Epilogue
Two months later…
We’d had two glorious months with the three days and nights Aurora became a full shifter.
The times she could spend the daytime with me, basking in the sun, were some of the most breathtaking moments of my life.
Her vigor and appreciation for the simplest act of the sun’s rays heating her skin, something most took for granted, had an endless smile plastered to my face.
Every month she became a shifter for those few days, she still owned her vampirism.
As her mate, I became her sole source of blood, offering any part of me she wished whenever she craved it.
Our mateship party had to wait, given there was so much to catch up on with pack affairs.
When the funds started dwindling last month, Aurora offered some of her profits from the bar to keep us afloat, though I told her I didn’t expect that to continue.
She also needed to organize time between Plena Falls and the Cove to keep running said bar.
The pack had started taking to her since that first night she surprised them with an unexpected full moon, Delilah having warmed up to her since Aurora protected her.
The way their steps had been livelier that night as they ran with Aurora in her deer form, their howls jovial and hopeful.
Tonight, at Crimson Crypt, we had not only our becoming mates to celebrate, but I had a surprise for her. A true place within our pack, a role and not just as the alpha’s mate, which already gave her high accolades.
I sat at the bar with my back turned to it, watching Aurora in her element as bar owner, talking up the customers. A wide grin stuck to my lips that I was pretty sure hadn’t left my face since the night we claimed each other.
“Your mate has really pulled out all the stops for tonight, huh?” Garrick asked, hopping on a stool next to me. He tossed beer nuts into his mouth from one of a dozen wooden bowls.
In rare form, decorations hung from the bar’s walls and the ceiling. One would think it was All Hallow’s Eve given the many bats, wolf heads, blood droplets, and claw silhouettes around, but no. That was Aurora, my beautiful mate, being a smartass. It was her being her.
“Only get to celebrate becomin’ mates once, Rick.” Snickering, I grabbed a handful of nuts, munching on them.
The next full moon wouldn’t come for another week, which meant Aurora was a vampire tonight. In truth, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. A vampire is how I had met her. I’d fallen for her even then without an inkling of her shifter blood. I mean, damn. It was kind of poetic in a way.
Aurora trotted over, wearing the same red shirt from the day we’d met, Waffles hot on her heels.
She started bringing him to the bar whenever she worked so he wasn’t home alone as often.
The zombie pug had quickly become Crimson Crypt’s new resident mascot, and the customers loved him.
He loved the attention. “Hey cowboy,” she cooed, tugging the brim of my hat.
“Hey spitfire,” I countered, winding an arm around her waist and pulling her closer.
My vampire nudged her chin at my empty beer bottle. “Need another?”
“Not right now, I don’t.” I held her tighter.
Aurora laughed and yelled over my shoulder, “Ash.”
Ash had been talking to Sable, who was twirling her blue hair around one finger. The mothman approached us with a wide grin, his feelers twitching. “Have I told you how absolutely glowing you are lately, boss?”
Aurora shoved Ash’s shoulder. “Flattery just may get you time and a half if you keep that up.”
He’d been eternally grateful when we’d returned to the bar after the Morcant situation. Had to have thanked me a dozen times. I told him we were practically brothers now and it was all part of us being a family.
Ash’s smile widened. He pointed at the empty beer bottle. “Need another drink?”
“Shiner, please,” Aurora answered.
“On it.”
“Try not to bother him best I can,” I said once Ash whisked away.
Aurora adjusted the collar of my black-button down. “It’s his job, Harkin. Trust me, he does not mind. Also, you’re my mate. He doesn’t have a choice.” She pressed a light kiss on my lips. “Far booth to the right. I’m getting hints of spaghetti, Old Spice, and strangely, watermelon Jolly Rancher?”
Lately, Aurora sharpened her smelling skills, since it was one aspect that stayed consistent through her transitions. We transformed it into friendly competition, challenging one another spontaneously.
After taking a good whiff, I gave her a curt nod. “Very close. It’s lasagna, not spaghetti.”
“That is practically the same thing.”
I tickled her exposed stomach. “Like O-neg and O-pos, right?”
Aurora tugged me closer by my collar. “Hilarious.” She gave me another kiss.
As she tried to pull away, I held her there, taking the kiss deeper, my tongue gliding between her lips.
The longer we’d been mated, the more intense my desire and attraction for her had become.
She’d become my entire world, and my chest ached from the fear something would ever take her from me, even though I realized she wasn’t going anywhere.
Aurora slowly pulled away from the kiss with a wistful sigh, her cheeks rosy and her fangs extended. “You’re so bad, wolf.”
“Nah. Just remindin’ you what comes later.” Flashing my canines, I patted her ass.
My vampire reached past me, returning with the beer bottle in hand. She dragged it across her flushed cleavage. The condensation left a wet trail on her bronze skin. “Two can play that game.” Aurora shoved the bottle into my chest, grinning like a siren.
“Shiner, huh? No Blood and Honey this time?” I took a sip.
Aurora’s put her hands on her hips. “I thought Shiner was your favorite?”
“It is, but don’t remember, do you?”
Aurora’s eyes formed slits. “Remember, what?”
“That night we met. I ordered that exact same beer when I ordered the drinks we didn’t need.” I tipped the bottle tip at her.
The vamp’s eyes narrowed even further. “No shit.”
“Funnier thing is—” I scooted closer on my stool. “—you stock it even though that brand is only really seen in Texas.”
Aurora shrugged, swiped the bottle, and took a long pull before handing it back to me. “It’s a good tasting beer.” She winked at me before turning away to more customers.
Phelan chuckled as he approached, sitting on the other stool. “Whew. You have your hands full, Alpha, hm?”
“There’s a reason we’re mates, Phel. She’s on my level. Wouldn’t have it any other way.” I plucked a cigar from my inside pocket, striking a match against the bar to light it.
Garrick shoved Phelan’s shoulder. “You’re just jealous you still haven’t found your mate.”
“Neither have you, dickmunch.” Phelan kicked Garrick’s stool.
“Hey, I’m happy living the bachelor life.”
Shooting them the side-eye through a cloud of smoke, I lowered my voice with a growl. “Boys, think you can refrain for tonight?”
Garrick stood straight and slumped onto his stool. Phelan hunched over his mug. They said in unison, “Sorry, Alpha.”
A scent similar to a shifter but mixed with something else permeated the air, making my hackles rise.
I rolled my shoulders, easing my instincts because I knew full well who it was.
Dion strode through the door with Chelsea on his arm.
The Greek god and I locked gazes, giving curt nods to each other silently, as if saying, “no fuckery tonight.”
Aurora had her back turned to them, currently taking drink orders from a table of excited satyrs.
It was a consistent battle to keep myself from following Aurora like a damn dog to ensure every single male was aware she was off-limits.
It wasn’t until recently when she reminded me that my scent was all over her from the dozens of times we’ve fucked each other in the past months.
That, plus my mark and my scent naturally leaking from her pores, put me at ease as much as I could muster.
Still, watching a satyr stand on the table to wiggle his tiny horns at her had me biting hard into my cigar.
A tanned hand snapped their fingers in front of my face. “Sucks, doesn’t it?” Dion asked with a toothy grin.
Chelsea swatted him. “Shut up. You still do that caveman routine.”
“As if you don’t like it,” Dion teased, tickling Chelsea’s side.
The urge to make some kind of quip about Dion barely being a true shifter nor an alpha of a pack tugged at my spine.
I used the cigar to keep my mouth busy. I’d promised Rory there would be no squabbling on my part tonight, and I intended to keep that promise.
No matter how much of an asshat Dion tried to be.
“Chelsea,” Aurora screeched, sprinting across the room to hug the moon witch that had since become one of her good friends.
Chelsea wrapped her arms around my mate, and the two females leaned left to right. “Finally getting to celebrate tonight, huh?”
“We’d have done it sooner, but had too much life stuff to figure out first.” Aurora looped her arm through mine. She rubbed her hip against my ribs and discreetly snuck a whiff of me.
Dion spun a slow, speculative circle while nodding his head. “Gotta hand it to you, vamp. This place ain’t too shabby.”
“This is his first time in here?” Phelan whispered to Garrick behind my back.
Garrick slid a fresh bowl of beer nuts to Phel. “He owns Bacchus.”
“You all should come by more often. Tuesdays are officially going to be country night now.” Aurora beamed, arching a brow at me.
With my thumb, I slid back my hat, and smiled at her with the cigar between my teeth. “Is that right? Well, I’ll be, tonight is Tuesday.”
“Why, yes, it is.” Aurora grabbed my hands, yanking me forward.
Hardly having time to take the cigar from my mouth, I handed it off to Phel. He held it dumbly between two fingers before Garrick slid him an ashtray.
As my vampire lured me to the square wooden dance floor, the song Back in the Saddle by Luke Combs played from the jukebox.
Chuckling, I took my mate into my arms. “If this ain’t a perfect song for the two-step, I don’t know what is.”