EpilogueNote from Nikki

EPILOGUE

AIDA

"Wake up, mate."

Without blinking my eyes open, I smile.

I was having the best dream.

I was laughing with Byron in our clan village while Zora played with her baby brothers in the snow.

Stretching my arms overhead, my mind starts to clear from what feels like a billion years' worth of sleep and then suddenly floods with memory.

Lurching up with a gasp, I'm caught by the shoulders by a pair of strong hands that feel as familiar to me as my own.

Byron.

He's sitting beside me on the bed at Kofi's compound, and I'm momentarily confused.

"I told you I'd be there when you woke up. You've been out for about a day. How are you feeling?"

I look around the room, trying to search my mind for the missing time. This all feels like Deja Vu. "Did we go to the prison?"

"We did."

"And got attacked?"

"Yes. Turns out it was run by Genesis. Their own personal little lab rat source. The cover story you were given wasn't a complete lie. I just wasn't one of the prisoners. Delon was, though."

I take this in and look down at myself. I'm unharmed. I can feel my cubs, and they are well. My gaze darts back to Byron.

"Zora's fine," he smirks, and leans in to kiss my forehead. "I'll explain everything else, but just know you don't have anything to worry about from now on. I told you I would take care of it."

I'm still confused as hell, but I let him ease me back against the headboard and go over what happened when we went to see Delon.

When he's done, I blow out a breath. "Wow. And I slept through all of that?"

He chuckles. "Good thing. That wasn't for you to take care of. You've done enough protecting. It was my turn, and it will stay my turn."

Warmth fills my chest, and I don't comment because I know I deserve this.

"Hm. I expected more of an argument." He playfully tilts his head, and I laugh.

"Actually, I'm going to let you take battling rabies-infected psychos for $1000, Alex." Which reminds me. "What about Delon?"

Something like pity edges the annoyance on Byron's face. "He's dead. It turns out that without the ability to shift, he was susceptible to all of the ailments of man and had no way to heal them. He targeted you for the reasons we thought and paid for that as he should have."

"Did you—I mean, were you the one who killed him?" I don't want it to have been him, so I'm relieved when he shakes his head.

"Not me. Max. Don't feel bad for him, though, baby. He doesn't deserve it."

"I don't. I wonder if he had just asked me if I could have helped him in a less unhinged way. And if he thought synthesizing your wolf hormone would cure him, does that mean there's some validity to the work Umansky was trying to do?" I shake my head." I'm sorry, I'd never posit using you all as test subjects, and obviously, it's still dangerous to think about how people would use it. It's just that Delon didn't deserve that hope, but there are a lot of people who do."

Taking my hand, he kisses my palm, folding my fingers over. "You're a good woman, Aida, and a great mate. You've seen the people here and what they can do—people like Ishaaq and Musa. We might put preserving the shifter community over everything else, but we also recognize that if there are ways to alleviate the suffering of all people, it will help everyone. Until now, we haven't found a way to transfer our healing abilities to humans, but part of what they do at this facility is try to figure that out."

"That's amazing. Do you think—"

"They'd let the top scientist in her field join in? Absolutely. I've already promised Ishaaq I'd ask you once you woke up."

After everything I went through with Delon and the aftermath, this sense of home with Byron is one I decide to settle into, for me and Zora.

"I love you." I lean forward to kiss him, and he growls, pressing me back onto the bed to stroke through my mouth until I'm breathless.

"I love you, too, mate," he smiles, those dimples flashing as he hovers over me. "Oh, yeah. That reminds me. I have another promise to keep."

He leaps from the bed with a canine playfulness that makes me feel like he's a little more wolf than man at the moment.

Rushing to the corner of the room, he grabs something from a bag, holding it out of view. "Close your eyes."

I chuckle and do as I'm told, excitement building in my stomach as I wait.

I can't remember the last time I was given a gift.

That's a lie.

My whole life has been one leading me to this moment.

"Open them."

I blink, focusing on Byron standing at the end of the bed with a wolfish grin.

It takes me a moment to realize what I'm seeing, and when I do, I snap my eyes back shut, slapping my hands over them for good measure. "Oh, my god! Byron, is that Max's head?"

He chuckles. "What? I promised."

The End