Epilogue #2
And, oh, I’m fibbing again. I’ve been dragging my heels, trying to put off going to Shadowvale because I can’t bring myself to leave my mate.
And that’s on me. I knew I’d have to be separated from him eventually due to his job being here and mine taking me all over the country.
Still… the warlock male—a different breed of magic user, so very unlike the male and female witches I’m used to and the sort of supe Serena usually doesn’t send me to help—has been dealing with his curse for more than two hundred years.
I understand he wants to be free of it… but after two hundred years, he can’t wait a couple more weeks?
Of course not. And I’d be a terrible witch myself if I expected him to because I wanted to spend the time with Riordan. So I’ll be leaving for Shadowvale to help a—gag—warlock and Riordan will stay behind.
At least, that’s the plan. But if I said something wrong…
“What part did I mess up?”
“Oh, my sweet witch… you didn’t mess anything up. You were just operating on old intel.”
Goddess damn it, but I love it when he gets all chief deputy on me. “Like?”
“Like you’re flying to Shadowvale, for one.” He waits a beat. “Or that you’re going alone.”
While I try to make sense of what he means by that, Gus perks his head up.
Riordan reaches out, running his forefinger over the top of the opossum’s head.
“Sorry, Gus, buddy. I’d invite you along, but I don’t think Honey can go a week or two without you again.
She’s still holding it over my brother’s head that she had to leave you behind during their honeymoon and she missed hearing you talk. ”
Gus might not be able to talk, but he sure does understand. Flashing his adorable fangs, he looks away from Riordan and burrows deep beneath my packed clothes, almost as if he thinks he can tag along on my trip to Shadowvale.
My trip… I remember what Riordan said. Not going alone… “If Gus isn’t coming with me, who is?”
“Do you have to ask, Pen?” My mate taps his chest. “I’ll be riding shotgun. Unless you want me to drive. I can do that, too. Whatever works best.”
Wait—drive? “Serena already booked me a flight.”
“She did,” Riordan agrees easily, “and I texted her just now to confirm that she was able to cancel and get a refund. We have to leave early tomorrow to make up the time difference for when she promised you’d be there, but I didn’t think you’d mind.”
Some people might. To hear their partner—their mate—took matters into their own hands…
or paws, really… and made arrangements behind their back…
I’m sure there are plenty who find that overbearing.
Not me. I trust Riordan. If he decided that he would come with me to Shadowvale, that we would drive, then I’m thrilled to take this trip with him.
Only…
“Why?”
Riordan steps into me, curving his arm around my waist, tugging him so that—this time—my front is pressed to his hard chest.
“Why? Because you hate to fly.”
My heart skips a beat. “I do hate to fly.”
“And we’re a package deal. I want to make you happy, Pen.
I’ll keep you company on the drive to Shadowvale, and in case there’s anyone putting you in danger while you break this curse, I’ll be your muscle.
” He pauses for a moment as if realizing just how dominant he sounds.
He blows out a breath. “Unless you want me to stay behind, that is.”
Do my job and get to spend time with Riordan? It’s no contest, but I want to make sure. “What do you want?”
Ever since we broke his curse with our bond, things are different. There isn’t always a tiny pause before he speaks anymore. He doesn’t have to inspect every sentence before letting it out of his mouth, terrified that an innocent comment might become an order no one can refuse.
I don’t think I realized how often he did that until he was able to stop. Still, sometimes I catch him hesitating as if making sure himself. Old habits, I guess, and I wait for him to answer me.
He does so with a kiss that has my knees going weak before he tells me, “I want to be everywhere you are.”
“And your jobs? What about that?”
“Max can handle the pack without me. Besides, I asked him what he would do if Honey had to go out of town without him. He gets it. When I’m hone, I’m his Beta and his right-hand wolf at the station. When my mate needs me, though? I’ll be right there with her.”
In that case…
I fist his silk shirt, laughing softly when I see the way it wrinkles under my grip. “Then I guess we’re going to see a man about being a gargoyle.”
Riordan kisses me again, and I let myself fall into it until we’re both breathless and impossibly close, the rest of the world forgotten if only for the moment.
That’s the magic of finding your mate. Your other half.
The one soul meant for you, even if neither one of you wanted to admit it from the start.
I know the truth now, and I have a mark on my shoulder that tells the entire supe world that I’ve finally found where I belong: right next to Riordan Lobo.
After that, we both come to a silent agreement to finish packing up the room as quickly as possible so that we can bring most of my stuff back to the cabin after putting what I’m taking with me to Shadowvale in the backseat of my new silver car.
Just before we finish boxing up the last of my belongings, Gus pops his head up and out of the pile in the suitcase. He’s making a mess of my formerly folded clothes, but I don’t care. I just need enough to get me through my trip to Shadowvale, with everything else going back to Riordan’s cabin.
Our cabin.
But then the opossum points one of his tiny pink claws at the Gus-sized badge on his color and I almost want to opossum-nap him so that he can tag along on our journey.