Epilogue – Cara
Sixteen months later
Today feels like just another Friday, even though it’s not.
Because today is the day Lucian and I make this official—at least in the eyes of his pack. There’s only an hour before our mating ceremony begins. One hour before everything changes. Or so I’m told.
I took the day off work to prepare. More by force than by choice, as Marianne and Cooper both told me I’d need to rest and mentally prepare. They’re not making this thing sound very appealing. I’m more nervous about this than I was for any exam.
It doesn’t help that I haven’t seen Lucian since yesterday.
He has his own preparations and pack obligations.
At least Reagan knows everything now. She stayed with me last night and is helping me look presentable today—or as presentable as I can be, given the lack of sleep last night.
I shouldn’t be this nervous. This is what I want, after all. But emotions never follow reason.
Reagan is still pissed she can’t stay to watch.
We’re told it’s not safe for unmated humans, but we weren’t given specific reasons as to why.
I can’t tell if that’s because of physical danger or something more sensual.
Apparently, it’s common for newly mated pairs to need time to adjust after making it official.
At least, that’s how Marianne described it when she told me why I wasn’t allowed to work next week.
Cooper’s reasoning wasn’t nearly as tame. He joked about how they’d all avoid us as much as possible given we’d be attached at the knot. I can’t tell how much of that is true, but I’m glad we’re given a private cabin on the property, just in case he’s not lying.
“You really need to eat something, or else Lucian’s hound won’t be the only thing growling during the ceremony,” Reagan says after my stomach rumbles for the fifth time.
“I don’t know that I can keep anything down.” My gut feels like I’ve been riding a roller coaster that I can’t escape from.
Reagan takes my nerves as something more. “Are you having second thoughts?”
“No, of course not. But it’s a little terrifying to think of someone biting me, like actually biting through my flesh, even if I do trust him completely.
” It’s silly, really. Whenever I feel his teeth graze against me, my body screams with the need for him to clamp down and claim me.
Maybe it’s the ceremony I’m more stressed about.
All this planning and scheduling for something I’d much rather he do in the moment.
Reagan places a slice of buttered toast and a glass of water in front of me, giving me a look that brooks no argument.
“Harlot, I bet you it’s going to feel damn good to have his teeth sink into you.
Honestly, it’ll probably feel like he’s fucking you, and if it doesn’t, he’ll surely make up for it when he actually fucks you. ”
I laugh and pick up the toast. “Given how frequently you think about sex, harlot suits you far better than me.”
“Try telling me that next week when you can barely walk.” Reagan raises an eyebrow in challenge. Looks like Cooper’s been talking to her about all of this, too.
Traitor.
I finish the toast while Reagan gossips about something that happened at work.
She loves the company and the job but is having a tough time with a few of the coworkers who don’t think she deserves the praise she’s getting from the higher-ups.
Nasty bitches. I’m more than happy to focus on her issues instead of mine. Grateful, in fact.
Before we know it, it’s time to leave. I’m dressed in this matching halter top and skirt set with flowing sleeves that makes me feel like a woodland goddess.
Reagan drops me off at the pack house, and as she drives away, reality hits me.
This is it.
Marianne comes out to meet me, raving about how beautiful I look, before leading me along a path that winds around back and through the woods. That’s where the ceremony will take place.
In the woods…with Lucian’s pack watching.
Eventually the path changes to grass, and Marianne stops walking. She turns to me, her hands finding my shoulders, and the look she gives me nearly makes me cry on the spot. It’s exactly how I wish my own mother would have looked at me, full of acceptance and love.
“It’s time, Cara. Leave your shoes and walk into the center to meet your mate.” I slip off my flip-flops, offering her a nervous smile when she takes them. “I’m so glad to have you as part of our family.”
My lip trembles, but I swallow down the emotions threatening to escape. “Me too.”
I enter the circle. Here, the ground is soft moss that tickles my toes as I walk forward.
Lucian approaches from the other side, looking sexy as hell without a shirt on.
His chain shines beneath the blazing sun, and I let my gaze travel down his muscular torso to the pants riding low on his hips. He’s barefoot too.
We don’t speak. I’m not even sure I could find the words to. My heart pounds, and the hair on my arms stands on end. There must be magic in this circle of moss. The air around us feels unnaturally charged.
“My mate,” Lucian says, his voice gruff.
I’m pulled toward him as if we’re tethered to one another. He explained this part to me—the words I have to give. “My mate,” I say in return.
Even though I know what happens next, I’m still surprised by the sudden snarl as the man before me shifts.
His clothes are nothing but tatters on the ground.
Flames and fur cover his body, and golden eyes meet mine.
Lucian’s hound is beautiful. I want to run to him and wrap him in my arms, but I stay put.
The next few minutes will define everything.
Cooper told me horror stories of mating ceremonies gone wrong.
For a hound, this moment heightens everything, including a threat response.
I thought when it came to it that knowing the horrific possibilities would make me scared, but I’m not.
Lucian, the man or the hound, wouldn’t harm me.
It’s a fact I know in the center of my very being.
So despite the warnings I’ve been given to remain still until his hound approaches, I drop to my knees. Lucian growls. It’s low and menacing and would probably terrify me coming from any other creature. But he’s mine. Just as I’m his.
He fixes his yellow eyes on me as he slinks forward, hunting his prey.
I open my arms wide, and the move causes his lips to curl back in a snarl, revealing sharp teeth.
These may not be the same teeth I’ve felt graze my flesh, but it’s the same man on the inside.
His two forms might have separated when he came to my realm, but to me they’re one and the same.
I pull down the right strap of my dress, revealing the place he and I had chosen to receive his mark. “My mate,” I repeat.
He pounces.
I fall to my back, not fighting against the massive beast who now looms over me, eyes blazing bright enough to compete with the sun.
His flames remain though I don’t get burned.
If it were any other hellhound I’d be cooked and crispy by now, but not him.
Apparently it’s a mate thing. Instead his body radiates a familiar heat that I never want free of.
He snarls in my face, but all I do is smile.
In a voice so low it’s barely a whisper, I say, “My love.”
His snout is an inch from my face. He’s close enough that I can see my reflection in his glowing eyes. I look exactly as I feel. A wanton goddess. Desperation zings through me, and it’s a struggle not to lift my hips against this creature.
A creature I know better than anyone else.
A creature who knows me in return.
Lucian drops his nose to my neck and breathes in deeply. “Mate,” he says in this rough tone that barely sounds like him. He learned to speak in this form. For me.
“Mark me, please,” I beg as his snout trails lower to the spot we picked together.
“Love,” he growls, and our eyes lock once more before his jaw opens and he bites into my flesh.
The pain doesn’t last long. It’s only a sharp flash that immediately disintegrates into full-blown pleasure. My hips rise on their own, desperate for friction as searing-hot need flows through my veins like wildfire. Above me, Lucian shifts from hound to man.
His mouth is red with my blood, but I don’t let that stop me from kissing him. I need his lips on mine more than air.
He wastes no time spreading my legs and thrusting into me.
The movement is rough, but I’m more than ready for it.
Everywhere he touches sparks with pleasure until I’m nothing but a mewling, moaning mess.
Each thrust sends me closer to the edge, my sensitivity heightened tenfold.
When my orgasm hits me, it’s like I can see the stars aligning behind my lids, and I swear for the briefest second, I see a tether pull taut between us.
But it’s not yet complete.
My hands move up his body where he still languidly fucks into me. I let my fingers glide over his chain and watch as his eyes illuminate when I say, “My hound.” His body shudders with a near shift that I understand now means Lucian is struggling for control over his hound.
It’s fucking hot.
Without waiting another second, I lift my head and bite his chest just above his heart. It’s harder than I thought it would be to break through his flesh, but when I do, and his blood trickles into my mouth, a fever builds inside me.
It grows and grows until there’s nothing but Lucian and me. Gone are the hounds of his pack or any other creature bearing witness to our joining. It’s just me and him.
My stomach flutters, and my core squeezes around him so tightly, I’m not sure I’ll survive the impending orgasm. Somehow I know I need him to fall over the edge with me. We need to do it together.
He and I—as it always will be.
“Lucian,” I moan, my voice a frantic plea. My next words are a demand. “Give me your knot.”
His body ripples with another partial shift. His eyes turn golden, and fur sprouts on his arms. He thrusts his hips, pistoning into me with such force, I’m afraid we might crack open the earth.
I detonate, pulling him with me. Once more, I see the tether that binds us together. It glows just as brightly as his eyes do, and when I touch it, it sends euphoria down the bond to both of us. In a flash, he returns fully to his male form and pulls me in for a kiss.
Our very first kiss as official mates.
I feel his knot inside me, thick and hot and all-consuming, and know this isn’t the end of our time in this mossy circle.
It’s only the beginning.
Cooper was right. I needed the week off work, and we sure as hell needed this secluded cabin.
I don’t know how long we stayed on that patch of moss, but it was dark when we finally made our way to our private lodgings. We ate the food someone had laid out for us before the need to fuck overtook us again.
In the last three days, I’ve maybe had six hours of sleep total. Yet I don’t feel tired, not with Lucian here. And especially not when he’s naked. Seeing his bare skin makes me forget about the lack of sleep or the aches my body feels from just how active we’ve been.
Lucian is lounging on the couch with his feet propped up on the ottoman and a tray of snacks beside him. A book and his reading glasses rest on the side table.
“Why do you even bother wearing those if you don’t need them?” I ask as I settle onto the couch beside him. We’re both fully clothed in an effort to give our bodies a rest. It didn’t work yesterday, but maybe it will today.
He picks them up and puts them on, immediately reminding me of the first day we met. “They were useful when I first arrived. People trusted me more when I wore them, and I guess it just sort of stuck.”
“Keep them nearby for later. I’ve got a fantasy I want to play out,” I tease, although I’m not really joking. We’ve come a long way since that first time in his office, but I wouldn’t mind reminiscing a little.
His eyes flash yellow, and I smile at the hound I know is watching me. I’ll never get over that.
“I’m down to play out any fantasy you want, mate.”
The air turns thick with tension. His eyes remain yellow for another second before Lucian gains control again.
Right.
We’re supposed to be taking a break.
I look away from him and pop a chunk of cheese in my mouth to keep busy. He starts the movie we picked out, and I try to get lost in it, but I can’t stop my mind from wandering.
We’ve talked about a lot of things since the truth came out. Sometimes I still can’t believe the myths that have always fascinated me are real—or at least some of them are. But then I remember I’ve been there. I saw another realm with my own eyes. Saw the creatures that lurk there.
Even mated one.
Glancing back up at Lucian, I find him studying me. “Do you think it’ll ever be safe for us to go back there? For fun, I mean, and not because we’re hauled there against our will.” I don’t need to clarify where I’m referring to. He knows.
“Honestly? I don’t know, but I hope so.” He takes my hand and brings it to his lips, making my whole body warm. “I have so many awful memories there, but with you, my mate, we could make better ones.”
I grin back at him and force myself to pick up a sandwich and take a bite.
The sooner I eat, the sooner I can get back in his arms, where I hope never to escape.