EPILOGUE

NATALIE

Okay, it didn’t take much to fall in love with my prickly warlock. I’m a regular, average human, but this soul mate thing is real and ever since I first saw him, I was drawn to him.

The more time I spent with him, the harder it became to be apart. Before long, it was painful for me to have him leave my house or me leave his and I would come up with excuses for him to pop by my work for lunch together- which he was happy to do.

That charming French restaurant he took me to? It’s in France and because I love it, he took me there every week on a date. The idea of dates was foreign to him as his kind instantly know their soul mate and pretty much immediately exchange heart vows. With me being human, exceptions were to be made and thankfully Ambrose was willing to show me his love and devotion as it took me a little longer to be ready to commit myself to him for all time.

And by longer, it took me two months before I could admit to myself that I was completely in love with a man almost four hundred years older than me. Good thing I’m okay with age gaps!

Another lovely twist is that it turns out monsters have pets too and there just so happened to be a part-time opening in the pet clinic on the monster side of town. Yes, there’s a monster and a human side. Something I never in my wildest imagination thought was possible. It was eye opening for sure.

Not only was magic real, but so was the bogeyman. Great guy, really good work ethic, horrible breath though.

Almost any monster imageable was in fact real. And interacting with them on a daily basis, while at first daunting, became my new norm. They were just people…okay, maybe not people, but still, they were just living their lives and going about their business like everyone else.

Ambrose and his sisters run their shop, Trice Adored, and while I’m never going to be a witch, I love helping out and smelling all the amazing soaps, lotions, and creams they come up with. And gossiping with his sisters.

They are hilarious and his sister Patience was only slightly put off by my boring human status. Silvia, the youngest sister at two hundred and twenty-eight, didn’t care and embraced me as warmly as if I were a witch. I love going over to her house for game night. Even if I swear every one in their family cheats.

Ambrose finally did a better job of introducing me to Tom, his familiar. And yeah, he’s definitely opinionated and, at times, obnoxious, but he’s a cat, so that’s expected.

After I sold my house and moved in with Ambrose, I got a kitten of my own. Claire is like me, regular and average with not a drop of magic to her. When Tom took too much of a likening to her, I insisted he either get fixed or had to stay away from her. Ambrose took care of that issue so now I don’t have to worry about Claire having babies before she’s old enough to get fixed herself. That definitely relieved my mind and made me comfortable enough to not worry about her when both Ambrose and I are busy with work or out having fun.

Which is good because lately, Ambrose’s sisters have been letting me handle the shop by myself for a bit.

One Saturday, I’m there alone when an extremely disgruntled werewolf comes in. A werewolf with bright purple fur.

Charging into the shop like his tail is on fire, he sweeps out his long arms, knocking over a display case full of moisturizer before turning his attention onto the rows of carefully stacked bottles of lotion. Bottles that I just finished arranging.

“Don’t even think about it, buddy,” I snap, marching over to him.

Bright yellow eyes roll my way as his massive paw twitches less than an inch from the bottom row of bottles.

“Your fur conditioner turned my fur purple!” he roars.

“Which conditioner?”

Lowering his paw, he stomps over to another display and points a claw at a blue rinse one made to enhance silver hair.

“What color was your fur before?”

“Red,” he snarls as his big feet shuffle in place.

I grab a bottle and turn it around so the label is facing him. “Says right here only for use on silver hair.” I tap at the small print to emphasize my point.

“Give me that!” He swipes it out of my hand and brings the bottle close to his snout, his yellow eyes narrowing as he reads.

Smiling, I wait patiently.

His shaggy head lowers, and he carefully places the bottle back. “Umm… so it does. Sorry about that.”

“It happens. Would you like a clarifier to get the purple out?”

He rubs a paw over his face. “You have that?”

“This way.” I step over the display, carefully make my way around all the bottles he knocked down and lead him to the far wall, where I pull down the clarifier I mentioned.

“Two uses should clear that purple right up.”

Eagerly, he reaches for it, but I pull it back and he whimpers.

“First, you need to clean up the mess you made.”

His ears lower as he glances morosely at the scattered bottles and the bent display stand.

Poor Ambrose walks in, takes one look at the hulking werewolf hunched down on his hind legs on the floor of the shop stacking bottles of moisturizer and immediately sends a protection spell at me, putting up a wall between me and the rest of the shop.

“Ambrose! It’s fine,” I call out, hoping he doesn’t hurt poor Ray, who truly is embarrassed over his fit of temper.

In an instant, Ambrose is next to me, his hands on my arms and whoosh, we’re in his house. He’s teleported me many times in the months we’ve been dating and I’ve gotten used to it, mostly. My stomach still does a slow flip as I adjust to not being where I once was.

“Did he hurt you?” he whispers urgently, his hands sweeping over my face, neck, and shoulders.

“I’m fine. Ray had a problem with the conditioner turning his fur purple and we worked it out.”

His eyes blink slowly. “You worked it out. With a werewolf?” Disbelief colors his voice and I bristle.

“Yes, I talked to him and got him set up with a corrective clarifier, and now he’s cleaning up the mess he made.”

“You…” He trails off. “You reasoned with him, he didn’t lay a single claw on you, and he’s cleaning up. You did all that without magic.”

I smile. “Seeing how I don’t possess an ounce of magic, yes, that’s correct.”

“You don’t need me at all, do you?”

My head cocks as I try to make sense of his words. “Of course, I need you.”

“No, you don’t. I know monsters that shake in fear when an angry werewolf walks within three feet of them. But not my mortal and very human Natalie.”

“Fine, I may not need you that way, but I definitely need you.” I reach up and cup his face, loving the way his silver eyes gleam at my touch. “I want you in my life Ambrose, and I need you because I love you.”

His lips part. “You truly love me?”

It’s taken me a while to get up the nerve to tell him this, but I had to be one hundred percent sure I was ready.

“Yes, my sweet, conceited warlock.”

He puffs up. “Conceited? I have every right-”

I shush him by pressing my palm to his lips. “No need to brag. We all know how powerful you are,” I tease.

Smugness fills his face.

“And I got you, so I guess that makes me pretty powerful, too,” I add.

His mouth sags and, with a laugh, I stand up and press a kiss to his lips.

“You’ll take the hearts vow with me?” he asks.

“Tonight.”

He shakes his head. “Now.”

“Ambrose! Nobody is at the shop, except Ray.”

He smirks. “Ray owes me. He can look after the shop for a while.”

I laugh. He’s impossible.

I went looking for Halloween decorations and instead I found myself a warlock. He’s sweet, powerful, beyond gorgeous, and most of all, he’s mine.

THE END