Epilogue - Poppy
One Week Later
There’s a fine line between love and hatred, and it’s not as clear as two red lines on a pregnancy test.
But this time, when I meet my reflection in the mirror, it isn’t fear that trickles down my spine, or dread that twists in my gut.
I see myself differently now, through the eyes of a lover who isn’t afraid to love me out loud, and through the eyes of the Moon Goddess who has shown me who I truly am.
That’s why I’m wearing a pleased smile at the breakfast table, watching my mate and our son flip pancakes, their laughter filling the kitchen.
My tummy rumbling finally pulls me out of my thoughts.
“Are you two ever gonna be done?” I giggle playfully, and Daniel turns around with a broad, charming smile. With every day that passes, he looks more and more like his father.
“Almost done, Ma,” he assures me and holds up a plate for Damian, who slides a pancake onto it. That’s when Daniel hops off his chair and comes skipping toward me with the agility and finesse that belong to someone carrying both alpha and witch genes in his blood.
I don’t exactly know what that means right now, but I’m just happy to see Daniel adjusting to his life here in Cedar Valley with his father and grandmother under the same roof.
He doesn’t seem to remember much about the kidnapping, but I suspect that it has to do with who he is, and how strong and resilient he’s growing up to be.
I still haven’t figured out why I have these powers. Aoife and the Golden Raven Sisters seem to think that I display the signs of some prophecy amongst the coven, especially after that vision I had that showed me where the dark witches are hiding, but I refuse to accept such a weighted claim.
I’m content with living in the bubble we’ve created over our family, finally having some time to breathe since the dark witches’ last attack. All evidence points to the dark witches being responsible for Jackson and the rogues’ initial threat, but they seem to have gone into hiding.
They’re plotting their next move, and no one knows why the werewolves of Rosethorn are at the center of all of this.
And while my vision showed me that they fear me, I couldn’t care less about prophecies. All I know is that when the time comes, I will be ready. We will all be ready.
Either way, Damian, Daniel, and I have been using every moment we can to spend time together.
And for the first time in a week, we’ll be traveling to Nightclaw for a meeting with the nomadic coven and the council.
Alpha Cyrus has been using his facilities to track the dark witches and locate the specific waterfall and cave, while the good witches have been working on runes and spells to keep the evil out of our boundaries.
“Look, Ma!” Daniel chirps as he places the plate in front of me. “Dad made you a special pancake!”
I look down and gasp when I find a pancake in the shape of a heart on the plate. My heart squeezes, and I hold the small gesture with both hands, because everything Damian has been doing these past two weeks has made me fall harder for him.
When I look up, Damian is walking toward us, wearing a mischievous smile. He stops a few feet away, and then drops to one knee.
“Damian…what are you—”
“Relax, Ma!” Daniel insists, placing his hands on my shoulders as he winks at his father from behind me. “Dad has something to say.”
I giggle nervously as I nod and meet Damian’s eyes, my heart racing with anticipation as he pulls out two black velvet boxes from behind him.
He places the longer rectangular box in my hand, keeping the smaller square one in his.
“I had your necklace fixed,” he says with a smile, and I open the lid to find my mother’s gold chain shimmering under the morning light.
I lift it out of the box, and Daniel helps me put it on.
Touching the pendant, my heart fills with a sense of warmth and familiarity, and unlike every other time when I craved my mother’s reassurance, this time, I feel her presence in the background. It’s like she’s taking a step back and allowing me to be held in safety by someone else.
Damian clears his throat and throws a wink at our son before meeting my eyes again.
“More than a decade ago,” he begins, his voice serious, “I made a promise, and it’s taken me a while to finally fulfill it. But here we are now, and it’s time I asked you this question.”
I hold my breath as Damian opens the lid on the smaller box, revealing a gorgeous gold band with a rose-quartz crystal to match my mother’s necklace.
He lifts the piece of jewelry out of the box and holds the ring out to me as he takes my left hand.
“Will you do me the great honor of marrying me, Poppy Barnes?” he asks, and warmth spreads through me as I’m left speechless.
“Go on, Ma! Say something,” Daniel chuckles, poking my shoulder playfully. “You have to marry Dad!”
“Yes,” I whisper, finally letting out the breath I’d been holding. “Yes, of course, I’ll marry you!”
Damian smiles from ear to ear as he slips the ring onto my finger and then wraps his arms around me. Daniel joins in on the hug, and we embrace like that for a long moment.
I draw back first, smiling sheepishly at both of them.
“Well, I have something I need to tell both of you,” I say coyly, and Damian and Daniel exchange confused looks.
I turn to my son, smiling. “Daniel is going to be a big brother.”
Silence takes over for only a heartbeat until both Damian and Daniel erupt in cheers.
“That’s fantastic news, baby!” Damian exclaims as he hugs me.
“A big brother?! That’s so cool!” Daniel chirps, and then steps back. “I’m gonna go give Grandma the good news!”
“Don’t forget, we’re leaving in an hour,” Damian reminds him, and he nods fervently.
“Of course not! I don’t even care about the pay anymore. I’m gonna babysit Damita and Cindy for free now. I need all the practice I can get!”
With that, Daniel rushes off, and Damian and I burst out laughing.
“This time, I get to be with you through it all,” Damian says when his laughter slows, and he cradles my cheek. “I’m so excited. And I can’t wait to show everyone in the pack how much I love you.”
I smile softly at him. “Your mother will have to handle the ceremony.”
“I know she’ll love that,” Damian chuckles.
“Yeah. Besides, we need to focus on getting rid of those witches for good. I’d like to bring our second child into a safer world.”
“I agree,” Damian nods. “Let’s go shower. We have a bit of time before we need to be there for the meeting.”
“Hm…” I muse as he helps me to my feet. “Shower together?”
Damian winks at me, his lips curled in a charming smile. “Obviously.”
***
Once Daniel is with Ingrid and the kids, Damian and I join Dorian and Amelia at the meeting chamber in Fort Smit, finding our seats just before the other council members arrive.
Today, we’re joined by Damian’s beta, Killian, and his mate, Roxanne, while the other alphas have also brought along their betas.
The meeting is a serious one. Maybe that’s why the chamber is a stark contrast to the warmth Damian and I felt this morning.
Where our home is filled with laughter and hope, this room is heavy with anticipation, every face around the long oak table carrying the same concern that’s been lingering since the attack a week ago.
Maps have been spread across the polished surface, towns circled in red ink, photographs scattered between reports collected by scouts from every allied territory.
Damian’s hand finds mine beneath the table almost instinctively as we settle into our seats beside Dorian and Amelia. Our fingers intertwine without either of us looking down, the gesture becoming so natural over the past week that I hardly notice it anymore.
I simply feel…steadier. Stronger. It’s not because of the powers the Moon Goddess awakened inside me, but because I finally stopped trying to carry the weight of the world alone.
Alpha Cyrus clears his throat from the opposite end of the table, drawing everyone’s attention as the room falls silent.
“We’ve made progress.” He reaches toward one of the maps before sliding it closer to the center of the table, revealing the stretch of northern Texas bordering Rosethorn. “My surveillance teams have continued monitoring Wichita Falls ever since Luna Poppy’s vision.”
My cheeks warm ever so slightly at the title, though nobody else seems to notice anymore. If anything, they’ve all accepted me far quicker than I’ve accepted myself.
“We haven’t found the cave itself,” Cyrus continues, “but Cassandra has found something.”
My eyes drift toward his mate as she rises gracefully from her chair, carrying another map unlike the others.
Instead of roads and landmarks, this one is covered in strange symbols, delicate lines woven together with silver ink that almost seems to shimmer beneath the light.
“I followed the residual magical signature left behind by the dark witches,” Cassandra explains gently.
“Dark magic leaves scars upon the land. Most witches cannot detect them once wards have been erected”—she glances toward me before offering a warm smile—”but Poppy’s vision gave us something to anchor the search. ”
She places one finger on the map.
“There are only two locations capable of concealing an entire coven behind wards powerful enough to evade ordinary detection,” she says, tapping the first circle. “An abandoned mining system west of Wichita Falls.”
Her finger slides lower. “And a second network of caverns hidden behind a series of waterfalls in the Wichita Mountains.”
My breath catches. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because the moment her finger settles there, something stirs inside me.
It’s not another vision, but recognition.
“I know that place,” I whisper, and every head slowly turns toward me.
“I’ve never been there…” I continue, trying to explain something I barely understand myself. “But that’s what I saw.”
Closing my eyes only makes it clearer. “The waterfall…” I swallow. “The cave is hidden behind it.” A chill rolls through me, and my brows furrow. “There are wards carved into the rock itself. Ancient ones. They’re…alive.”