Epilogue #2
I want to smile at that image, but my chest is tight with anxiety. “You don’t understand. He’s not just another animal, Damien. If something happened to him…”
My voice cracks on the last word, and tears threaten. The hormones are making everything amplified, every emotion sharper and more intense.
“Luna.”
Damien’s tone shifts, deeper now, with that edge of command that goes straight to the primitive part of my brain.
“Look at me.”
My eyes snap to his because that voice demands obedience. His gaze has sharpened, and the civilized mask slips away, revealing the apex predator beneath. I know this version of him.
My wolf.
“We’re going to walk to the house right now and check. If he’s not there, we’ll come back and search every inch of this place until we find him.”
The authoritative tone steadies the chaos spinning through me. My breathing slows, and the panic that was building ebbs back to manageable worry. At the same time, it makes my nipples ache and my core clench with want. The things this man can do to me with just his voice. It alone can remake me.
“Okay.”
He extends his hand.
“Come on.”
I take it without hesitation, letting him lead me toward the door. His fingers interlace with mine, and some of the tension leaves my body.
We walk the short distance between the sanctuary and the main house, our feet crunching on the gravel path. My attention catches on Maren’s SUV parked in the driveway, and the worry that’s become constant background noise surfaces again.
“Have you heard from Cade?”
Damien’s pace slows, but his grip on my hand stays firm and warm, anchoring me to his side. “No. I told you I haven’t.”
“How can you not hear from your COO for days and not worry? Isn’t he supposed to be working?”
“Cade is always working. And he doesn’t need to be micromanaged. Things are getting done. That’s all I care about. Where he does it and with whom is none of my business.”
His evasiveness pisses me off. “He kidnapped my best friend, Damien. That’s damn well your business, because it’s mine. Tell him to bring her back.”
“Sweetheart, I don’t know if he has her. Maren is a grown woman. Maybe she decided to take a couple of personal days.”
“Maren wouldn’t blow off work. That’s not her style.”
He’s quiet for a long moment, and I can almost hear him weighing what to tell me.
“If they are together, it’s their business, Luna. Getting in between Maren and Cade isn’t wise.”
“You don’t think Cade would—”
“No.” His voice cuts sharp through the evening air.
But the certainty in his tone doesn’t match the tension in his shoulders. We both know what Cade’s capable of. Things that would terrify most people. The question is whether Damien is right about Maren’s safety.
I want to ask more questions, but we’ve reached the front door.
“Whatever happens when we go in there…” Damien pauses with his hand on the doorknob, and something in his voice makes my pulse skip. “Just remember that I love you.”
I frown at the odd comment. “Why would you—”
The door swings open, and every thought in my head evaporates.
Shadow bounds toward us, almost knocking me backward in his enthusiasm, but it’s what’s tied around his neck that makes me freeze. A red silk ribbon resting against his gray fur, elegant and out of place on my wolf.
Behind him, perched on the back of the sofa like he’s holding court, sits Ricky. In his black hands, he grips an enormous bouquet of deep red dahlias—my favorite flowers, the ones Damien surprises me with regularly now.
“Oh, thank God.” Relief crashes over me so hard I feel dizzy. I drop to my knees to hug Shadow, burying my face in his soft fur, before glaring at my raccoon.
“Ricky, how did you get here?”
He chitters at me, then plucks a fistful of petals from the stems and hurls them in my direction like he’s the offended party.
But even as I’m scolding him, something feels off. The ribbon around Shadow’s neck. The flowers clutched in Ricky’s paws. And the way all three cats are arranged on various pieces of furniture like they’re posing for a photograph. My heart beats faster, but for different reasons now.
Ricky chitters at me again, then proceeds to pluck more dahlia petals and fling them in my direction with impressive accuracy. Each crimson petal hits my hair, my shoulders, and my arms, like he’s showering me with confetti. He looks pleased with himself, proud of his handiwork.
I push to my feet and turn toward Damien, a question forming on my lips, but the words die in my throat.
He’s down on one knee.
My heart stops. Actually stops, then starts again with a thud that echoes in my ears. The room tilts, and I have to press my hand against the wall to stay upright.
“Come here, Shadow.”
My wolf trots over as if they've practiced this. Damien’s fingers work at the ribbon, sliding it free from Shadow’s neck, and something small and brilliant tumbles into his palm. He looks up at me, and the expression on his face steals what little breath I have left.
“Luna.”
His voice is rough with emotion, and tears blur my vision. I can’t look away from him, can’t breathe, and can’t think past the way my heart is trying to beat right out of my chest.
“I love you.” He drags his tongue across his bottom lip, and his eyes soften in that way they do now when he looks at me.
“I don’t deserve it. We both know that. But you love me anyway.
Love for me is more than what we have in the dark.
It’s watching you save a baby deer at three in the morning.
It’s the way you sing to injured animals while you work.
And it’s the way you look at me and see someone better than I am. ”
He holds up the ring, and even through my tears, I can see it’s perfect.
A cluster of diamonds sits atop a simple band, catching the lamplight like captured fire.
It’s beautiful, elegant, and timeless. But it’s the expression on Damien’s face that steals the strength from my legs.
The love in his eyes runs so deep and honest it strips me down to nothing, leaving me vulnerable and aching and wholly his.
“Will you marry me?”
The sob that escapes me is part joy, part hormonal overload, and part disbelief that this incredible man wants to spend his life with me.
“No. I can’t.”
The words leave my mouth before I can stop them, and hurt sweeps over his features. His face closes off, the emotion in his eyes slamming shut as the dark side of my wolf comes to the surface.
He stands, stepping closer to me, his large frame towering over me the way he does when he wants to intimidate me. But I don’t let him anymore, and he knows it.
Still, he doesn’t understand why I’m saying no, and I’m sobbing too hard to explain.
“I can’t.” My breath hitches as I grasp the front of his shirt, needing the anchor of his warmth. “Not until…”
His eyes lose their edge, but the line between his brows deepens as another sob wrenches from my chest, then another. Heaving sobs I can’t seem to control. The hormones have rewired something in me, turning every small thing into a tidal wave that drags me under.
“Luna.” He pulls me against his chest, and some of the tension leaves his body. “Fuck. Why are you crying like this? If you don’t want to marry me—”
He stops, the words paining him, and I cry harder because I’m hurting him and I don’t know how to make him understand.
I bury my face in his chest, shaking my head against his shirt, breathing in his scent—vanilla and amber and the clean, masculine scent that always makes me feel safe. His arms tighten around me, protective and warm.
“I… I… want to,” I manage between sobs, my voice muffled against his chest. “It’s just…”
“What is it, sweetheart?”
The words spill out before I can stop them.
“I’m pregnant.”
His entire body goes still against mine. Not just tense, but motionless, like he’s stopped breathing.
“My hormones are insane, and I sobbed for twenty minutes because we ran out of strawberry jam, and I know we haven’t talked about this, and it’s terrible timing, and I don’t even know how it happened because we’re usually so careful, but apparently not careful enough, and—”
His mouth covers mine, cutting off my babbling. I melt against him, my breath hitching against his lips. The kiss tastes like relief and joy and promises I want to spend the rest of my life collecting.
When he pulls back, I search his face for any sign of anger or disappointment. “Are you mad?”
I miscarried our baby last fall, when I didn’t know he and my wolf were the same man.
That pregnancy was unplanned too, but it’s different now.
We’re together, there are no more secrets between us, and he wants to marry me.
But that doesn’t mean he wants children.
He told me once he had no desire to father anything.
He cups my face in his hands, thumbs brushing away my tears, his intense eyes holding mine captive. “Luna, considering how often I come inside you, I’m surprised it took this long.”
I hiccup, lifting my fingers to wipe away more tears. Relief makes me dizzy. “I know we haven’t talked about this, but we can’t get married until we decide what to—”
He kisses me again to shut me up, and I lose myself in the taste of him. When he releases my lips, he presses his forehead against mine.
“Listen to me, Luna. If you want this baby, I want this baby. But you know the kind of man I am. I’ll be a shitty father.”
“No!” I shake my head and grip his face in my hands, needing him to understand. He’ll be amazing.
“Yes.” He grasps my wrists, his touch gentle but firm. “My capacity for emotion and love is exclusive to you. But I’ll do my best with any children we have.”
Another sob escapes my lips. One day, he’ll know that his capacity for love is infinite.
“Now, I asked you to marry me, but we both know it wasn’t a question.”
A choked laugh replaces my sob. He’s right. This man would drag me in front of a justice of the peace, kicking and screaming. But I want to marry him. This man I love more than I thought it was possible to love another person.
This man, who loves me just the same.
This man, who will be the father of my children.
But I still can’t let him always have the upper hand.
“So, you’re going to force me to marry you?”
“If I have to, yes. Especially now. Our kids won’t be bastards.”
His response is so him, and my heart trips over itself in my chest. Possessive and demanding and always certain of getting what he wants.
“Then it’s a good thing I want to.” I blink away the last remnants of my tears. He slips the ring on my finger, and of course it’s a perfect fit. “Are you sure about the baby?”
He presses another soft kiss to my lips. “If you’re happy, then I’m happy.”
I rise on my toes to deepen the kiss, pouring all my love and gratitude and overwhelming joy into the connection between us.
A sharp thunk against the back of Damien’s head makes us jolt apart. The entire bouquet of dahlias bounces off his skull and tumbles to the floor, petals scattering everywhere. Ricky sits on the back of the sofa, arms crossed, chittering at us with what can only be described as raccoon profanity.
I burst out laughing at the offended expression on his masked face.
“I think someone’s jealous.”
Damien rubs the back of his head, glaring at the unrepentant raccoon. “Well, he better get used to sharing. There’s a hierarchy in this house, and you’re looking at the alpha.” His arms tighten around me. “And if he doesn’t stop copping feels, I’m turning him into a winter hat.”
I laugh harder, the sound bubbling up from a place of absolute happiness. Everything is perfect. Damien, our baby, and our future together.
“I love you.”
“You’re the love of my life, little doe.”
My breath catches. He tells me he loves me constantly—whispers it, growls it, says it like a prayer. But that phrase, those specific words, he’s kept locked away until now. I can feel the truth of them in my bones, matching the intensity burning in his eyes.
His mouth finds mine again, the kiss soft and reverent, like he’s sealing a promise.
Ricky throws another handful of loose petals at us, not satisfied with his first protest, and I grin against Damien’s lips.
Forever with this man and our growing family, furry and otherwise, sounds like complete perfection to me.