until I’m pressed against his back.
“Let me help,” he rumbles in my ear.
Considering I feel his body coming to life behind me, I can only imagine that his sort of ‘help’ will end up with most of my clothes on the floor, the room half-packed, and me even more frantic about tomorrow’s flight.
“Later,” I promise. “I have to get this done.”
“I could’ve had Barrow do it,” Riordan murmurs, reluctantly releasing me so that I can fold up the dress and tuck it inside the suitcase on the other side of the now-slumbering Gus. “But then I thought about the delta packing your panties and my wolf absolutely refused to allow that.”
I swallow my laugh. “I can pack for myself, Riordan. Besides, this trip is only for a couple of days.” At least, I hope it’s only a couple of days. “I’ll fly out to Shadowvale. Figure out what’s going on, then be back before you even know I’m gone.”
I swallowed my laugh. Riordan? He lets out a deep, husky chuckle that has me second-guessing a quickie with my mate.
“Something funny?”
“Sorry, sweetheart. I couldn’t help it. Not when I think about how everything you said is just plain wrong.”
What does that mean?
I know I have to go to Shadowvale. I’ve never heard of it, and like Moonburrow, I have to fly to the largest local airport, then drive until I reach the small town somewhere on the East Coast. New York?
Connecticut? New Jersey? I can’t remember, and I’m glad that Serena promised to handle the arrangements for me since I’ve been too busy to do so myself.