Chapter Twenty
This life was mostly happily ever after…but it wasn’t all happily ever after.
There was no substitute teaching position for her anymore. She wouldn’t have a classroom, or be working inside of the school any longer, but she was able to keep her crossing guard job. So long as she wore sunglasses and kept her animal hidden.
She still had faith that someday, the human rules would lessen, and she could teach, but for now, that dream was on the shelf. That had been the hardest part of being Turned. It was the biggest part of her life she’d had to accept and mourn.
There was so much good though.
Over the last two weeks, she had moved in with Dodger in his den…
their den now. She had leaned on him to heal up and grown closer to Delta and Nory.
Nory had mentioned wanting to be Turned and had asked questions about Lyric.
Destiny had no answers. Lyric had disappeared into thin air.
Her wolf, strangely, yearned for a connection with her Maker.
The Rogue Pack had been patient with her questions, and Liam had encouraged the other wolves to Change when she needed to, so they could bond her to the Rogue Pack instead of the Pack she was Turned into. She could hear the voices of the people here, so she thought it was working.
Liam was a good Alpha. Delta and Nory were good friends.
Dodger was the best mate she could’ve imagined.
He was caring, and quiet when she needed him to listen. He fixed the things he could and hugged her through the rest as she settled into this new life.
There would be backlash from Liam killing Aro, but so far, no one had sought retaliation. The wolves on the government land had scattered to the wind, and last Liam and the boys checked, there were only a few left, none of whom wanted any problems.
Liam said the war had sent a shockwave through the Packs.
Two males and a newly Turned female had destroyed damn-near two Packs, and none had protected Aro’s throat when it came to his end.
There was a shift in werewolf culture, but Liam didn’t yet know whether it would benefit them or not.
Destiny sighed and looked up at herself in the mirror. One eye glowed bright green, and one stayed dark brown. Lyric’s mark was etched into her face for always.
She wondered about her. Wondered if she was okay. Wondered why she had turned away from her own father when it had come time for Liam to end him.
What had her life been like.
Why had she saved Destiny?
Why had she taken the risk?
She would probably always wonder. Dodger said that was a Maker bond. Fighting Lyric when her wolf had been born hadn’t severed it at all.
Sometimes Destiny felt pulled between the Rogue Pack, and something in the beyond. Something she couldn’t understand.
What she did understand was love. Loyalty. Friendship. Support.
Dodger peeked into the bedroom. “Hey pretty girl. Your parents are here.”
A smile took her face. She didn’t hate her glowing eyes, or the soft, happy rattling vibration that filled her throat when she saw Dodger. She loved him, of course, but her wolf was devoted to his as well.
He cocked his head to the side and stood to his full height, approached her slowly, and slipped his hands to her waist. “You look beautiful,” he murmured, and she could hear it in his voice. Truth. “First Pack dinner since you’ve been Turned. You ready?”
“Yes,” she whispered as she slipped her hand into his and allowed him to lead her out of the house.
It was the first time her parents had been back here.
Last week there had been too much chaos with the aftermath of the war to organize a Pack dinner, but today, Delta and Nory had been cooking away.
She’d asked if she could help, but they had told her she could next week.
This week, they just wanted to take care of her, and she loved them for that.
They had been shoulders to lean on as she’d got to know her animal.
When she stepped outside, her parents stood there in the snow. Her dad was holding a big, flat, square present wrapped in white paper. His nostrils were flared with emotion and his eyes were full. Her mother was smiling, but there were tears in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, confused as she scanned the approaching Pack behind her parents.
Her senses reached out for danger, but there was nothing. There was no feeling of anger, no heaviness in the clearing.
Delta was snuggled into Nathan’s side, and Nory was holding onto Liam’s arm as he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. She looked happy, but emotional.
Her dad stepped forward and handed her the big square present.
Confused, Destiny set it in the snow and glanced at Dodger with a questioning look.
He only smiled and nodded once at her. He looked so handsome tonight in his light gray thermal sweater that hugged his arm muscles, and the black beanie that matched the dark scruff on his chiseled jaw.
His eyes looked so bright tonight in the blue hues of the moonlight.
She looked down at the present and ripped the paper down, exposing the picture in the frame. Destiny gasped and stepped back so she could see it at arms’ length.
Someone had taken a picture of the day of the war.
It was a picture of her wolf, all gray and matted and battle worn standing on shaky legs with her forehead pressed against the enormous white wolf’s shoulder.
In the left corner of the picture, her father’s wolf sat there watching them protectively.
Dodger’s wolf was looking down at her, his ears low to his head, his tail curled toward her.
It was gritty. There was red on the snow, and their fur was matted. They were hurt, but someone had captured this tender moment at the end of the war that dragged tears right out of her eyes.
“Nory got that,” Delta said in a thick voice. “She snapped it fast.”
“We wanted to get you a den warming present,” Her dad said. “Nory helped out.”
She studied the fine frame and the perfectly cut mat that surrounded the picture.
“Can we hang this?” she asked, turning toward Dodger, but he wasn’t standing where she’d left him.
He was kneeling.
When she saw the ring he offered, her face crumpled and the tears spilled faster. “Yeah?” she asked, her words hard to get past her thickening vocal cords.
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “It’s you. I’ll do all the human stuff you want. Anything you need. You can have both worlds.”
As her shoulders shook with emotion, her father balanced his hand on the picture so she could approach Dodger.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“You didn’t let me ask you yet,” he said through a chuckle.
Behind her, the others laughed softly.
She laughed and wrung her hands in front of her. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Will you—”
“Yes.”
He hung his head and laughed, then stood in a rush and scooped her up as there was clapping and whooping behind her.
He spun her in a slow circle, hugging her so tightly against him. She cupped his cheeks and kissed his lips, kissed his cheeks, kissed his lips again through her happy giggles.
Dodger settled her on her feet and slid the ring onto her finger. “I asked your parents first.”
She threw a grin at Mom and Dad, and they looked so happy for her. Oh, it got her heart all over again.
“He did good,” her dad told her.
She smiled up at Dodger—her Dodger—her mate—her fiancé. Fiancé! Aaah!
Did he realize all he had given her?
“Let’s eat, you crazy lovebirds,” Nory announced. “We have made you a feast to celebrate.”
And she could see it from here—the tables of food. The coolers that would be full of ice and drinks. The desserts. Vic was carrying his travel case of sweater-clad hamsters, and Tabian was griping at him for taking them out of the house.
Bridger was quiet on the outskirts, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. The couples were happy and affectionate as they led the way toward the dinner.
Her parents hugged her up tight, set the picture on the porch, and then followed the others, and now it was just her and Dodger here, soaking up the moment.
She looked down at the solitaire on her finger and was overcome with happiness. “You’re just going to give me everything, aren’t you?”
A handsome smile took his face as he pushed a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear. “You do the same for me.”
“We make a pretty good team.”
He searched her eyes and brushed his fingertip under her green eye. “Are you happy?”
Destiny couldn’t control her smile if she tried.
“Ridiculously happy.”
Dodger rolled his eyes closed and sighed.
“Feel good?”
“It’s like a drug, hearing you say that. I’ll never get tired of it.”
She hugged him tightly and rested her cheek against his chest. His heart was pounding slow and steady there.
Whatever came after tonight, they were in this together. Whatever backlash came from the war, or from killing Aro, they would face it with their friends, their Pack, her family.
Her father had always preached that the lives of werewolves were unpredictable and hard, but she was okay with that.
The hard stuff made the good stuff feel so much more potent.
Dodger slid his arm around her shoulders and matched her stride as he guided her toward her first Pack dinner as a werewolf, and as a fiancé.
Her life hadn’t ended up where she’d imagined it.
Her life had ended up better.