Epilogue
Someone had conjured a jelly monster.
It was bright blue and wobbly, as big as a large shed, and it was lumbering through the forest in the front yard.
“Pups!” Emre called, running after them as they chased down the monster. “Don’t go after that thing!”
“It’s a friend!” said twelve-year-old Bean. “Our friend!”
Emre winced. “A friend?!”
“Yeah! We summoned it!” said thirteen-year-old Abbie. “We’re playing Catch!”
Emre wanted to bury his face in his hands, but the monster was leaving trails of gelatin through the forest. “How did you summon it? And who is going to clean up this mess?”
The pups stopped, all five of them in human shape.
“You?” twelve-year-old Petey said.
Emre narrowed his eyes. “Try again.”
“We’ll clean it!” Nine-year-old Bonnie and Mel bounced closer. “We promise!”
Emre watched as the jelly monster crashed through a few more shrubs. He sighed heavily. “Well, I guess you’d have to start somewhere. Go, don’t let it get through the hedge, or you will be in trouble.”
The pups perked up, all of them scrambling to catch up with their summons.
Bonnie turned at the last moment. “Can we keep it?”
“No!”
“Awww!”
Emre gave her a stern look. Bonnie sagged, scampering away to join her siblings.
Buttwheel trailed after them, now equipped with modified wheels that allowed it to roll over tree roots.
Somewhere further back, three more carts followed Buttwheel—among them was the cart that Ronald had manipulated years ago.
U-turn was now just as loyal to their family as Buttwheel was.
Zenith crunched through the undergrowth and stopped next to Emre, wrapping his arm around Emre’s waist. He held up a used spell sheet. “I found this. Huxton said he traded it with the pups for a favor.”
“Oh Mother Moon,” Emre groaned. “What the hell kind of favor is he asking from them?!”
“Some help decorating,” Huxton sang from somewhere in the mansion. “Don’t worry, you’ll love it.”
Emre hid his face in his alpha’s chest. “Oh gods.”
Zenith shook with laughter, but he hugged Emre and rubbed his back. “It’s okay. Things will work out.”
“Unless it’s like that time where every single piece of our clothing got covered in pickup lines. And twice over in our underwear.”
Zenith snorted. “Hux?”
“It’ll be better than that,” Huxton promised. Then he snickered.
“Fudge,” Emre muttered.
“You’ll thank me for it,” the butler said sagely.
Zenith rubbed Emre’s back, dropping kisses on his head. When Emre pouted, Zenith cupped his face and kissed him slowly. “We’ll put Hux on pup-watch duty, since he’s the one who came up with that jelly monster,” Zenith said dryly. “And we’ll use the time to... catch up with each other.”
The quirk of his lips made Emre think of filthy, wonderful things.
“Fine,” Emre said, pretending to be annoyed.
Zenith’s smile grew. “Such a challenge,” he purred. “I’ll help you relax, sweetheart. Loosen you up a little.”
Emre’s face burned. He grabbed Zenith’s hand and began tugging him back to the mansion.
“Get out here, Hux,” Zenith said. “I hope you have a way to fix the mess, because that monster is huge.”
“So are you,” Emre whispered.
Huxton showed up at the front door, smirking as they passed him on their way in. “Have fun. Make more pups.”
Zenith hummed and exchanged a look with Emre. “Maybe.”
Emre grinned.