Epilogue

W olfe Bloodgoode sat in his darkened house, fighting the pull of the moon and his own wolf. A battle he’d been fighting all weekend since that blasted BrewFest on Saturday. He hadn’t exactly wanted to be a tester for the potions, especially when every witch and warlock in the Grimm Mawr area was battling for supremacy. Corners had been known to be cut, and rules bent, even broken, in the pursuit of victory.

And with the BrewFest coming on a full moon weekend, he should have known better than to agreed to be on panel. He had been battling his wolf for months. The longer he went without his true mate, the more frayed his control was. Now the thrice damned Duprees tempted fate and threw a love potion into the mix.

He’d have to apologize to Saul Grimsbane, the alpha-heir to the bear clan in town. He had clearly staked his claim and Wolfe moved in on his mate anyway, something he would have never done unless he was under the affect of magic. And then, after the festival, he’d done something even more contemptible.

How could she ever forgive him?

The moon sang in his blood, calling to him, pleading with him to shift to his wolf half and run wild through the forests of Grimm Mawr but he knew he must resist. If he shifted, his wolf would only go in the direction of his mate and would not be dissuaded. She had to have a choice. She had to be given options.

But if she came to him…

A banging on his front door interrupted the darkness that surrounded him. “Wolfe? I know you’re in there. Despite the full moon, you haven’t left on your run with your pack. Open the door. We need to talk.”

No! She couldn’t have followed him. He was trying to protect her. Didn’t she understand?

“Go away, Sabine. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

The pounding only continued, reverberating with the throbbing in his skull. He cradled his head in his hands and hunched over on his couch, ignoring her.

“I’m not going away, Wolfe. Open the door.”

Damn it. She asked for it.

He stalked to the door and flung it open. Sabine stumbled back, her fist in the air to pound on the door again. He grabbed her arm and yanked her against his body until she was plastered fully against him.

“You never know when to stop pushing, do you, Sabine? I’m not a lapdog. I’m a wolf. And we bite.”

“Maybe I like your bite.”

Fuck him.

The Dupree sisters gathered in their basement, ignoring the wreckage of their lab from all of their experimentation. Tempest was furiously pacing back and forth, while Fleur was filing her nails.

“I don’t see what the big deal was. So Phoebe told Maeve what was in the potion. I mean, we probably shouldn’t have given it to her before the last test anyway,” Fleur said, sounding utterly bored by their oldest sister’s ranting.

Tempest whirled around and glared at Fleur. “That’s not the point. We agreed to keep the grimoire secret. Telling Maeve could expose the existence of the grimoire, which was supposed to have been destroyed ages ago, and that we’re using it. We could get into trouble with the coven.”

“Maybe we should have thought about that before we used it,” Phoebe pointed out.

Tempest turned her ire towards her. “And lose to the Rathbones? I don’t think so.”

Phoebe shrugged. “We lost anyway and got censured by the town. We could lose our license, Tempest. This is a big deal.”

Tempest waved her hand, seemingly unconcerned with the threat. “I’ll handle the mayor. Don’t worry about him. Just remember, let’s keep the potion and grimoire under wraps.”

Phoebe sighed. “We have a bigger problem, Tempest. Maeve and Saul weren’t the only ones affected by our potion. Everyone who tested it at the festival was affected. We have a lot of people in town acting under the influence of our love potion, and regular antidotes don’t work. I had to tell Maeve. Maybe she could find an antidote that could work.”

Tempest got a cagey look on her face. “No one knows the potion is affecting people. Not yet. We keep our mouths shut and work on finding it ourselves. Then we solve the problem. Quietly. Got it, sisters? We have to do this to save our reputation and our shoppe. We must find the antidote.”