Epilogue - Harper
Three Months Later
“Alex!” I cried, laughing, as he had his shifter group cart in armfuls of gifts. “Alex, this is way overboard.”
“Baby, this isn’t overboard enough. I’m not missing another birthday, and I want to make up for the past ones.”
“Okay, but twenty between them is excessive,” I laughed.
Alex paused. “Oh, no, they’re just for Marie.”
I cursed him under my breath but laughed all the same. In our cottage—our in-progress renovating home—he twirled me around in the living room. Only several months before, I had never thought this sort of family would be possible. Now Alex’s pictures hung on walls, and all his belongings had been moved in, and he was figuring out his next deployment and how long he’d be able to bear being away.
He had promised nothing would ever be longer than two months. Event that was a stretch, though.
“Oh,” Alex said, all excited. “What about these? Look, Joseph’s bow tie matches their dresses.” He grinned as he held up one pink dress and one blue dress. He then held up a suit with a bow tie, one side of the bow pink, the other blue.
“Okay, they’re adorable,” I conceded. “But… Alex, I don’t want them to be disappointed in the future if their birthdays aren’t the same or if you’re away for any of them.”
“I’ll always be home for their birthday,” he promised. “And yours.” He smirked, stepping closer as he kissed me. “I’d never miss my mate’s birthday.”
I snorted. “You don’t even remember when my birth—”
“October third,” he told me. “You always loved it because it was near Halloween. Your mom never let you celebrate Halloween, so your birthday was an excuse to celebrate it early with a fancy dress party.”
“God, you’re hot,” I muttered, dragging him in for another kiss. I could never get enough of him—this gorgeous man I’d been lucky to fall for twice.
There was always the background worry of more demons popping up to ruin our beautiful life here, but it had been weeks without any demon presence. I was terrified of the triplets growing up and their shifter DNA attracting more demons, putting themselves directly in danger. Still, I had to believe in what Greta and Adalyn were doing: spreading information about wards, shields, and defenses. At the same time, the wolves took on the offenses. The demons were high on the military radar now. Although the shifter group didn’t live here, they visited the beach villa so much they practically could have settled in Azure Cove.
“Are you ready to go pick up our lobitos ?” Alex asked. I nodded, and we set off for Greta’s store, where the triplets wreaked havoc on their birthday. Alex’s group agreed to wait back at the cottage but when we entered Greta’s store, I saw Zephyr and Adalyn with their heads bent close together, whispering.
“Afternoon,” I called out. “We’re here to pick up the beasties.”
“Beasties,” Zeph laughed. “I liked it.”
Adalyn smiled tightly at me. I would have believed the smile had I not noticed how she twisted the ring on her left middle finger. It was the one she messed with when she was anxious.
“Everything okay, Addie?” I asked.
“It's fine,” she said.
“Not what you told me,” Zeph muttered.
“Shut up,” Addie snapped.
I reared back. “Woah, have I missed something?”
“No!” Adalyn cried, getting up from her chair to walk over to me. “ You— ” she jabbed a finger at Alex. “Need to sort out your second-in-command, or whatever he is! He’s so obnoxious, I can’t stand him.”
“Uh-oh,” Alex whispered to me. He gave me a knowing look. I had noticed how, over the last few months, Adalyn had looked at Zephyr, or asked when he was coming to visit. Now, it seemed she was aware of growing feelings for him, and they were boiling over into annoyed anger.
I had been right at that place months ago, too.
“No,” Addie hissed. “Don’t be making any theories.” Her eyes were narrowed at Alex before she glared at Zephyr. “He’s a shifter. I tolerate Alex because he’s yours. Hector’s cool and shows me cool tech things. But him —I just don’t trust him! I do not trust shifters!”
“And I don’t trust witches,” Zephyr answered coolly, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his hoodie.
“Why? Think I’ll hex your ass? Because I will.” Addie raised a warning finger at Zephyr, who winced. I remembered the story Greta told me about shifters and witches, and their original ancestors being together on the island. She said one of the group had been from that ancient shifter line.
Could it be Zephyr? And was that why Adalyn didn’t trust him? There was a naturally embedded disagreement between them from their bloodlines losing touch over the years after once being allies?
I filed the thought away for later. For now, I had triplets to herd up.
I clapped my hands. “Who wants birthday candy?”
The squealing from behind Greta’s counter stopped. Then, one, two, three heads popped up, large brown eyes blinking.
Hallie raised her hand. “I like birthday candy. But Marie doesn’t get any. She pushed me today.”
Marie scowled at her sister. “Only because you picked on Joseph!”
“I didn’t!” Hallie cried.
“You called him a crybaby!” She turned her eyes to Alex. “She was nasty, Daddy.”
“Nasty to your brother on your birthday?” Alex whistled, pulling both Hallie and Joseph close. “Joseph, are you upset by Hallie’s comment?”
Joseph nodded sadly, pouting. “I’m not a crybaby.”
“I told him I would attack him when we’re grown up!” Hallie protested. “I thought he would say he would fight back. But he cried.”
I looked at Alex and couldn’t help laughing at how matter-of-fact they were. They were good talkers for their age, and everything was so blunt I couldn’t help but love them more and more each day as they developed. I thought of that future. Hallie would only get more bold, and I wanted to cherish the time I had with her before she no doubt became a teenager who always had something to say.
Marie picked up a book from Greta’s shelf. “Gramma Greta said I can borrow this. I can’t read it, but Aunt Addie said she’ll read it to me when she can.”
“Yeah?” I asked. “You can buy anything you want in here today, as well. What else would you like?”
Marie smiled, holding out the book. “Only this.”
I ruffled her hair. They were beautiful children, and they would only grow up to be more beautiful. If Joseph was anything like Alex when he grew up, then I needed to prepare to see the aftermath of broken hearts. And if Marie continued this way, we’d have a brilliant, intelligent young girl on our hands. And Hallie… Well, she was proving to be a wild ride already, and I was excited for it all.
As we headed out of the shop, Alex slid his hand into the pocket of my jeans.
“Do you remember my birthday?” he asked.
“June thirteenth,” I answered. “It was the day we met on the island at the Swinging Boot.”
“Yeah,” he said. “You rejected me on my birthday? Harsh, Harper.”
I shrugged, grinning. “Happy late birthday.”
He laughed and tugged me closer. As we headed back to the cottage, watching the triplets as they chased one another across the sidewalk, I overheard Zephyr and Addie whispering.
“I’ve been using my own magic to help Gramma make wards around the whole island, but it's not working as fast as we hoped,” she whispered. “On the one hand, we can’t afford to make a big expenditure on magic lest we attract the demons. There’s already enough shifter energy to attract them without throwing witches into the mix, but I have to trust Harper and Alex.”
“And me ,” Zephyr said. “I’ve assured you before, Commander Tylen has the demons on her radar. She has plans to dispel them. Do what you’re doing, but don’t overexert yourself, okay?”
Adalyn snorted. “Like you care.”
With that, she stalked forward, chasing Hallie. The triplets all squealed, and I pondered my friend’s words.
Still, when we returned to the cottage, the rest of the guys had set up a whole party for the triplets.
“Happy birthday!” we all cheered.
Days like these were pure magic, and our future was beautiful.
As Alex spun the triplets around, all of them hanging from his arms and shouting in delight, I knew that whatever the future brought, we would face it as a family.
*****
THE END