---

EPILOGUE
     
EMERY
“This seems strange,” I say as I look up at the huge hotel.
Quinn has been invited by Deke to speak to some detectives as well as have an interview with his sister. The claim is that they want to talk to us to solidify a few things (as if detectives, agents, and government officials haven’t already talked to us enough over the past three months) and Deke’s sister wants to paint us as heroes. They asked me too, but I informed them that if I told them anything, I’d have to kill them after. I’m not sure they found it as funny as I did.
“Since we don’t have anything until tomorrow, why don’t we relax for a bit?” Rowan suggests. “Find something fun to do. I want to take Quinn to this park and maybe you two can find something?”
I nod as I try to think of the best possible way to spend today. “Yes. I want to do something crazy. Let’s go skydiving.”
Graham seems a bit uncertain, but I’m positive he’ll do whatever I ask him to.
Rowan nods slowly, looking like he’s also not fond of the idea. “You guys do that, and we’ll catch up with you later.”
“We’re not going skydiving,” Graham says, like a fool.
Since it’s clear Rowan and Quinn are heading off on their own way, I hold out my hands. “Here, we’ll take your bags and toss them in your room. You two go frolic off or something. Howl at the sun. Bark at some strangers or whatever.”
“As long as Rowan doesn’t try climbing the top of this hotel, we’ll be fine,” Quinn says as he looks way up at the top of the hotel.
Rowan pretends like Quinn never even spoke a word.
They hand over their luggage, which I take before immediately packing it onto Graham who honestly looks like he was built to carry all the luggage. With him perfectly secured down, I head for the front door with my measly bag.
Graham just stares after me before sighing and following. He’s such a good pack mule.
Inside, he heads over to the front desk as I hang back and guard my one bag. When he finally returns, I smile at him as I walk toward the stairs.
“We’re on the twelfth floor,” he says.
“Good way to stretch our legs after the long drive,” I decide as I grab for the door to the stairs.
Graham raises an eyebrow and hooks my arm. “The elevator will be fine. I’m with you.”
I sigh even though I’m positive I’d prefer not to go in there. But on the other hand, being stuck with Graham in a small and tight space can’t be completely horrible… I think.
Maybe.
He drags me inside and the door shuts. “Just look at me whenever you’re anxious about something.”
“I’d never be anxious.”
He raises an eyebrow, leaving me to grin at him in response.
“You’re so difficult,” he says as he kisses my cheek.
The elevator is at least fast, and when we reach the right floor he heads out and leads me over to the room that Rowan and Quinn are staying in.
“We should hide all their towels,” I decide.
Graham, who I was positive was going to say that my suggestion was ridiculous, gives me a grin. “What a brilliant idea.”
I beam at my mate for truly understanding my genius. So in we go to gather all the towels. I hide the remote, take the pillows and towels, and we merrily head off on our evil way.
We carry all the items over to our room, and Graham opens the door. Once inside, I drop my stuff on the bed and look around.
“What do you want to do?” I ask curiously.
“Well… there’s something weird over here,” Graham says from in the bathroom.
Rather fond of being nosy, I hurry over to see what he’s talking about. That’s the moment my eyes settle on the jacuzzi tub.
“We have a jacuzzi in our room?” I ask in surprise as he turns the water on.
He smiles, clearly pleased by my reaction. “We do. You said you thought hot tubs weren’t real… so I thought maybe you’d—”
“Get in it!” I say as I start stripping my clothes off. “Can you turn the jets on?”
“Probably,” Graham says. “But you have to wait until it actually has water in it.” I wait for nothing as I strip down and stick my toe in it before beaming at him.
“You got this for me?”
“I did.”
“This is amazing,” I say as I step into the warm water before reaching for him. “Come on, hurry up!”
Graham beams at me. “I am, I just love getting to watch you.”
“Stop being a perv and join me.”
I grab his hand and pull him forward so I can undo his pants and push them down. He eventually gets with the program and strips off his clothes before climbing in with me. He sinks down into the warm water and I quickly slide onto his lap as the water flows around me.
He’s smiling as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me close. “I’m glad you like it.”
“I feel rich. We should get one of these for our house,” I say.
“Our house?” He grabs his chest all dramatically.
“That I share with you,” I say.
He chuckles as he watches me. “Of course. I’m glad you enjoy it.”
“It’s amazing. Some days I feel like I’m living in a dream world,” I admit. “Like you have me on drugs or something because everything is too perfect. Why are you so fucking perfect?”
“I can do something less perfect?” he suggests.
“Nah. This is fine. I suppose I’ll make do with it.”
Graham grins at me. “Can I take you out when we’re done here? Somewhere fancy where we have to wear ties?”
“I didn’t bring a tie.”
“I brought one for you.”
“You did?” I ask, excited about the idea of going on a real date with him. Obviously, we’ve done stuff around town but when the only place with actual good food in the area is Ari’s place, it becomes a bit hard. Especially when Ari loves to butt in on everything. “I love you.”
He smiles at me as his arms around me tighten. “I love you too.”
Warmth fills me. I can’t stop smiling at Graham. It’s hard to imagine how he can turn my miserable life into something like this.
He reaches up and brushes his thumb over my lips. “When I met you, I was determined you were going to murder me. Now look at us.”
“That was a long time ago!”
“Not that long ago.”
“I’m a different person.”
“You also tried murdering my brother.”
“It was an accident.”
He starts laughing and I love the deep rumble of it. “Sure.”
“I promise I won’t do that again if the restaurant you pick is good enough.”
“Deal,” he says.
There are still some uncertainties in my life, like what I’m going to do, but there’s one thing in my life that I know is certain.
I will never be alone again, and Graham will always be there for me. He will never turn on me or make me feel like the others did. He’s mine. Always and forever my mate.
      
QUINN
Rowan seems to be on a mission. Maybe it was because I made fun of his climbing abilities or maybe he’s just really excited, but I follow after him anyway.
It’s the first time in three months that we’ve been away from home for more than a day or two.
Things have drastically changed. While the legalities of what was happening is still in turmoil, we’ve already seen so much change. Grants and money came flooding in to help us build up our community and my pack has grown since then. The best part is that our town has seen a new influx in tourists. Instead of keeping ourselves closed off, we’ve started reopening our doors to tourism, selling little trinkets and opening B&Bs. And Ari’s little café has been booming with business. Between that and the grants, we’ve managed to buy enough land to build houses for the remaining shifters.
Things aren’t perfect. We still get assholes who come to harass us every now and then, but it’s much rarer, and now, we have people to back us up. I think it’ll take years for things to become perfect, but any step in the right direction is good enough for me.
If we could completely shut down the group Suzuki had run, it’d be even better, but that’s out of our hands.
Scott and Gina left not long after things improved, happy to be reunited with their daughter. The pack has continued to grow and change, but all for the better. Katalina is still with us, but it’ll be a long time before she regains the trust she once had. But I did see Harper talking to her the other day, so maybe life is bringing them back together.
“It’s such a nice day out,” I say.
“It really is,” Rowan says as he slows down to walk beside me, like he only now remembered I’m around.
“Do you know where we’re going?” I ask.
“There’s a neat little park that Deke said we needed to check out. I think it’s this way,” he says as he points.
“Sounds relaxing. Do you want to go to a nice restaurant after?”
He looks over at me and smiles. “Sure. Have a place in mind?”
“Nope. But I can google something and see what we can find. How about just the two of us? We can pretend we don’t know Emery or Graham.”
Rowan clearly gets me as he grins. “That’s fine with me. Graham told me he asked Deke if he could pay extra to get a room with a jacuzzi because Emery once declared that hot tubs weren’t real and were made up for Hollywood. Deke set it up so they got one for free.”
That sounds lovely. “Hold on. What about us?”
He laughs as he shakes his head. “I’m not sure. I guess we’ll have to see when we get back. We can take over theirs if they’re not naked in it.”
I scrunch my nose at the thought. “That’s my brother.”
“I’m aware,” Rowan says, clearly amused. “I wouldn’t want to think about my brother naked in a jacuzzi either.”
Thankfully, Rowan’s brother has hung around the village. Brennan still doesn’t remember everything from their childhood, but occasionally something will stop him that makes Rowan ecstatic to see. He also hasn’t tried maiming anyone, so that’s a bonus. He seems to like horses as much as Rowan does, and now that Rowan has his horse Maze back, the two of them occasionally go for trail rides.
When we reach the park, I see that it’s set up like a Japanese garden. Beautiful green plants are everywhere with a stream cutting through it. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I want to take a moment to look around but before I can, Rowan hurries over to where koi are swimming. The moment they see us, they’re instantly enamored by our presence in the hopes we’ll feed them.
“They’re huge,” I say as I go to step toward them, but Rowan is on a mission. I guess we came here not to enjoy the park but to powerwalk through it. “Um… bye, fish. I thought cats like fish.”
“I do. I really kind of want to stare at them all day, but I can’t,” he says as he drags me along. And then he stops at a scenic spot, looking left and right then left and right again, before grabbing my hand.
“Quinn.”
“Yes?” I ask warily. Rowan’s acting really weird.
He takes a deep breath as his eyes hold mine. “I love you more than I can express. You’ve given me a whole different outlook. It was like for all my life, I was locked up in this little box while having to pretend I was someone different on the outside. Just smiling and going along with things I hated because it’s all I thought I could have.
“And then you stepped into my life and just blew it all open. You showed me what real love was, and what it felt like to have a real family who cares about you for who you are. You loved me and were so patient through all of the bullshit I put you through. And I know, more than I’ve ever known anything, that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I realize that shifters already know that when they find their mate, but… Quinn… will you marry me?”
While a part of me might have known what he was heading toward, the words still send surprise and happiness flooding through me. It all hits me so quickly that for a moment I seem to forget the power of speech, but I still manage to nod. He’s holding a platinum ring with quaking fingers that I reach toward.
“Yes, of course. Rowan…” I still don’t know what to say and am instead enamored by him as he slides the ring onto my finger. “Yes, anything to show you’re mine. To show how much I love you.”
He smiles at me before drawing me toward him. “I love you too,” he says as he kisses me.
The ring feels perfect on my finger as I press into him. And when we break the kiss, I set my forehead on his shoulder. “Rowan… I love you so much. I couldn’t have gotten through these past months without you by my side. You mean more to me than you’ll ever know.”
He kisses me again. “Oh, I’m so glad that’s over. I felt like I was in a panic the whole drive here.”
“Why?” I ask with a laugh.
“I don’t know! I mean, I knew you weren’t going to say no, but it was still like… I don’t know!”
I grin as I hold him close. “Thank you… for being you. For being amazing. For loving me like you do.”
“You don’t need to thank me for any of that. Maybe just let me stare at those fish for a little bit,” he teases.
I start laughing as I look over at the stream where the fish have found us. They’re expectantly staring at us, mouths opening like they’re wanting us to toss food right into them. “I could sit here all day if you were with me.”
And I really could. Because with Rowan by my side, I’m confident I could do anything. I could go anywhere. And I could make it through it all. No, things aren’t perfect in the world just yet, but we’re one step closer to making it a place where shifters and humans can live and love freely.
We sit down right on the edge of the stream where I take his hand and lean into him. He glances away from the fish to give me a smile, and as happiness fills me, I’m not sure I’ll ever stop smiling.