Epilogue

Lauren

“Autumn, ask Kylie where she wants this,” I said.

She groaned but did it. “ Where do you want this? ”

“Very good.”

For those of her closest friends that stuck around I’d started an ASL club early just going over the basics. They were picking it up so quickly though, so we’d moved on to more advanced words the last few days.

It was move in day and there was a lot to do, plus Denny and I had big plans this evening with his work. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

“She wants it in the corner.”

I already knew that, but it was good practice for Autumn.

There was a knock at the door. I opened it.

“Hi Troy.”

His brother had left weeks ago, but he’d picked up a new sort of brotherhood at the doghouse. He was a good kid. I honestly wouldn’t mind him dating Kylie, though I did believe strongly she should wait for her one true mate. I knew now just how powerful that connection could be, and I wanted nothing less for my baby sister.

He was carrying bags.

“Come on. You’ll like them, I promise. Guys, this is Caroline. C-A-R-O-L-I-N-E, ” he signed for Kylie.

“Hi. I was told my room changed and I’m in here now.”

“Caroline? The same girl that was originally supposed to room with Kylie?”

“Yup. I guess Autumn’s two roommates decided they wanted to stay together, so I talked to Caroline and told her how cool you girls were. She agreed to the swap. You’re going to love her.”

“ Which of you is K-Y-L-I-E? ” she signed.

“Hey, you know ASL?” Autumn asked.

“Only a little. When Will told me about her, he’s my best friend, I found some tutorials online to practice a few things.”

“That’s awesome. This is her sister, Lauren. She’s going to be teaching ASL here this year and has been working with us the last few weeks.”

“Cool. I already arranged my schedule to add ASL 101 to my course load,” she surprised me by saying.

My heart swelled with happiness.

Kylie wasn’t just going to survive here; she was going to thrive. With so many people on her side, how could she not?

I stuck around long enough to get them sorted and then left them to get to know each other without my interference.

We were still working on boundaries, but I was trying to give her the space she wanted. It was a work in progress.

I headed home to the doghouse. After some careful consideration we decided for now Denny and I would stay in the house. If this semester didn’t go so well then, we’d press for our own place in mated housing for next semester.

My new job would be starting soon, and I already had an office and classroom to prep. It was a little overwhelming but also very exciting.

And I was now wearing the engagement ring and a wedding ring. To all of Denny’s work friends we had a simple wedding at the courthouse. Nothing fancy. It didn’t matter that there was no record of it. No one was going to fact check us on it.

Instead, they insisted on throwing us a reception. I begged Denny to get us out of it, but no luck. They were closed on Monday’s so that was the plan. I told Kylie and the girls they had to come but they’d declined.

I wasn’t going to know anyone there.

This was all on my mind as I walked across campus. It was so beautiful, but more importantly it felt like home.

So much had changed in the few weeks since I arrived in California. I was mated and now apparently married too.

I walked into the house and plopped down on a couch with a huff.

“What’s wrong, Lauren,” Sadie asked.

I’d really gotten to know Sadie, Josie, and Ember well. True to Josie’s word she invited me to girls’ night every Thursday. I’d actually scheduled my classes around it. It was nice to have real friends.

Kylie wasn’t the only one thriving here.

“Babe, there you are. Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” Josie asked.

“The wedding reception.”

“It’s going to be fun and everyone’s bringing us gifts,” Denny insisted.

“It’s not so bad,” Ember insisted. “Chad and I got married. With my mom always in the spotlight it just helped explain things to the humans better. Besides, I was raised a human and always dreamed about my wedding. It was great. And so were the presents.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Denny agreed.

“Are you guys coming?” I asked the girls.

“When is it?” Sadie asked.

I glared at my mate. “You didn’t invite them?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t think they’d really care to come.”

“What? Of course we want to come,” Josie insisted.

“Okay, well, it’s tonight.”

“Oh, sorry, we’re busy tonight,” Ember said.

“Us too,” Sadie apologized.

“I have to work. The football team has practice,” Josie said.

“I’m sorry. I thought he told you.”

I scowled at Denny.

“I love you,” he said.

Rolling my eyes, I got up and went to get dressed.

Denny followed me into our room not reading my irritation at all.

There was a white dress laid out on the bed.

“I thought you’d like playing the part of my blushing bride.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t invite our friends. I’m not going to know anyone there.”

“I said I’m sorry,” he apologized again.

I didn’t even want this stupid party. It was all for show for his work friends. Was a few gifts really worth it?

Still, he rarely asked me to do anything, so I didn’t argue as I got dressed.

He wore a suit and looked sexy as hell in it.

“You know, we could blow it off and stay here all night long.”

Our schedules had been crazy lately as I prepared for school, and he made up time off for orientation.

“You are a temptress, but we promised.”

“You promised,” I grumbled.

“I promised for us,” he reminded me.

“Fine, let’s go.”

“At least your favorite person in the entire world will be there.”

“Nope, Kylie’s staying in with for some sort of roommate bonding thing tonight.”

“You wound me.”

“Don’t be so cocky then.”

“But you love my cock.”

“That’s not the point.”

“At least you aren’t denying it.”

“What’s to deny. Besides, I’ll just have you and your cock make it up to me later tonight.”

“Now that’s a deal.”

He kissed me as he rushed me out the door and into his car.

I loved that I’d waited to have sex with him, but now that I had, all I wanted was more of it. I wasn’t sure it was natural, and I hadn’t gotten up the nerve to ask my new girlfriends about it, but even if it wasn’t normal, I didn’t care. He’d turned me in a sex-addicted and we both loved every second of it.

It was funny to think back to the first time we’d been alone in that hotel room and I pushed him away while we were making out. He didn’t have any fear of that repeating now.

We bantered back and forth as he drove us to the restaurant.

“At least we’re getting good food.”

“Yeah, I think they’re having it catered.”

“What?”

“Kidding. Would you relax? It’s going to be fun.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it didn’t sound much like fun to me, I already knew I would smile and not embarrass him. His friends would be thanked, and we’d never speak of it again.

He seemed to be taking some new way to work. It felt longer than necessary, and he kept looking at his watch.

“What are you doing?” I asked him suspiciously.

“Going to the reception.”

“We’re going to be late at the rate you’re driving.”

“We’re fine. It’s our party so we can’t actually be late.”

It felt like an eternity had passed before he finally reached the restaurant and parked the car.

I waited for him to run around and open the door for me as I knew he would.

Hand in hand we walked up to the restaurant. It was dark inside.

“What’s going on?” I whispered.

The lights came on and everyone yelled, “Surprise!”

At first, I was confused. Why were they yelling surprise when we knew about the party? I looked around at the faces I’d become familiar with from eating at the restaurant entirely too often, but there were more.

As I looked around, all our friends were there. The entire doghouse was present, even a few that had just rolled into town, and I didn’t really know yet.

“You guys just told me you couldn’t make it?”

“Surprise,” Josie said.

Sadie hugged me. “We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

But most importantly, my sister was there.

“ Thank you, ” I told her. No other words were necessary.

“ I love you, ” she signed back.

“But I love you more,” my mate whispered in my ear.