epiloGue
THREE MONTHS LATER, NOVAGEN was a memory. The fallout was everything I'd hoped for. The proof of illegal human experiments branded Justin Beringer as evil. Paired with the missing money, everyone assumed he'd fled.
The company went under and was quietly dissolved.
I worked with Phoenix to formulate a way to decrease the symptoms of the indeterminate women.
Each of them received a spelled pendant with a note from me explaining that it might sound a bit woo-woo, but wearing it would help.
Marisol wrote back that she'd slept through the night for the first time in years.
Alice sent pictures of her and Zuno. She beamed at the camera, her stone-skinned gargoyle beaming beside her. Nanna glimpsed the picture over my shoulder at 'family dinner' one night and sent them a box. I asked her what was in it.
"Never you mind that." Was her terse reply.
Alice called me to get her contact information so she could thank her properly. I asked her what was in it. She laughed and listed four kinds of cookies, two pounds of dried meat, and a tub of stone polish.
"I legit teared up when I read the note," she told me. "It says: I don't know your story, and I don't need to. You're Haven's friend, so you're family. Eat well. Rest when you can. Come visit if the world gets too loud."
Kendal and Jade kidnapped me. One minute I was walking to the compound's mailbox—a mundane task that felt almost absurd after everything—and the next, a black SUV pulled up and Kendal's head popped out the window.
"Get in, loser. We're going shopping."
"What?"
Jade opened the back door from inside. "It's not actually shopping. She just wanted to say the line."
"It's a classic!" Kendal protested.
Before I could formulate a response, they bundled me into the vehicle and whisked away to Jade's house, where four other women I didn't recognize were already gathered, full wine glasses in hand.
"Haven!" Virginia—I learned her name moments later—pressed a folded jersey into my arms. "Welcome to the club."
I unfolded it to find "Society Mates Club" emblazoned across the back.
"This is..." I didn't have words.
"Ridiculous?" Jade supplied. "Absolutely. Virginia designed them."
"They're iconic," Kendal corrected. "And now you're one of us. Official initiation requires wine, snacks, and at least one terrible movie."
She ushered me to a couch and handed me a glass before I could protest. The other women introduced themselves in a flurry of names and supernatural connections—Virginia's mate was a werewolf, River was a bear shifter who worked with Supe Sec, Luna also worked with Supe Sec, and Gaelynn was mated to a Supe Sec bear shifter.
"Only four of us are mates—well, five now that we have you." Virginia vibrated with energy. "River and Luna aren't mated but we have high hopes for them. They're honorary members. River makes the best popcorn, and Luna's movie commentary is wicked.
"We usually invite Bacon, too, but she's on assignment somewhere."
"You look overwhelmed," Jade said, settling beside me.
"A little."
"That's normal. The first club meeting is always chaotic." She clinked her glass against mine. "It gets easier. And louder, usually, once the second bottle opens."
River appeared with bowls of popcorn that were passed around.
"Okay, ground rules for the newbie. What happens on girls' nights stays at girls' nights.
We don't judge anyone's monster-related confessions.
And if anyone asks, we were definitely not betting on how long it would take Quin to bite you. "
"You were betting on us?"
"I won," Virginia said smugly. "I said within the month."
"I had six weeks," Kendal grumbled. "You couldn't have held out a bit longer?"
I laughed despite myself. "Sorry to disappoint."
"Don't apologize." River flopped onto the floor cushion at my feet. "I was next closest with five weeks. You made me fifty bucks."
The wine flowed. The conversation wandered from supernatural politics to relationship advice to increasingly explicit comparisons of monster anatomy that made my face burn. Somewhere around the third glass, I realized I was relaxed.
These women understood.
They knew what it was like to love something the world called a monster. They'd navigated the impossible strangeness of Society, of bonds, of building a life with someone who wasn't human. They'd found each other and created this—a space where all of it was normal.
"You're quiet." Jade leaned to whisper-shout in my ear, the wine clearly hitting her.
I shook my head. "Just... processing. I've never had this before."
"Had what?"
"Friends." The word felt inadequate. "People who wanted to spend time with me for no reason. People who just... showed up."
The room went silent. Kendal squeezed my knee.
"Get used to it," Virginia said. "You're stuck with us now. Mate bonds make us family. And this family is annoyingly persistent."
"We're also nosy as hell," River added.
Laughter and a chorus of 'yeps' followed.
"Okay, enough emotional bonding," Virginia announced. "Movie time. Haven, as the newest member, you get to choose."
She gestured to the TV, already on a channel featuring posters with improbably muscular men and swooning women in various states of undress.
"What... are these?"
"SeductFlix originals. They're terrible. You'll love them."
I picked one at random—something about a vampire duke and a baker—and settled back into the couch cushions as Gaelynn dimmed the lights.
Jade leaned over as the opening credits rolled. "I'm glad you're here. Quin deserves someone who understands he isn't the light-hearted jokester he wants everyone to believe. And you deserve people who see you."
My throat tightened. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. Wait until you see how we act after the second bottle of wine."
The second bottle led to increasingly loud commentary on the vampire duke's questionable decision-making and a heated debate about whether the baker should have poisoned his croissants.
It was ridiculous.
It was perfect.
When Quin came to collect me three hours later, I was tipsy and wearing my new jersey over my t-shirt.
He took one look at me and his muzzle showed teeth in what I recognized as a smile.
"Good time?"
"The best." I leaned into him as we walked. "They're crazy."
"They're family."
"Yeah." I smiled up at him, my heart fuller than it had ever been. "They are."
The next morning, I was standing on the porch of Quin's house—our house—watching the sunset when he found me.
"Hey."
His arms wrapped around me, his lower jaw rested on the top of my head.
"Hey yourself," I answered.
"Thinking about anything in particular?"
I hummed. "Just how happy I am."
His arms tightened. "I thought I might never find a mate."
"I thought I might never have a family." I turned in his embrace, looking up at the face that caused me to faint once. The face that led to everything good in my life. "I love you."
His chest rumbled. "How much?" he teased.
I pinched his side and he twisted in mock pain. He licked up my neck and face in retaliation.
"Stop! I don't want to be covered in your spit."
"You didn't have a problem with it last night."
"You're incorrigible."
"I'm in love."
"You're forgiven." I smiled while he chuckled.
"Jade wants to have dinner tomorrow. Something about planning a party for Kendal's birthday. It's a surprise. She warned us to keep it hush-hush."
"Did she tell Drym? Because I don't think he can keep a secret."
"For her, he will. The rest of us will go along with whatever Jade wants."
"Without question?" I tried to imagine the 'fangs in cone-shaped party hats, but it was too ridiculous.
He nodded. "That's what family does."
I finally had a family. Tears pressed at the backs of my eyes so I grabbed Quin's wrist and yanked him inside.
"Where are we going?"
"You're going to distract me from big feelings I don't want to have right now."
"How do you want me to do that?"
I gave him a wicked smile over my shoulder. "Surprise me."