Epilogue

I ’d been to my share of wild parties, but the celebration of a decade late, vamp and alpha werewolf bonding ceremony on the night of a rare, blue moon? Bananas. Half of Mariana’s pack had already wolfed out and were tearing around the outer edge of the clearing like howling banshees, while the rest were performing some sort of frenzied mating dance around the bonfire for the starry-eyed vampires flocked about them. Drunken idiots.

“You could join them, you know.” Abuela eased herself into the wicker chair next to mine and handed me a glass jar full of bright pink liquid. It smelled of strawberries and future regrets, neither of which I was in the mood for.

I took a tiny sip to appease her, then another when it tasted better than expected. “I’m good here, thanks.”

Abuela side-eyed me over her single-malt whisky, no ice. “You could ask Calum to dance. He’s been shooting you puppy-dog looks all night, the poor thing.”

My gaze slid across the crowd to where Calum leaned against the beanstalk’s stump—a beer in hand while he gazed down at some village vamp who was prattling away. She had plump hips and a pretty face, and whatever she was going on about couldn’t have been too bad, as Calum seemed more than happy to listen.

Puppy eyes, indeed.

Whatever, she could have him. I was washing my hands of werewolves after this. I’d only attended the ceremony after Jack came to see me and begged that I come. Said Mari would want me here. Ha! No one wanted me here.

Not Mari, who only had eyes for Jack while they swayed back and forth in each others’ arms, oblivious to the chaos surrounding them. Tiny, white flowers were woven through her dark curls, which now flowed well past her shoulders. I can only assume a potion was involved. The hem of her white dress was stained green and brown from the earth and dirt smudged the top of her bare feet as they moved through the soft grass, but her cheeks were glowing as bright as the red sash around her waist, her mouth stretched wide in a smile more dazzling than I’d ever seen on her face before.

No, she most certainly didn’t need me here.

There was Gretchen, of course, who I’d always fancied a friend. I might be tempted to visit with her if it weren’t for the muscle-bound goblin whose green arm was currently wrapped possessively around her shoulder as the two of them chatted with her brother, Evander, and his werewolf lover, Lyall. Two more people who probably wished I were anywhere but here.

Abuela must have seen my downward spiral, because her face softened into an indulgent smile. “Or you could stay and keep an old woman company.”

I swallowed down the rising wave of self-pity, and mustered up an answering smile while I lifted my glass in her direction. “Best offer I’ve had all night.” The fruity liquor slid down my throat, and I welcomed the warm buzz that flowed through my veins. It paired nicely with the tendrils of icy darkness that’d been spreading through my gut ever since we came crawling out of Abuela’s well.

A darkness I once did everything in my power to outrun, desperately trying to save the people around me from its influence. People who, in the end, still labeled me a villain. Who shunned me when all I tried to do was help them.

I mustered a feigned smile when Abuela patted my hand.

Fuck ’em.

Fuck them all.