Epilogue
KIERA
Kiera sat curled up on the living couch in the front room of her home-dome with a mug of something hot cupped between both hands and Iyanna beside her and thought for probably the hundredth time in the past few days how strange life was.
Strange and wonderful.
The front room smelled like steeping herbs and warm earth and the faint sweet scent of the flowering wall—sconces that glowed softly along the curved walls.
Outside, the sky over Plo’nix was going deep lavender with evening and the chiming trees were whispering in the breeze.
Inside, it was warm and safe and quiet except for the low murmur of their voices.
It was the perfect girls’ day–just hanging out and catching up with each other.
Iyanna had come over that afternoon ostensibly to “check on her friend,” but the minute she stepped into the home-dome with a basket full of snacks and some bottles of sparkling fruit—water from the Mother Ship, she had grinned and announced,
“All right, I’m here for the full story and I am not leaving until I get every last detail.”
Kiera had laughed and hugged her, and then, because she loved her friend and because some of it still felt too big and unreal to hold all by herself, she had started talking.
Now, though, her voice had gotten softer…because they had finally come to the worst part.
Commander Rarev and several other Monstrum warriors had gone down to Higgs’ ranch after Brux had rescued her and found his body in the warehouse.
They had opened the back sections of the deep freeze and found the women there too—the missing women from nearby settlements and ranches, frozen and hidden among the slaughtered canthors like they meant nothing at all.
Kiera swallowed hard as they talked about everyone who had been found.
“They identified all of them in the end,” Iyanna said quietly, staring into the steam rising from her mug. “Some from dental records, some from family descriptions, some from DNA.” She shook her head and Kiera felt tears prick unexpectedly at her eyes.
“God, Iyanna, it was horrible seeing them hung on those hooks–just horrible. I keep thinking about them being there all that time. About how scared they must have been. About how scared I was when he came after me…”
She shook her head, unable to continue.
Iyanna’s expression softened at once. She set down her drink and put an arm around Kiera’s shoulders.
“It’s all right,” she said gently. “It’s over now.”
Kiera sniffed and nodded, though the knot in her throat was thick and aching.
“I know. I know it is. And we had a happy ending, Brux and I.” She laughed shakily and wiped at her eyes with the back of one hand. “I just hate thinking about it.”
“Of course you do.” Iyanna squeezed her shoulders. “You’re a normal person with a heart. Also, you were literally tied up in that same freezer, so I think you’re allowed to be upset.”
That drew a small, watery laugh out of Kiera.
“Yeah–you think?”
“I do. You should be giving yourself more grace,” Iyanna told her firmly. “Honestly, Kiera, what happened to you was traumatic as hell. Nobody expects you to just smile and move on like nothing happened.”
Kiera leaned her head briefly against her friend’s shoulder.
“I’m trying.”
“I know.”
For a little while they sat quietly together, the warm room wrapping around them while the chiming trees whispered outside.
Then, sudden and unmistakable, a warm masculine voice brushed the inside of Kiera’s mind.
“Sweetheart? Are you all right–I felt your sadness just now.”
Kiera’s whole body softened instantly when she heard his voice.
Even now, days after the Soul—Bond had formed, the sound of his thoughts in her head still felt like a miracle.
Deep and warm and rough with love and protective concern, his mental voice always wrapped itself around her in a way that made the whole world seem steadier
He was out with Dra’vik at the moment, helping reinforce the fencing around the Vorn’s enclosure.
Commander Rarev had insisted on personally checking all the sanctuary systems after Higgs’ sabotage, and somehow that had turned into half the Monstrum in Kiera’s life deciding her fences needed to be stronger than a prison wall.
Not that she was complaining.
“I’m all right,” she told him at once, sending back reassurance before he could worry too much. “I was just telling Iyanna about what happened with the missing girls in Higgs’ freezer.”
A low, dark ache answered her through the Bond.
“I don’t like you thinking of that place. Don’t go there in your mind, sweetheart. Not if you can help it.”
“I’m trying not to, but sometimes it helps to talk things out with a friend.”
Brux didn’t answer with words. Instead, she felt a deep possessive tenderness that seemed to cradle her from the inside out.
There was a small pause and then his mental voice came again, lower now and threaded with unmistakable heat.
“I want to make you feel better.”
Kiera bit her lip and shifted in her seat. She knew that tone of voice…and the feelings that came with it were deliciously familiar.
“Hmm…I think I’d like that,” she sent back.
Across from her, Iyanna was saying something—probably asking if she was all right again—but Kiera was suddenly very distracted because Brux wasn’t finished.
A vivid image flashed through her mind: Brux in their bed in the home-dome, all dark hair and blue eyes and broad shoulders, waiting for her with that hungry, adoring look he got whenever he saw her coming toward him without her clothes on.
His big hands reaching for her…the feel of being gathered into his lap…
the warmth of his mouth at her throat. Then the two of them tangled together under the coverlet with the living mattress shifting softly beneath them, cradling them as they made slow, sweet love.
Kiera felt a flush of heat go through her.
“Brux, I’m still with Iyanna!” she thought at him, scandalized and thrilled all at once.
The answering amusement and lust through their Bond was immediate.
“You are sad. I just want to help you forget the past, baby.”
Kiera’s cheeks went hot. She could feel Iyanna watching her now with rapidly growing suspicion.
And if she was honest—if she was really, truly honest—forgetting the past with her mate sounded like a wonderful idea.
“I want that too,” she admitted. “I like your way of forgetting.”
The warm pulse of lust and desire that came back through the Bond made her shiver all over.
“You haven’t heard a thing I’ve said in the past three minutes,” Iyanna said, laughing suddenly.
“What? Yes, I have!” Kiera protested.
“No you haven’t. Don’t lie–I know that face.”
Kiera frowned.
“What face?”
“That very specific ‘my giant alien husband just said something filthy in my head’ face,” Iyanna informed her dryly. “I know it because I’ve made it. Dra’vik is pretty good with the mental dirty—talk, you know.”
Kiera let out a startled laugh.
“Oh my God! All right, it’s true–you got me. Brux felt that I was sad and wanted to, er, cheer me up.” She coughed.
Iyanna grinned.
“Don’t worry—I’m not offended. Honestly, I’m impressed you two lasted this long apart without trying to run off to the nearest private room. You haven’t been Bonded very long–you’re still in the honeymoon phase.”
Kiera covered her burning face with both hands and laughed harder.
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.” Iyanna patted her knee. “You love me. But I think we may have to cut our time short.”
Kiera lowered her hands enough to peek at her friend.
“All right–that might be a good idea,” she admitted.
Iyanna laughed.
“Oh, honey, I know what it’s like to want to be with your mate all the time when you first get Bonded.”
She closed her eyes for a moment and got a look of concentration on her face.
Kiera could almost feel the mental message going out.
A second later Iyanna opened her eyes and smiled.
“Yep. Dra’vik agrees. Apparently Brux has already been making giant soulful wolf—eyes for the past five minutes while pretending he’s still interested in fence reinforcement.”
That made Kiera laugh again.
“That sounds like him.”
“It absolutely does.” Iyanna stood and held out a hand. “Come here.”
Kiera got up and stepped into her friend’s arms.
Iyanna hugged her tightly.
“I’m really happy for you,” she murmured. “And I’m sorry again that I helped get him taken away.”
Kiera hugged her back just as hard.
“I know you were just trying to protect me.”
“I was. And Commander Rarev has pardoned him completely, so the two of you are free to live your lives and be happy watching animals together on the sanctuary forever.”
Kiera smiled.
“That’s my dream come true.”
A few minutes later, after Iyanna had gone to meet Dra’vik and Brux outside, she stood alone for just a moment in the doorway of her home-dome and looked out over the sanctuary.
Evening had fallen properly now. The barrier fields shimmered softly blue in the gathering dusk. The chiming trees whispered. Somewhere in the distance, one of the theebles cheeped something obscene in a tiny angelic voice and another answered it, making Kiera grin.
The sanctuary was going to open next month to the public.
There was still so much to do before then—final habitat checks, signs to hang, feed deliveries to organize, last—minute safety inspections–not to mention the endless paperwork involved in opening anything to tourists, especially when your tourists had to come through a fold in space en—route from a giant living Mother Ship.
But for now…for now there was still time. Time to breathe. Time to heal. And time to fall more and more in love with the male the Goddess had chosen for her.
Brux’s mind brushed hers again, warm and impatient and full of love.
“Come to me–I miss you.”
Kiera smiled into the darkening evening.
“I’m coming.”
And as she stepped out into the twilight toward the huge dark figure waiting for her near the Vorn enclosure, she thought how lucky and blessed she was.
Blessed to be alive…blessed to have found him. And blessed to have a future spread out before her on this strange and beautiful little moon.
The rest of her life waited for her there in Brux’s arms, and she couldn’t wait to begin it. Because she was, and always would be…
Tied to the Lykan.