Epilogue

ZANE

Bears may wander far and wide, but they always find their way to a home that feels just right. Black bears, for instance, are known to settle down in cozy dens for winter, often returning to the same spot year after year. Once they find a good place—a safe, warm, familiar haven—they stay. It’s a little happily-ever-after of their own, where they can rest, feel safe, and simply be. And maybe that’s the real bear dream: to find the place where they’re fully accepted, totally at ease, and perfectly at home with their honey by their side.

—Bear Facts for Insomniacs, Episode 143

There was nothing like Christmas in Majestic.

“Waylon, so help me god, if you ask for me to pose for another picture, I’m going to withhold se…” Silas stopped as he remembered Lellie was in the room. “Celestial viewing opportunities.”

Way, who hadn’t been paying attention to Silas or Lellie, turned to him with furrowed eyebrows. “I don’t need your permission to look at the night sky, husband . And you’ll pose for whatever pictures I ask you to, or else you won’t get oral…” He noticed Lellie playing with blocks on the rug. “Hygiene tips. Motherfucker. We suck at this.”

Dev shot Way a glare. “I admit it takes some getting used to, but I’ll remind you the f-word is also on the naughty list.”

“Fuck that,” Tully said, plopping a Santa hat on Dev’s head before smacking his cheek with a kiss and going to sit by Lellie. “We talked about this, remember? I’m incapable of filtering out the f-word, so we agreed to teach her it was for adults only.”

“That’s not how toddlers work,” Way said with a snicker. “Wait till you get that first letter home from Mrs. Hamrick in kindergarten. Fair warning, she doesn’t hold back. Foster said the f-word one day after spending the weekend following a plumber around their house, and Aunt Blake never heard the end of it.”

Tully’s eyes nearly bugged out. “Kindergarten? That’s not for years. We’re not…” He put his arm around Lellie’s little shoulders and looked at Dev. “We’re not sending her there for years, right? Not for many, many years.”

I felt the warm slide of a hand in mine as Bear took a seat next to me on one of the big sofas. The deep rumble of his laugh helped me release the last of the stress that was still gathered in my shoulders. Earlier this morning, Bear had received a formal apology from King Gerhard, along with an offer of an obscenely large amount of money as compensation for Bear’s troubles after everything that had happened with Kasper. Bear had politely refused the money. “I’d like you to donate it to the ‘Equality for Ventdestinians Now’ campaign,” he’d told the king without an ounce of hesitation.

“You know I can’t do that officially, Ryan,” the king had replied. After a pause, though, he’d added, “But I can promise you the donation will get there under a different name.”

This hadn’t been exactly what I wanted. I wanted things to change in Ventdestine, and I knew Bear did, too. Ultimately, though, I knew you couldn’t force something to change simply because you willed it—just look at what Kasper had attempted to do—and it was more important for the money to get to the organization that needed it so that change could happen soon.

I’d given Bear a nod, and he’d told the king, “And you’re okay with that?”

The king had sighed. “It’s a small price to pay for what you’ve been through. I had no idea about Kasper, or I would have stopped him. As much as I’ve wanted you back on the royal guard, I never wanted you or anyone you care about to feel threatened.”

Bear had let out a breath. “I appreciate that, Your Highness.”

When the call had ended, I hadn’t been able to help myself. “Why didn’t you take the money? You could have quit your job!”

Bear had shot me an uncharacteristically large grin. “Who says I didn’t already quit my job anyway? You may not know this, but I have a billionaire boyfriend.”

And now, it was finally over. Kasper had given us both formal apologies and seemingly sincere ones. The king had revoked Kasper’s passport for the foreseeable future and had assured us he wouldn’t bother us again. Since Kasper’s plan had centered around convincing Bear and Violet that Bear was ineffectual, and Kasper had never been motivated to physically harm Bear or me—he had no history of violence against anyone—I felt confident the threat was over.

And now, I had Bear all to myself.

“I’m torn,” I said, moving closer to him to snuggle against his side. There was a large fire in the fireplace, and the lights on the giant Christmas tree twinkled, reflecting off the large wall of windows behind it. Christmas music played softly from hidden speakers while our friends and family chatted and celebrated around us.

“Torn how?” Bear asked.

“On the one hand, I’m happy for you to start the sports program, but on the other, I want you to still be my close protection officer.”

Bear put his arm around me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head before moving me the way he wanted over his chest and shoulder.

“I’m still your close protection officer. I just don’t work for Violet anymore.”

It took me a moment to realize the point I was missing. “Once I’m not under contract with the label anymore, I’m in charge of my own security.”

He kissed my hair again. When he spoke, I could hear the grin in his voice. “Exactly. And as the man in charge of security at Fairytale Recording Studio, I’ve assigned myself the premier role.”

“How are you going to juggle the sports program with protecting me?” I asked, playing around with his fingers in the hand I held.

“Easy. You’re not leaving my side.”

Landry snorted from where he stood gazing out at the snow-covered landscape, nearly invisible under the cover of darkness. “Now you’ve got him, keep him barefoot and pregnant, Ryan. Atta boy.”

Bear’s chest rumbled with laughter. “Exactly.” He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “I’m hiring help. And we’re going to figure it out together, okay? That sound fine?”

I glanced up at him with a grin. “Fine. Super fine. In fact, way better than fine .”

Bear leaned in to kiss me the way he always did when I said the provoking word.

Kenji spoke up from his spot at the kitchen table behind us, where he was working on his laptop, even though it was Christmas. “Don’t listen to Landry. He wouldn’t know anything about serious, committed relationships.”

Landry glanced at him in surprise. “What the fuck?”

Kenji shrugged. “It’s not a bad thing. You’re very fun. The world needs fun-loving people.”

“You can be fun-loving and committed at the same time,” Landry pointed out.

“I’m just saying long-term doesn’t seem to be your thing.”

“And it’s yours?” Landry snapped.

Kenji’s nostrils flared, but he didn’t respond. Meanwhile, the rest of us seemed to be watching the two of them like a particularly riveting tennis match .

Landry shifted, turning toward Kenji and crossing his long arms in front of his chest. “You talk a big game, but you seem to avoid serious relationships yourself.”

Kenji finally looked up and met Landry’s eyes. “I’ve yet to encounter someone worthy of me.”

Tension crackled between them as the rest of us held our breath.

Kenji’s eyes narrowed before he added, “But don’t worry. When I get back from my trip to South America, I’m going to let my grandmother set me up.”

Landry lowered his arms and stepped forward as if he was going to approach Kenji, but then he seemed to remember the rest of us were in the room. Instead, he meandered over to sit on a couch next to Rowe and Bash. “Well, good for you. I’m sure her pals in Boca are full up with wealthy, gay asshole grandsons they want to set you up with once you get back from your cleaning retreat with your pal Chaska .”

“Not interested in wealthy, gay assholes,” Kenji said, looking back down at his computer with a sniff. “I have enough of those in my life as it is. Why do you think I need this cleansing retreat in the first place?”

Landry sputtered. “Well! Well… this wealthy, gay asshole is going to go to Hawaii and fuck every guy there!”

Kenji didn’t bother looking up. “You were going to do that anyway.”

“Well, now I’m going to do it harder ,” he snapped.

Tully obviously felt the need to break the tension, so he said, “I’ve only been to Hawaii once on business, but I remember thinking it would be a beautiful place to get married one day.”

Dev bolted up out of his seat, paused, and then sat back down again. We all turned to stare. Then he stood up again. “I…”

Tully was sitting on the floor, playing with Lellie. “Babe?”

Dev looked around at us before glancing back at Tully. “I wonder if…” He walked the few steps between the chair he’d been sitting in and the spot on the rug where Tully and Lellie sat .

Then he got down on one knee and pulled something out of his pocket.

A ring.

My sweet, shy friend had decided to finally pop the question to the man he loved, and the rest of us got to watch.

“I wonder if maybe you might want to plan that wedding sooner than later?” Dev asked. “I know that we already planned to spend our lives together, to raise Lellie together and be a family, but… well… I’d like to get married, too. Tully… I’m not great with words, but I know that my life got better the day you came into it, and it’s only gotten better and better every day that you’ve stayed. Will you marry me?”

Tully lurched forward to kiss Dev, clasping his face and kissing him while Lellie giggled and tried to get between them so she could get kisses, too. Tully repeated the word yes so many times Lellie started saying it, too, thinking it was a game.

Silas helped himself to a bottle of champagne and had Way pass around champagne glasses for everyone. After offering toasts ranging from heartfelt and sentimental to bawdy and very wrong, Dev gave Tully a sheepish look.

“Now I can finally tell you about the money.”

“What money?” Tully asked as the rest of us gasped in shock.

“You never told him about the money?” Silas asked.

“What the fuck?” Bash said.

“Even I know about the money,” Bear said, looking a little smug. I’d already explained to him that we weren’t technically allowed to tell people about the money until we knew they were our life partners but that I’d already known I could trust him with all my secrets.

Kenji muttered, “Wealthy, gay assholes.” Everyone except Landry knew he was just saying those things to piss the hell out of Landry. But it worked.

Landry turned to snap at him. “Well, at least we’re done with these fucking confessions now that everyone has a partner. You won’t have to suffer through them anymore.”

Silas shot a look at Landry. “Not true, Landry. We haven’t told your person about the money yet.”

Landry’s gaze was laser focused on Kenji for a beat before he turned around and returned to looking out the window with his back to the room.

“He already knows.”