Epilogue

“Zander, AJ is eating the carrots,” Lana whines.

I laugh, picking her up and putting her on my shoulders. “Those are edible, Lana. He’s allowed to eat them.”

AJ, happily gnawing on a carrot with his relatively new teeth, beams at her. “Carrot,” he says with a smirk.

I swear. I had no idea that a two-year-old could smirk. Until I met this one. It’s a semi-recent development, and I think Josh might have had something to do with it.

The attitude among the foxes is strong.

Lana sighs, like she’s the one annoyed by this. “But then there won’t be any for the festival!”

She still doesn’t quite know how to say it, so the word comes out as “fesuvul,” which just makes me want to squeeze her.

Mia tells me that the way Lana pronounces things is going to change as soon as she starts speech therapy at school, and while I’ll be happy to hear her getting the support she needs, it will make me very sad to hear those little phrases go away.

Mia also tells me not to worry. Both babies will grow into talking age soon. She mentioned that soon, we won’t want them to talk. I disagree.

The fox children are, generally, one of the highlights of my day. They’ve been looking forward to the Harvest Moon Festival since we proposed it after I finished building the garden. Now, the whole pack is looking forward to it as well.

It was Mia’s idea to do a farmer’s market every week, as we had different types of produce become available. After the foxes took their share of what they’d need to live on, we had plenty left over.

We’re even starting to get some humans involved. As customers, of course. Which means that, unlike when the wolves come and just take what they need, the produce is actually earning some money for the pack.

That’s the vision for the event today. The Harvest Moon Festival is a celebration of the fox leash and their contributions to the pack. We advertised for miles around, and we set up an event for the pack that’s not just a little farm stand anymore.

We’re prepared for hundreds.

“Lana. We need to go, or we’re going to be late,” Mia scolds.

“It’s not my fault. Zander is walking slow,” Lana complains.

I give my mate a grin. “Sorry.”

“Hurry up,” she says with a smile.

Mia and I finish loading the kids into the cars, then head down to town. Thorne volunteered the town square for the festival, and I solidly agreed.

We’ve been setting up for two days.

When we get there, the festival is almost starting. There’s more than just produce out. Some of the pack members who have crafts or things they’ve been working on are prepared to sell them, too.

There’s dancing. Thorne booked food trucks. There are balloons.

Overall, the air is thick with excitement. Mia gives the kids a stern talking to as we roll up. Each older child has been assigned a younger one, and AJ will sit in a backpack on my back.

The children are released, and I can see Mia flinch.

“It’s okay,” I murmur, pulling her close. “They’re safe here.”

“It still feels weird to say that,” she whispers back.

I kiss the top of her head. “They’re part of the pack. The pack takes care of its members. That’s how it works, my love.”

“I know. But…”

“No buts. This is going to be a fun day.”

She raises her eyebrows at me. “Or else?”

“Yeah. Or else.” I pretend to glower.

She giggles and pulls me down for a kiss. “I love you, Zander Black.”

It’s been months, and the words still make my heart leap with joy.

The festival isin full swing only minutes after it opens. I’ve chatted with all the enforcers, checked in with Thorne and Evander, and now I’m heading back to where Mia is running her farm table. The enforcers are all tasked with making sure the event stays family friendly, and we’ve done something a little crazy to do it.

We enlisted the miscreant teenagers.

Josh, to everyone’s surprise, is running them like a military unit.

A wolf juvenile, probably fourteen, runs up to me.

“Sir,” he whispers, pointing to someone. “I don’t know that guy.”

I straighten. AJ is still in my backpack, but I can handle this.

I jog over to where the teenager pointed. I’m ready to have words with the stranger, but as he turns, I relax.

This is a wolf that I haven’t seen in a long time. He’s older, grayer than he used to be, but the lines of his face are familiar.

It’s my dad’s friend.

I walk up and clap him on the back. “Good to see you, Jake.”

“You too, Zander. Wow.” He steps back. “You look just like your old man.”

The compliment warms me. “But I have my mother’s eyes?”

He grins. “You’ve heard this one before.”

“Sure have.”

Mia drifts over, and I put my arm around her. “Jake. This is Mia, my mate,” I say proudly.

She smiles. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“You as well. Actually, Mia, you’re the reason for my trip.”

“Not the end-of-season fire sale on acorn squash?”

Jake laughs at her. “If you call that a fire sale, I’d hate to see what you sell them for at full price.”

“They’re priced what they’re worth, I promise,” I smirk at him. “Organic. Homegrown. The best squash you’ve ever had.”

Jake reaches for an envelope in his light jacket. “I wonder if this will cover the cost of it then.”

Mia and I both suck in a breath. With a shaking hand, she grabs the papers from him.

“Are those what I think they are?” I ask.

Jake shrugs. “Depends on what you think they are.”

“How…” Mia whispers.

His dark brown eyes sparkle. “Let’s just say I don’t much care for mountain lions. Much less ones who feel the need to throw their power around. The Bureaucracy might not have the ability to intervene, but… a lone wolf is a little more mobile.”

I blink. “Mobile?”

Jake gives me a wolfish grin. “It was good to know all my special forces training hasn’t gotten rusty since I left the service.”

I have no doubt that Jake doesn’t let any of those skills go rusty. In fact, I get the distinct impression that he hones them pretty well, still. And that he does so precisely for situations like this.

Mia is staring at the papers in her hands.

“Open them,” I whisper.

Jake and I watch as she does. Her hands shake, but she manages to unfold the thick paper and look through the sheaf, one by one.

“They’re all here,” she whispers, looking through the documents. “Every one of them.”

“Sure are. I also took the liberty of filing a copy with the state office, and there’s a couple of lawyers mighty interested in taking up this case. Seems the lions haven’t been playing well with humans in that area,” Jake says with a wink.

I reach forward, holding out his hand. “Please, tell us what we owe you.”

“Not a darn thing. It’s a privilege to help out the son of one of my very best friends and his beautiful mate.” He smiles at us.

Before I can say anything else, Jake saunters away.

Mia looks at me. “Holy shit,” she whispers.

I nod. “Better go put those away. There’s a lockbox in the?—”

“Truck center console. I saw it the other day. What’s the code?”

I grin. It’s a good thing I took the emerald ring that I’m giving her tonight out of it. I give her the code, then watch as she walks away.

I love that woman. I love her with all of my heart.

“Well. You look smitten,” Terra says from my left.

I turn. She’s got her arms full of lotions, presumably restocking them for her table. “Hey, Terra. You having a good day?”

“Awesome. The humans are buying this stuff left and right. I even had some ladies who have a shop in Steamboat ask me if they can place an order once a month,” she says with a smile. It doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Terra…”

“I’m okay, Zander. Really,” she murmurs.

I don’t believe her.

“Hi, Terra,” Mia says with genuine pleasure. She and Terra have made lotions together a couple of times. At first, it made me nervous, but it’s clear to me that there’s no bad blood between the two. Mia even started growing some roses and other herbs specifically for Terra to use in her concoctions. Mia makes one that makes her smell like roses.

Terra grins. “Mia. The rosewater tonic? It’s a hit.”

“Excellent! I knew it would be.”

“You really did. Thank you, by the way.”

Mia tilts her head. “For what?”

Terra does the same, indicating the event around us. “This. All of this. You inspired the pack to put on something new. We’re making money. We’re making connections. You did all of this, Mia.”

Mia blushes. “Oh, no. Zander did a lot…”

“Zander is great. But you’re the one who can’t help but build a community wherever you go. It’s a gift, Mia,” Terra says. “One that I, for one, am happy you bring.”

Mia’s still blushing when Terra goes to walk back to her little stand.

I reach down and squeeze her hand. “She’s not wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“You bring people together, Mia,” I say softly. “You make people see the best in themselves and each other. You make everything easy. For all of us.”

She snorts. “That feels a little biased, coming from you.”

I lean down to kiss her. “I love you, Mia.”

“I love you too, Zander.”

We look out over the crowd, milling and laughing. As the sun starts to set, I realize that this is the feeling I was searching for.

Contentment.

And, had my life not been torn to shreds by a fox shifter first, I might never have had it.

Mia is my mate. She’s the only one for me. I never should have doubted that.

One thing’s for sure, though.

I never will again.