Epilogue - Tara
Two months later
“Well, look at this,” Danielle grins, “All the Alphas, happy and wived up.”
We sit together on the grass, me, Jasper, Sawyer, Lacey, Ellis, and Danielle.
“They’ve all been wived up for a while now, Danielle,” Lacey sighs, tilting her head back to gaze up at the pink afternoon sky.
Jasper and I exchange a look.
We haven’t told anyone about the fake marriage, at least not yet. Maybe I will tell Danielle and Lacey one day, on a drunken evening or a quiet night, just for us girls.
I don’t feel the need to say anything now.
As far as I’m concerned, mine and Jasper’s relationship has always been real. We just couldn’t admit it to ourselves yet.
But now that we have, it's impossible to keep our hands off one another.
Jasper rubs the back of my neck, and I feel it between my legs.
“Wived up, yes, but we haven’t been happy like this for a while, and with the forest clear, we’ve certainly been making up for lost time.”
I smile.
“Jasper,” Sawyer makes a face. “We don’t exactly need to hear about your guys’ wild sex life.”
“Oh, we all remember the beginning,” Danielle laughs.
“Hey, what are you talking about?” Ellis leans in and kisses Danielle’s neck. “The middle part is good too.”
The group laughs.
I can’t wait for the middle, for the end, for the beginning again, for all of it. I love being with Jasper, I love feeling like I’m part of a team.
“It’s party season,” Lacey smirks. “Without Willow bugging us, we gotta make the most of the chill life.”
“Amen to that,” Jasper says.
As I watch the scene of shifters and witches partying, I lean back against Jasper’s chest. His big arms wrap around me, and I feel so unbelievably content; it’s like I’m floating. Or flying through the air.
I love my life here, I love Jasper, and I love my friends.
Jasper kisses my cheek.
I don’t want this moment to end.
The music around us begins to pick up its tempo, and I already know what that means.
“Tara,” Danielle sings.
I groan. “Guys, you can just go on without me.”
They’re all already getting up, their eyes brimming with determination. What I don’t love is dancing, but apparently, at every party, it’s all they want to do.
It’s not that I think dancing is stupid; I’d love to be good at it, but quite frankly, I have two left feet. And I especially have two left feet when the whole pack and coven are watching!
But Jasper, being who Jasper is, is practically a professional. He moves and glides with his large body—never missing a beat.
He looks hot. He knows he looks hot, and I know that I’d just ruin that for him.
“I’m staging a protest,” Danielle says. “If you don’t dance, none of us will.”
“Danielle!”
Jasper chuckles, and I feel him vibrate behind me.
“Baby, you know that I would love you to dance with me, but there’s no pressure. Danielle, we are not staging a protest.”
His voice is hot against my neck, and I second-guess my reluctance.
Maybe I do want to dance.
“How about this, Tara, if you have once danced with Jasper, I’ll take you to the enchanted bioluminescent lake.”
My mouth gapes open wide in shock. “I thought you were taking me there anyway!”
“Well,” she shrugs, “privileges can be revoked.”
I laugh. I was really looking forward to that lake trip.
“Fine,” I raise my hands in the air. “Fine, one dance.”
Danielle squeals, and in an instant, Jasper has me lifted up over his shoulder.
He’s so quick with his little supernatural movements, I hardly even realize what’s going on until it’s too late.
I protest a little at first, but as he moves me through the party, and I gaze at all the smiling faces, I decide to give in.
What’s the point in grasping for so much control when life can be filled with this much joy?
So much happiness, once you learn to just let go.
Jasper plants me down in the middle of the dance floor, and everyone cheers when they see me.
The music is louder here, pulsing through the space and mixing in with the chatter and laughter of both witches and shifters around me.
Jasper grabs me, dips me down, and then directs my body.
I don’t even need to think, don’t even need to move, as he does it all for me. He spins me around, pulls me in, then pulls me back out.
Once my arms are back over his neck and we’re staring at one another, I start to get into it.
I move my body side to side, letting the beat roll through me.
“There you go,” he murmurs, raking his gaze up and down my body.
I laugh. “This is what you want then, huh?”
“What I want,” he leans forward, “is you.”
My chest flutters as he grazes his lips ever so softly against mine. I kiss him back, melting into him, before he spins me around again.
Now, against him, I move my ass in circular motions. I’m feeling the music now.
He directs me exactly where he wants me to go. I twist and gyrate sensually, a hot sticky feeling snaking around my body.
“You feel so good,” he murmurs into my ear.
His big hands trail all over me, cupping the sides of my breasts, feeling their way along my curves.
“I could have you right now.”
“Jasper—"
I want to protest; people are surely watching! But I feel the energy that’s between us roll over me and knock me out.
My eyes flutter shut.
“I want you to,” I whisper, still moving with hardly any energy that’s only my own.
We’re one now, and I want to get even closer.
“You mean it?”
His breath is hot, and the sounds of the party fade away.
I nod.
In an instant, we’re gone.
He whisks me away to a quiet spot behind the trees. I have no idea where we are, but I hardly care.
The sun has set, and the moonlight illuminates the back of his neck as he kisses me, backing me up against the tree.
I moan.
“You drive me crazy,” he groans.
His mouth claims mine, urgent and fierce, sliding his tongue between my lips.
My hands tangle in his hair, pulling him closer to me. I pant.
The bark digs into my back, but I don’t care. Heat floods through me like I’m on fire.
Jasper growls, his big hands pinning my hips in place as though I might slip away.
“I love you,” he mutters against my lips. He kisses me harder.
“I love you,” I whisper back. My heart is racing, every inch of my body syncing up with his. I want him so much.
I gasp as his mouth moves to my neck, his teeth grazing me.
I dip my head back.
Jasper’s fingers slip inside me, two at once, and my knees nearly buckle—but he catches me without effort, holding me like I weigh nothing, like I belong in his arms.
I never have to worry about falling when I’m with him. I melt into him, body and soul.
I grind against his hand, chasing the pressure, rubbing my clit against his fingers, helpless under the rhythm he creates.
He holds me up like I’m nothing, fucking me with his hand. I’m about to lose all control.
Then he pulls back, just enough to look at me. His eyes glow in the moonlight, hungry like those of his wolf.
“You’re beautiful.”
My mouth is open, too overcome with pleasure to respond.
I nod, riding out the sensation. I’m going to come.
“That’s right,” he soothes.
Then it takes over me. Blasting mind-blowing pleasure throughout my whole body.
I struggle with my breath, I gasp for air, my eyes locked on his, even as my body convulses in his arms.
He growls low in his chest, his mouth parted with more than his need. I can only describe the way he looks at me as filled with dedication. A dedication that’s grown between us—one that makes my heart swell.
Before I can even catch my breath, he tears my panties away and frees himself.
In one fierce stroke, he drives deep inside me. I’m still pulsing from my orgasm, still wet and open, and he fills me instantly, slamming against my deepest place.
The pleasure is piercing; instantly, I’m set off again.
Jasper pumps and thrusts, his movements relentless, and I clutch his neck desperately, barely able to breathe through the bliss.
His panting against my throat is intoxicating, a sound that drives me higher.
“I’m not going to last long,” he whispers.
“Me either,” I moan.
Jasper pounds into me, faster, deep, and relentless, each thrust filling me with insatiable pleasure. I almost forgot to breathe. I cry out, the sound lost in the forest night—swallowed by the nature around us.
“I’m yours,” I whisper as he fucks me. “Always.”
His pace falters for a split second at my words, his body shuddering with restraint.
But then he’s back at it, pressing deeper. My body tightens around him.
He’s fucking me harder and faster.
I shake, rolling my head back. “Jasper, oh God—"
Then, I lose it.
My orgasm rips through me, sharp and blinding, somehow more intense than the last. My screams muffle against his mouth as he kisses me.
Then he thrusts.
One pulse that’s long and slow, his face straining, his forehead resting against mine.
I savor every second, every expression. It sweetens my orgasm.
We cling to one another, both trembling hard.
I can’t believe that we get to do this forever.
*****
THE END