36. EPILOGUE PART ONE

Chapter thirty-six

Two Weeks Later

AMIRI

The funeral proceedings are gorgeous. Ethan and his pack have outdone themselves, Camila preparing art to set around the small venue in memory of their mother. Camila has shared a few stories with us and the way her face lights up as she talks about Bailey Thomas makes me wish we had met her. She sounds like an amazing woman, especially since she had to put up with Ezra.

He's one of a few men who weren't invited to this event, Camila and Ethan wanting to celebrate Bailey's life rather than ruin the peaceful ambiance. Teo was sentenced to six months, something Camila was overjoyed about. I'm even more ecstatic that the artist from the gallery came back and decided to also press charges in the total of nearly three hundred grand. Teo will be working for quite a while to pay that off and accepting a position as a preacher is hardly going to cut it.

If that church even wants anything to do with him .

I stand beside the small ledge where Bailey sits in her urn, the happiness that plays along the small crowd, making me realize just what I have, just what I've gained from my mates. Camila bounds up to me, her face bright, a large smile spread across her lips. She still wears that bracelet I gave her almost a month ago but she hasn't touched it since that night at the club before we spoke with Teo. She's wearing the same dress we first met her in and I can't wait to get home to fuck her in it. I'll let Kolsen take it off of her.

"Hey, sweetheart," I muse as she presses herself against me and angles her head up for a kiss. She does that often, silently asking for kisses. With Sasha, she takes. With us, she asks or she puts herself in a position that we can't refuse. I've realized as much as we want her to truly tell us what she wants, that's not her. Camila enjoys being told or asking, rather than telling us. It isn't all that hard to read her, though.

"Everyone here is so happy to celebrate Mom."

"They are, sweetheart. And you? Are you happy?" When I saw the guest list, I was shocked by how small the party was. Neither of the packs have a lot of family outside of ourselves. There are a few cousins Camila and Ethan invited, one of them being an Alpha I see at Temple occasionally. He scouts for talent to add to his roster. He's a nice enough person but we've never really spoken.

"I'm very happy. I've been waiting for a moment like this for a while."

She clings to me, turning around so that she can see her friends and family talking about stories involving her mother and her life. It hasn't been long but Camila even set up a little space by the TV with a few of her mother's things, telling us that she was ready to stop hoarding her mother in the back of a closet. Bailey deserves to be remembered and shown, Camila had told us .

It's why I've been waiting for this very moment to gift her with a new journey. Something Kolsen and Sasha tasked me as the person to give her. I dig into my pocket and unearth a small box before holding it out in front of us. "We wanted to give you something, sweetheart. Something that might start your own little journey of happiness."

She gently takes it from my hands and opens the velvet box, staring at the small gold hoops. "You bought me jewelry?"

"I thought it was time to start your own collection. The few pictures you've shown us with your mother, you always wore earrings or a necklace. We wanted to start small. Something simple. Something meaningful." Camila seems unsure but I want her to understand that this isn't just to placate her. We are not her father. "The small things can make the biggest waves, sweetheart. Seeing you in the café every morning. You choosing to kiss Kol instead of me. Being there at the club, that night where Sasha found you."

I pluck the earrings from their box and hold them out, waiting for Camila's acceptance. I hope we haven't done the wrong thing and it takes me a moment to feel her through the bond. Adoration. Love. Overwhelming happiness. "Yes. Please."

There it is again. That little plea that I can't ignore. I fix the earrings into her ears, grinning as we meet the gazes of our mates across the rooms. This is one step toward forever and I can't wait to see where it takes us.