Epilogue-Honor
One Year Later
The smell of cut grass, barbecue charcoal, and the last burst of honeysuckle fills the air as late afternoon stretches its golden fingers across the backyard.
The breeze is lazy, sun-warmed and soft, and somewhere nearby, a bear cub is shrieking with delight as my sister chases him barefoot through the garden.
“Logan, slow down!” Hope laughs, breathless and exasperated and absolutely lit up with joy. “If I catch you, I swear I’m tickling you into next week!”
Her little cub lets out another giggle-snort and bolts toward the edge of the yard where the fencing stops—before turning on a dime and barreling right back toward her like a charging rhino.
I shake my head, grinning.
The fence line between our property and Hope and Miles’ has long since disappeared—replaced with shared gardens, a firepit in the middle, and a two-family-sized picnic table we built ourselves last fall.
The house Rosie and I built is everything I ever dreamed of.
Solid. Safe. Ours.
After everything, this land holds no more ghosts.
Only roots.
Only home.
Behind me, the porch door creaks open—and that’s when I really feel it.
That pull. That peace.
That thrum in my chest that says mate, love, everything.
Barefoot and glowing, Rosie steps out onto the deck, a sun-yellow dress swaying around her ankles, her dark curls tumbling over her shoulders like she’s some kind of summer goddess who just so happens to be my wife.
And her belly—full, round, ours—makes my heart beat harder every time I see it.
My mate.
Carrying our cub.
And still the most beautiful damn thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.
“You good out here?” she asks, brushing a curl from her face with a smile that knocks me breathless.
I cross the patio in two strides and wrap my arms around her from behind, pressing my hand over the rise of her belly as I nuzzle her neck.
“Perfect, Sunshine,” I whisper against her skin. “Just perfect.”
The baby kicks.
Rosie laughs.
And I swear, for the first time in my whole damn life, I know exactly who I am—husband, Enforcer, Bear, business partner, uncle—and more than anything else, I’m hers.
Always hers.
“Say it again,” I whisper.
She hums deep in her throat, her hand flexes over mine.
“You’re mine. You were always mine. Promised to my Bear. And I love you, Honor,” she says, telling me exactly what I want to hear.
“Love you too, Mate.”
And the best part about all this? This is just the beginning.
Of our lives. Of our forever.
Of us.