Epilogue

" S orry, mate – you're going to jail." Trent smiled wickedly. "Again."

"For crying out loud," Rhys muttered, as he moved his boot around the Monopoly board. "Are you sure you haven't rigged the game somehow? How many times has it been?"

"Seven," Trent said gleefully. "And no, I haven't rigged it. You just suck that hard."

Rhys glowered, and Maisie suppressed a good-natured sigh. She was starting to suspect – well, more than suspect – that Trent had brought the Monopoly board to Rhys's family home with the deliberate intent of causing… well, mischief would be the polite way to phrase it. All-out familial warfare was another way of putting it.

But it's the Australian edition! he'd protested, when Rhys's sister Evie had fixed him with a death glare that Maisie had thought might be capable of causing actual death. It's only the original version that's banned in this house! How was I supposed to know you'd object?

Maisie had very quickly come to see why Monopoly – or pretty much anything, really – was banned in Rhys's familial home, out here on the cattle station his sister and her mate Penny ran. The competitiveness within his family was off the charts, and when you added in his work teammates, all of whom had been granted some well-earned annual leave by Robb, and who had all apparently decided to descend upon Rhys's home… well, the feathers were flying.

Not to mention the fact that two baby dragons were currently doing battle over the Monopoly board pieces – the wheelbarrow was a complete write-off, one of its handles lying twisted and forlorn on the floor – while a small, silvery, six-legged reptile happily gnawed on the Chance cards. Trent had informed her with blasé indifference that it was a baby basilisk shifter named Quicksilver, and that it probably wouldn't turn her stone with a glance.

She was trying very hard to believe him – and, she had to admit, the basilisk was cute. If she absolutely had to get turned to stone, she would be happy if the last thing she saw was a tiny death lizard writhing about on top of a Monopoly board.

Apparently Quicksilver was the adopted child of Trent and his mate Zina – as were the two dragon shifters, Goldie and Dusty. Maisie was sure that there was an interesting story behind all of that, and that someone would make sure she heard all about it at some point.

Meanwhile, Hector's daughter Ruby, unable to sufficiently scold any of the other baby shifters in her human form, had taken to her alicorn form, prancing up and down and sending the remaining cards flying with the beating of her wings.

Despite all of this, the children were behaving better than the adults, who were all glaring mutinously at one another while trying to pretend that they weren't attempting to sabotage their opponents.

It was certainly the most interesting game of Monopoly Maisie had ever been involved in. She'd bowed out before the game had even begun once she'd realized just how uber-competitive everyone was going to be, and was now happy just simply watching, taking in the happy chaos without thinking too hard about any of it. She was still getting everyone's names straight, what they shifted into, who was mates with who, who the baby shifters were – she didn't think getting slaughtered at a board game would help matters.

Sipping her beer, she turned her attention back to the game, where Rhys was… well, not losing , exactly, but not doing so well as he might have hoped. She suspected that some of it was at least in part due to the fact that he was obviously trying to buy up the Whitsundays square on the board, even when it wasn't in his best interests.

She wanted to tell him that it was fine – to remind him that they were going on their own trip to the Whitsundays in a couple of days, and that this time they were going to do it right, on a private island with no secret agents or snooty tourists or snake butlers – but one glance at the tense set of his jaw, and she decided that she was keeping her mouth firmly shut. It was romantic, in its own way.

Rhys's brother Hector took his turn, staring at his Chance card – prized from Quicksilver's chompy little jaws – for several long seconds.

Rhys leaned over his shoulder, looking at the card and leering triumphantly. "Unpaid parking fines, Hec? That sounds like you."

"Get fu— fudged," Hector snapped irritably as he joined Rhys in jail. "Rubes," he said pleadingly to Ruby, who was prancing about and sending the hotels on Kangaroo Island flying, "could you please get off the board so daddy can serve his wrongful sentence, sweetheart?"

" Meh-eeehh, " Ruby protested, clearly pouting. It was sweet that she was so defensive of him and his bid for freedom from the fictional jail. Maisie thought that it would probably be best if the children didn't spend too much longer in the presence of the adults, though – not so much for their own sake, but because she was pretty sure Rhys and Hector were going to explode if they had to keep their language civil for much longer.

Especially since they were both losing so badly to Evie's wife, Penny, who was keeping a remarkable air of serenity as she wiped the floor with the lot of them, Evie included. Evie had rage quit the game a few minutes ago, hurling the top hat across the room in disgust, where it had been quickly seized by a triumphant Goldie, who had snatched it out of the air with her adorable little baby dragon claws, and then flown around the room with it on her adorable little baby dragon wings.

Maisie watched contentedly, looking at everyone again to remind herself of who was who. Euan was sitting in the corner, watching a crappy soap opera on the TV with a suspiciously high level of interest, though Maisie did catch him cracking the slightest of smiles at the antics going on across the room.

Hector and Myrtle's youngest alicorn daughter, Opal, was curled up by his side, absolutely zonked out after a morning of galumphing about and generally being more adorable than seemed possible.

Euan's mate, Delilah, had brought her niece, Rosie, and the two of them were outside with Rhys's teammate Callan and Hector's mate Myrtle, exploring the native garden in search of interesting twigs and fallen leaves that they could turn into an art project. In the brief breaks between the outraged yelling coming from the Monopoly board, Maisie could faintly hear Myrtle teaching Rosie about some sort of bug she'd found under a leaf – which she supposed made sense, given that Myrtle was apparently a scientist who studied moths for a living.

Meanwhile, Callan's mate Ella was firing up the outdoor barbecue, and Trent's mate Zina was ruling the Monopoly bank with an iron fist. Rhys's dad had left the house as soon as the game started, ostensibly to go check on the cattle – but it had been obvious that he'd been able to foresee the carnage that was about to descend, and had removed himself from the scene accordingly. Rhys's mum was apparently off elsewhere watching a rugby match, which was probably the less violent spectacle.

Is that everyone? Maisie thought, feeling slightly dazed. I think that's everyone.

Really, she was happy to just zone out and decompress. All things considered, she thought she was dealing with having had her entire world upended remarkably well, but there were still moments where the whole thing felt like a very odd and yet highly realistic dream.

It didn't help, she supposed, that her manager had called her up and told her in no uncertain terms that she had built up way too much annual leave over the past few years, and she had to take four weeks off right now in order to comply with OH&S requirements. Maisie had never taken that long off in all her life – she wasn't quite sure she was going to recognize herself at the end of it. What could she possibly even do with all that time?!

She glanced over at Rhys, who currently had a still-grinning Trent in a headlock, while yelling something at him that sounded suspiciously like Who's a birdbrain now, you absolute potato . Shaking her head fondly, she smiled. She was sure she would find something to do for four weeks… even if that particular something was not currently at his most sexy.

It helped, she supposed, that they'd been offered full use of a private island in the Whitsundays for basically as long as they wanted. Maisie was pretty sure that Robb had had something to do with that… and that Michael had had something to do with her work's HR system alerting her manager to her overabundance of annual leave.

She hadn't seen Michael or Shaz since their mad dash through the streets of Sydney, but Rhys had reassured her that they were both safe and sound now that James and his cronies were being dealt with, and were back residing in Michael's grotty little den of filth.

Or they were relatively safe and sound, anyway – Rhys and Maisie had had a truly gargantuan delivery of Cheezels sent to them as a ‘thanks for clearing our names with the secret agents who wanted to keep us captive indefinitely' gift, and they hadn't heard from them since. It was entirely possible that Michael had turned the entire place into a giant Cheezel ballpit, and was now too busy living his best life to return Rhys's messages.

The idea of a house filled with Cheezels was both heavenly and horrifying to Maisie. Would it be possible to ever get the smell of cheese dust out of your hair after such an

experience? Would your body weight crush the Cheezels beneath you, leaving you to sink into a glorious salty sea of MSG, never to be seen or heard from again? Could you eat your way out?

She decided not to think on it too hard. She also decided that she should probably put her beer aside for a while.

In any case, she knew that Shaz and Michael were no longer being pursued and they weren't having to camp out at the zoo anymore, which was the main thing. Hopefully she'd get to catch up with them at some point to thank them properly in person… though preferably at a venue of Shaz's choosing.

The buzzing of her mobile phone tugged her attention away from her meandering thoughts, and she pulled it out of her pocket to see a new message from an unknown number. Curious, she opened it up.

Hi, Maisie! the weirdly chirpy message read. It's Daniel! You may remember me from the incident in Townsville. Sorry about that.

Daniel? she thought in bewilderment. The lantern-jawed secret agent with the bull neck and terrible hair? The one who's mates with Brent?!

Maisie frowned.

Huh?!

Of course she remembered him – the kind of run-in they'd had was kind of hard to forget – but how had he gotten her phone number?!

My apologies – I pestered Brent for your number, the message continued, and Maisie supposed that that explained that. I thought I would just let you know that we are both doing well, and would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for bringing about the opportunity for us to meet! Here is a photo of Brent at a picnic.

Maybe she really did need to lay off the beer. Rubbing at her eyes in bewilderment, Maisie scrolled down, to see a picture of a checkered blanket spread out over lush green grass, a picnic basket, a bottle of wine, and… an ibis?

A bin chicken? Maisie rubbed harder at her eyes, but all it did was make the image double, so that instead of one weirdly happy-looking white ibis in the photo, there were two. "Brent turns into a freaking bin chicken?! "

That , apparently, was enough to stop the Monopoly game in its tracks. Every head in the room turned to look at her. Even the baby shifters stopped their rompings and stompings, confused.

"Who's a bin chicken?" Zina asked cautiously. "Also, what is a bin chicken?"

"Brent!" Maisie exclaimed, brandishing her phone at the others like it explained everything. "My good-for-nothing ex! He never even told me he was a shifter, and then it turns out that not only is he a shifter, but he turns into a bird that'll stick its head into anything that even slightly resembles food, no matter how old or disgusting!" She shook her head. "No wonder he was always nicking my snacks and taking food off my plate."

"Oh," Zina said, examining her phone screen. "He's an ibis? But those are lovely."

"Maybe the ones elsewhere are," Maisie grumbled. "But the ones here are gross ."

"The food stealing sounds more like a jerk thing than an ibis thing," Euan contributed from across the room. "Trent does that, and he just turns into a kangaroo."

" Prehistoric kangaroo, and I absolutely do not," Trent retorted. "You were done with those chips. You said so."

"I said nothing of the sort."

"You said it with your eyes! They were practically begging me to eat the chips, so that they didn't end up in landfill somewhere and contribute to the ever-increasing problem of food wastage!"

It seemed that the general air of murderous intent in the room had lightened somewhat, at least for now. Maisie didn't think it would last for long, especially if Trent kept courting death by continuing to goad Euan, but it was a welcome reprieve.

It helped, she supposed, that Dusty was currently climbing his way into her lap and staring at her with his big yellow eyes the entire time, like a cat that knew it was doing something naughty and making sure you knew it. How could anyone maintain their board game rage when there were baby shifters being even cuter than they had been five seconds ago, if that was even possible?

Dusty blinked at her, before turning around a few times and then flipping onto his back, showing her his dark blue scaly belly.

"Oh, you want belly rubs, do you?" she cooed, reaching out only slightly hesitantly to touch his scales. They were lovely and smooth and warm, and he obviously loved it, closing his eyes and wiggling.

"He likes you," Trent said approvingly.

"Of course he does," Rhys said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Maisie smiled as she continued to tickle Dusty's belly. They continued like that for a while, until suddenly Dusty's head jerked up, his pupils widening. Maisie picked it up a moment later – the mouth-watering, savory scent of meat and onions drifting in on the breeze.

"Food's ready!" Ella called from outside, as Dusty scrambled to his feet and bolted for the door, almost getting trampled on by Goldie as she made her own mad dash to where the food was.

Maisie hauled herself to her feet and grabbed a pile of plates, carrying them outside to the enormous wooden picnic table that was nestled in amongst the colorful grevilleas. Rhys's family had made up a vast array of salads, and these all materialized now as well, as well as several eskies full of cold drinks.

Outside, the day was lovely – unseasonably warm for this time of year with just a little light wind, wisps of cloud curling across the deep, deep blue of the sky. The grevilleas shifted gently in the breeze, their large, bizarre flowers bobbing and swaying.

How long has it been since I've done something like this? Getting outdoors, having a barbecue with friends?

Maisie couldn't really answer that, beyond way, way too long . She resolved that there would be a lot more getting out and about in future, and fewer hours of overtime. And maybe on their way back from Queensland she could drop in to visit her family, and introduce Rhys to them – it really had been too long since she'd been home.

The daily grind had been devouring her, and she hadn't even noticed. Or she had noticed, but she'd thought there was no alternative.

In the meantime, though, there was food to be eaten. Her mouth watered at the smell, even as she was hit by a pang of nostalgia – it was the smell of childhood, and family get-togethers.

She was suddenly starving , and she piled her plate with meat and bread and onions, the salad almost an afterthought. She knew it would be delicious, but right now she just really wanted some deliciously hot, greasy meat, absolutely slathered in tomato sauce, all washed down with a glass of Passiona.

Sitting down at the gargantuan table, she took a moment to close her eyes and breathe in the country air, listening to the sound of a wattlebird calling in the distance… and, of course, the sound of a bunch of adults and baby shifters squabbling nearby.

"Deep thoughts?" asked Rhys as he slid in next to her, his presence warm and comforting.

She kept her eyes closed for a moment longer, just enjoying the perfection of the day, before she opened them and smiled, turning her head to look at him. He was gorgeous, the sunshine catching his hair, his smile easy and relaxed despite the Monopoly madness that had previously seized him.

"Just thinking about how lucky I am," she said truthfully.

His smile widened. "Not as lucky as me," he murmured, and Maisie shivered.

Not fair, turning me on when I'm about to eat! I've got a whole plate of food to get through!

Maybe he'd read her mind, because he picked up his cutlery and stabbed at his enormous steak. "Tuck in before it gets cold," he said, and, well, he didn't have to tell her twice.

She sawed off a piece of barbecued lamb chop and smeared it in tomato sauce, popping it into her mouth and chewing happily. After everything that had happened, she felt like she was still getting her energy back – or that was her excuse, anyway, for eating everything that she could get her hands on. She was sure she'd calm down eventually, but for now, she just wanted to enjoy everything.

The afternoon passed in happy, relaxed warmth, without too many arguments between Rhys and Hector – or Trent, who seemed determined to bring out their combative sides – and Maisie watched contently as Goldie and Dusty played a rather vicious game of tug-o-war with a can of soft drink, piercing it with their claws and sending lemonade spraying everywhere, while Quicksilver skittered about, chasing a leaf that was caught up by the breeze.

Ruby had apparently decided that she was mature enough to eat in human form with the adults, and was holding her knife and fork with great seriousness and determination as she ate a sausage covered in what appeared to be applesauce.

Maisie decided she wasn't even going to ask about that one – she knew she'd eaten some weird combinations as a kid!

"Hey, watch this – I taught Dusty a trick," Trent said, tossing a sausage high in the air. Dusty darted up to catch it in his mouth – but Goldie was quicker, snatching it out of mid-air and dashing off with it, Dusty following his sister with an outraged screech.

"That's not a trick," Myrtle said. "That's just trying to turn the two of them into the kind of hyper-competitive idiots these guys ended up as." She jerked her head toward Rhys and Hector – and, Maisie thought, Evie as well.

"Yeah," Trent grinned. "Fun, isn't it?"

Maisie watched as the two baby dragons tussled in the air for the sausage, each vying for dominance – until it tumbled to the earth below, where Quicksilver swallowed it in a lightning-fast series of gulps. The resulting screeches from both baby dragons were enough to wake the dead.

Meanwhile, Ruby was carefully feeding Opal small pieces of salad, as if there wasn't some sort of life-and-death sausage battle going on a few meters away.

"She's getting really good at eating," Ruby informed her parents, as she gently patted Opal's tiny head, with its glistening silver mane and tiny golden horn. "But not as good as me. But I'll help her get more used to it."

"You sure will, sweetheart," Hector said to her, with the kind of love in his voice that made Maisie melt. "You're a great older sister."

Ruby beamed at the compliments, her own long, silvery hair shining in the sunlight. Even though she'd seen it happen a few times now, Maisie still couldn't quite get over it – when she was human, Ruby looked just like a normal little girl. Watching her now as she tucked back into her own food, it was strange to think she shifted into an alicorn foal.

But strange is my life now, Maisie thought – and she couldn't have been happier.

Rhys stretched ostentatiously. "I couldn't eat another bite," he said loudly, before lowering his voice so that only she could hear. "Well. Maybe I could be convinced to eat one more thing."

He's doing it again, the arsehole!

Maisie lowered her own voice. "Don't make any promises unless you intend to keep them."

Rhys's eyes shone. "What makes you think I don't intend to keep them? I'm a man of my word."

His voice lit a fire inside of Maisie, and she slid off the end of the bench, standing up abruptly. "Uh, just gotta go get something from my bag," she announced lamely, hurrying off to the guest house before waiting to see if anyone else was going to reply. She knew that Rhys would follow her once he'd waited the minimum appropriate amount of time.

She followed the winding path through the native garden until she made it to the stone guest house some distance away, which was tucked behind an enormous wattle tree that was bursting with fluffy yellow flowers.

The whole place really was beautiful – at any other time she would've been enchanted with the stone cottage, which somehow managed to be both cozy and bright and airy at the same time, but right now she was laser-focused on getting into Rhys's pants.

Ever the romantic.

The door opened behind her – Rhys must've left the table within ten seconds of her departure. Not exactly subtle, but Maisie was beyond caring.

Her hands were all over him before the door had even closed, her mouth greedily seeking out his. He responded in kind, his strong, warm arms wrapping around her and holding her tight.

Reluctantly, Maisie pulled back for air, raising her eyes to look at Rhys – who looked surprisingly thoughtful.

"What's up?" she asked breathlessly, and Rhys smiled.

"Over the last day or so, my memories from the day we met have been starting to come back," he said, stroking her hair. "The day I realized you were my mate, at least subconsciously. The day you saved my life." His gaze grew even more intense. "Everything before that feels kind of hollow by comparison."

Maisie's heart jumped for joy. "I didn't know it at the time, but that was the best day of my life. Everything before then had just been leading up to meeting you. And every day since then has been even better than the last."

Her smile turned mischievous. "So, if you're remembering that day… do you remember this?" She slipped one of her fingers between his lips, her breath catching as he pulled it gently into his mouth. She shivered. "I guess that's a yes, then."

His eyes blazed with heat, and before she knew what was happening she was in his arms, being carried over to the bed. He laid her down, his movements gentle despite his strength, and she sighed in pure happiness as she gazed up at his golden eyes, at the warmth and caring that was evident in them.

I'll be looking at this view for the rest of my life. I'm the luckiest woman on earth.

She pulled him down to her, their lips meeting once more, and she melted into his touch.

My mate , she thought blissfully. My everything.

And after that, she didn't think about much at all.