Epilogue #3
He grinned at me and his happiness sparked in our bond.
“Together,” he said.
“Together,” I agreed, and let the shift take me.
It came easier this time, the way Brec had promised it would once my body remembered what it was allowed to do.
Fur rippled down my spine, and my vision sharpened, and Cassian’s wolf stood beside me, huge and dark, breath fogging in the cold air.
The snow was still here and there, the last remnants of winter as we eased into spring, and I inhaled hard.
Cassian didn’t move at first, but when I pressed forward and rubbed my cheek along his shoulder, he relaxed.
Then we ran.
The forest opened around me the way it had the very first night, except there was no fear chasing me this time, no grief waiting at the edge of every thought.
There was just the cold biting clean through my fur, the scent of pine and thawing earth, and Cassian’s wolf keeping pace beside me, close enough that my shoulder brushed his leg with every other stride, as though neither of us could stand too much distance between us even here, even now.
We crossed the thawing creek, and we kept going, faster, until the trees blurred into streaks of black and silver on either side of us.
Near the ridge above the house, he raced ahead, then swung around to block my path, a low, playful growl rumbling from him.
I knew the challenge for what it was, and my cat surged forward, pure joy stealing what little breath I had left.
I feinted left, he followed, and I spun past him into open snow, kicking up a spray of white that caught what moonlight there was and turned it to silver dust hanging in the air between us.
His laughter reached me through the bond before it reached me through the night, warm and unmistakably him even without a single word.
We ran until the ache in my legs turned pleasant instead of sharp, until the house behind us was nothing but a warm smear of light through the trees.
Eventually we slowed at the crest of the ridge, side by side, breathing hard, staring out over the mountain that had somehow, impossibly, become home.
We headed back down, and he guided me on a path I’d found that led us to Raff.
Cassian’s wolf lay down first, and I settled next to him, tucking myself into the curve of his body the way I did every night in our bed, except tonight it was fur on fur, heartbeat against heartbeat, nothing left between us that either of us needed to explain.
He was talking to Raff—I couldn’t hear what he said, but I know he came out and reported on the house.
Tonight he’d be telling Raff that we were ready to take in our first omegas, that Brec had agreed to form a medical team here, that this house would finally become a safe stop on the Haven Network.
Brec had called it the brand-new start of a pack—the Raines Pack—Ronan had agreed and called Cassian Alpha, and for the first time Cassian didn’t cut Ronan dead.
Now it was my turn to talk to Raff.
“Hi, Raff,” I thought, immediately feeling ridiculous, but kept going anyway.
“I don’t really know how to do this. Cassian talks to you like you’re still listening, and I used to think that was just grief, but I don’t think that anymore.
” I paused, and Cassian nudged me as if he knew what I was doing.
“Um… so… I know you loved this house before I ever set foot in it and wanted somewhere warm and forgotten by everyone who wanted to hurt omegas like me.” My throat tightened around the next part.
“I need you to know it’s done and we’re opening the house.
Real omegas, real Haven placements, a medical team, everything you wanted this place to be.
Ronan’s here permanently, and Brec’s designing a nursery wing, and Cassian is letting the two of them call him their alpha.
He didn’t shut it down, walk away, or tell them it was too soon.
He just let them plan it, sitting right there at the table.
” My heart hurt, and I didn’t fight it. “What you had with him doesn’t shrink because I’m here.
I just wanted you to know that I’ll take care of him.
That Asha will grow up hearing your name in this house because it belongs here.
And that I love him enough to keep every promise he made you, even the ones he doesn’t say out loud anymore. ”
The pines creaked overhead, and I nudged Cassian’s muzzle, and he touched his nose to mine.
“Thank you for loving him first, Raff. It’s why he knew how to love us.”
Safe. Loved. Home? my cat asked, and I nudged Cassian and shook snow from my fur as he nuzzled me.
Home? I asked across our bond, and he offered me a wolfy grin.
Race you, he replied.
We had a life to begin, a daughter to nurture, maybe more children, and to expand the omega safe house and make things better.
But more importantly, right now we had the finale of The Den to watch, and what Cassian didn’t know was that I’d already seen the episode, and Aldric had admitted he was a dragon.
Go figure.
The End