Epilogue

T hings fall into a pattern as October stretches on, getting colder and more festive each night. There's Pumpkin Fest, bonfires in the park, and parties at White Pines. My parents come up sometimes, and every time, Marina runs to my mom with her arms open, squealing like a kid getting picked up from school early to go to Disneyland.

The rusty box in the bathroom disappears and is replaced by a red velvet box that holds a shiny white gold ring—for me, from my soulmate.

I think life is pretty damn perfect—especially once Marina gets the job at the gym and starts teaching the kiddie classes and senior swim aerobics. My favorite part is when she takes a closing shift at the pool, and I meet her after work.

No one ever seems to use the new sauna but us, and I'm okay with that.

Tonight, October 29th, the rest of the town is busy like it's Christmas Eve. Halloween is a big deal in this place, so I get it. I also like that the gym is deserted as I hit the water and swim over to the goddess in the little white bikini that seems to be made of thread and lust.

"Is that new?" I ask. I also wonder if every man over sixty has suddenly developed a taste for water aerobics.

"Bought with my first paycheck. And I got your mom a bunch of candles from Madge's, too. Do you think your dad would like tickets to a Lumberjacks' game? And what would you like to do this weekend? There's the ball at White Pines, of course, but I could take you to dinner and a movie?"

"Baby, you don't have to spoil us."

"I have never had a family like this. One that I... That I belong to and want to belong to at the same time. It's amazing. Your mother is an angel." Marina smiles sweetly, but then her lips lift and I can see the way her pearly whites glisten—all edges.

Don't argue with the woman you love. Especially not when her mouth contains a set of chef's knives. She could make you into sushi—but she doesn't want to.

I don't argue. I just fall more in love. I swirl her in the water, weightless and laughing, dipping her long flexible spine back while her hair floats free in the water, brown and red highlights dancing. "Fine. I won't argue. I kinda love hearing you and Mom talk about the Thanksgiving menu every time I turn around."

Marina blanches for a second. "She is letting me bake a cake. My love, I don't think I have ever made a cake!"

"We'll practice. And uh... speaking of cakes and dates and families..." I suddenly surge forward and catch my wet goddess, pushing her to the wall and snuggling her against my chest. "How do you feel about May 31st?"

Marina's brows lower as she snatches a kiss. "I think... it's usually not too hot then?"

"What do you think about it for a wedding?"

"Oh! Ohhh ! Our wedding? In a church? With your family and all my friends?"

"Exactly. In a church. Or not. But with all our family and friends."

She explodes from the water with a squeal, dragging me towards the sauna—where we were always going to end up anyway. "Yes, Kev! Yes, that sounds perfect. Cal and Carter will be done with their semester but not back for summer training, right?"

"Yep, they'll have a few weeks off where they can be obnoxiously brotherly. They'll probably try to plan my bachelor party—" I stare at Marina as she slides into the sauna's red glow, body tinted to a gleaming cherry, eyes sparkling with desire. "But I think I'll pass on the stripper. Once you have the best, you don't bother with the rest."

"Mmm, so very true. Darling."

Ooh. Darling. Dah-link. The way she draws out the word as she draws me in... My brain is a little puddle of hormones and any sentimental speech I wanted to make just flies out the window. My fingers head to the slender white strip between her legs, eager to feel that slicker-than-water honey coating my fingers—and she stops my wrist.

I make a startled noise like a puppy who just had his favorite bone yanked away. "Wha?"

"I... You know I have been spending a lot of time looking at lore and laws of the old ones—like Big K." Marina seldom calls him by his full name anymore. It's a little act of disrespect and defiance that never fails to make me grin. "The whole coven is curious to learn about the ancient laws of the immortal ones, or the ones who regenerate, live and die and live again. Particularly, they want to understand what laws let those of us who want to be ‘good' separate from evil masters or overlords."

"Yeah?" I settle for putting my hands on her hips. "Find out anything useful?"

There's a moment's hesitation before Marina rests her head on my shoulder. "He kept saying that since he owned me, no other could ‘breed' me."

I hate that she can't look me in the eye, like she's carrying some kind of shame. "I have problems on every level with how he talked to you," I growl, raising her head. "Anything he said to you? Just proof of his fucked up plans. Nothing about you."

Marina bounces against me, hands smoothing the tension in my shoulders, a little brightness coming back into her eyes. There's something in there, something that's not shame—it's like a secret she's barely holding in.

"Sorry, baby. You were saying?"

"He said he owned my soul. That's how he controlled all of us. How he fed from us. How he made new generations. But I'm not owned by anyone anymore... unless it's you."

My eyebrows rise. "So...?"

"There is a chance that I might not have to be the last of my kind. Well. The last of my kind to be a full rusalka perhaps, unless there are others who escaped Big K's detection somehow. But a half-human, half-rusalka... That's possible."

Possible. Possible?

"Are rusalkas always girls?" I blurt.

Marina nods. "Yes, but again, the way we came into being was very different. With Koshchei dead, that cannot happen again. I don't know if we could ever... I don't know what would happen if we had children. I just know that it might not be impossible. We can use other methods to keep me fed." She licks her lips and tucks her fingertips in the fabric of my swimming trunks. "I like those methods very much."

For a minute, I'm sinking in a happy stupor as I watch Marina going to her knees—and then my brain starts firing again and I grab her elbows and pull her up.

"Hey, I'm totally okay with being a girl-dad. If that's how it happens."

"I don't know what will happen," she repeats. "I should have told you earlier, but the coven and I only arrived at this conclusion today. It could already have happened. I don't have the same biological markers as human women. I assume I could tell over time, but maybe not as early as humans."

"So we're flying blind?"

"Yes."

"That's our normal, baby. I'll be okay with whatever happens next." My fingers trail down her stomach and seek out her wet heat, rubbing in little circles, gasping with her when I'm sucked in by greedy, grasping little mouths that work me right into her center and make my eyes roll back. "All I know is you belong to me, I belong to you, and that doesn't change."

Marina pushes me down onto the wooden bench and leans over me, so dangerously beautiful, so beautifully perfect—to me. As she straddles me with a smile, she whispers, "Oh, it changes, my love. It gets better."

If you enjoyed this story, keep reading for a peek at The Orc's Second Shot at Love!