Epilogue

Wiley - Two Months Later

"Did you know Cricket has a brother named Crash?" Erick asks around a mouthful of loaded baked potato salad, his heavy leather boots kicked up on a rock near the new fire pit Jimmy built in the backyard.

Once our roommate finished remodeling my kitchen, he moved on to the en suite bathroom, and then over to Nan's kitchen, and now our shared backyard that is nestled perfectly between our homes and the back door to the clinic.

We can't keep up with him, his creativity and work ethic running the rest of us ragged.

It's the end of September, one of the last temperate days we'll have until late spring. The weather forecast says snow is coming next week, so we spent the day riding our motorcycles through the hills and are now eating BBQ in our new backyard.

"Is it a brother or a cousin?" I ask.

"He said brother."

Kade frowns. "He's never talked about him. Is there bad blood between them?"

Erick shrugs. "I don't know, but when Colonel Packard called with a mission the other day, Cricket volunteered. Apparently when he showed up on site this morning, the guy to greet him at the command post was his brother."

"How do you know that?" I arch my brow.

Erick holds up his phone. "He's texting me right now."

"Where are they?" Sly chimes in.

"Classified undisclosed location."

"But he has cell phone service?" I balk.

"Apparently so. Oh, shit!" Erick barks out a hardy laugh, tipping over his beer bottle and spilling it on the ground. "They got into a fight in the command post and five guys had to break it up."

"Damn, I guess we know why he never talks about his brother," Kade says, pulling Dinah on his lap.

"He is definitely spilling the tea when he gets back." Erick picks up his empty beer bottle and frowns.

"Here you go, butterfingers." Carla waltzes by and hands him a fresh one. I swear there's an extra swagger to her step, but as far as I know there is nothing going on between them. If there is, Sweet Fates, that's a shit storm waiting to erupt.

"Daddy?" I look up to find Bo running toward me with a pack of kids trailing after him.

Two weeks after embedding my serum into my mate, we traveled to Spokane to settle things. For her to be truly free, we had to finalize John's disappearance and death. She filed a missing person's report within ten minutes of walking in the door, and coincidentally a federal agency contacted the state police department about a crime scene they stumbled upon during an unrelated investigation three days later.

I stayed hidden when the state troopers delivered the news to the bereft widow. Her husband had been found fatally shot in the company of an escaped convict, also deceased. A second escaped convict was found two miles up the road in an abandoned cabin with the murder weapon and approximately four hundred dollars in cash, as well as John's wallet and phone.

He's pleading his innocence, but as someone who was already convicted and incarcerated for murder, nobody believes him. The going theory amongst law enforcement is that John, disgraced former state trooper, assisted said convicts escape to help him run a fledgling meth lab.

Yeah, I might've added that in just for my own shits and giggles. I want the guy's name to be mud, and I especially want to make sure that no fucking monuments are ever erected in his memory.

Fucking bastard.

As we discussed, Geneva told the state troopers she was taking Bo out of state for a few weeks to visit her friends before the school year started. That would explain her absence should they come back to ask additional questions.

A week after we got back to Montana, Bo stopped calling me Uncle Wiley and started calling me Daddy instead. I rolled with it, feeling no need to bring unwarranted attention to the change. He doesn't know about John, and neither Geneva nor I feel the need to tell him until he asks.

If and when he does ask, we will come up with some story that is palatable for a child his age until we can tell him the truth.

I'm really not looking forward to that day.

Meanwhile, we've moved into my house, and Bo has his own room at the end of the hall. Sly moved into Nan‘s house, taking over what was the spare bedroom that my mate and her son slept in for their first three weeks here. Jimmy got his room back, and even though we have a fully functional kitchen now, I still wander over there every morning to have my cup of coffee.

Old habits die hard, I suppose.

"What's up, buddy?"

"Can we build ramps for our bikes?"

I frown. "That sounds dangerous."

"But Auntie Nan said you used to jump off cliffs all the time when you were my age."

"Did she? Looks like I need to talk to Auntie Nan about the stories we tell."

"If we can't build ramps, can I at least ride my bike?"

"Not tonight, buddy. The sun's going down and I don't want you riding in the dark."

"But Tate gets to do it," he says as the pack of kids disperse. Apparently they were betting that if any adult would allow them to build ramps of death, it would be me. Three months ago, I'd have bet on it being me too.

"Yeah, but Tate is two years older than you and not my concern. Besides, don't you have school tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"How could you forget? You were so excited about it this morning."

"I know, Daddy, but now I'm excited about something else," Bo says, like it's the simplest explanation in the world.

"How excited are you about ice cream?"

Bo's eyes grow big. "Very."

"Bribing him with sweet treats again? You know, someday this parenting technique is not going to work for you." Geneva smiles while shaking her head.

"Yeah, but it works now, and I think we should milk it for as long as possible." I smile.

She leans down and puts her lips to my ear. "Maybe I should milk you?"

I slip my hand between her thighs and pull her onto my lap. "We could go upstairs right now."

"No, we can't. Patience, wild one." She playfully smacks my hand.

"I'm no longer the wild one in this relationship. That's all you, babe."

She places a kiss on my lips and pushes off of my chest. "Come on, Bo Bo. Let's grab an ice cream cone."

"Rawr!" He giggles, running ahead.

"Grab me one too!" Sly calls after them.

My son is still fixated on bears, which Kade, Erick, and Tom find hilarious. They tease me about it every chance they get.

I flip them off whenever Bo isn't looking.

None of us have revealed our shifters to him yet. There are too many kids in Broken Falls that aren't in the loop, and we figure it's hard enough to keep shifter kids from talking, so there is no need to add to Bo's mental load.

"I'll come with you." Dinah jumps up from Kade's lap and chases after my mate walking into the house. They've become fast friends over the last couple of months and I'm thankful Geneva has somebody she can talk to about the nuances of being mated to a shifter.

And honestly, I'm happy Dinah has somebody too.

Jimmy plops down in the seat between me and Sly, running a hand through his long blonde hair. "The weirdest thing just happened."

"What's that?" Sly asks.

"Tom offered me a job at the lumberyard. He said I've been there so much over the last couple months that I might as well work there. It'll pay like five times what I'm making right now, and he said it will introduce me to a lot of homebuilders and remodelers in the area."

I nod. "It's a good idea. Your talents are wasted at the diner, although I enjoy the whole baking thing you've gotten into. But the lumber yard is a step in the right direction for you. Building homes and remodeling living spaces is what you love to do, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He shrugs.

"What are you thinking, man?"

He glances over his shoulder towards the house. "Don't tell Dinah, but I've been thinking about moving to a bigger town."

Sly and I exchange a look, but it's Kade in our heads. "She already knows, but I don't think moving out of town is what he needs. He just needs some adult experiences that he's not going to find in Broken Falls. Especially not while he is under our protection."

"What are you saying? Are you tired of being my roommate?" Sly keeps the conversation going so Jimmy doesn't feel like we're talking about him—even though we are—and flashes him a teasing grin.

We know what the answer is. He and Dinah broke away from the cult they were raised in to live their authentic lives, but they never expected to be saved by a bunch of shifters, and Dinah never expected to run right into the arms of her Fated mate.

Jimmy is interested in men, but it's not like we have a thriving LGBTQ community in Broken Falls for him to interact with. I mean, there are openly gay couples living here, but not many and there's no sense of community. Considering Jimmy has absolutely no sexual experience, I'm not sure he knows exactly how to identify himself or find what he is looking for.

He needs an outlet to explore who he is and what he likes, something he wasn't allowed to do as a teenager.

"Of course not. I love you guys. You're my family. But you spend half of the week at the hospital, Nan is rarely home, and Wiley now has his own family. I feel like I should be doing something."

"You're restless. I get it. During the summers we spend as much time outside as possible. Riding our motorcycles, barbecues, hiking, fishing, swimming—shit like that. But now that winter's coming, I'll take you to the clubs in Great Falls and Bozeman and show you how bachelors party it up. Don't worry, bub. I've got you." Sly smacks his thigh and glances over Jimmy at me. "Speaking of Nan, where is she?"

I shrug. "Your guess is as good as mine."

I texted her an hour ago, but she hasn't replied. She had a medical conference in Billings earlier this week, but she should have driven back this morning. My sister has been secretive the last couple of months—if I'm being honest, it's been a lot longer than that—and I now have my hands too blissfully full building a life with Geneva and Bo to butt into her business.

Two car doors slam shut in the driveway, pulling my attention in that direction. Nan appears with an unknown female—shifter, if my nose is picking up her scent correctly over the campfire—who appears to be about six months pregnant per her swollen belly.

I jump out of my chair to greet them. "Where have you been? I thought you'd be back by two?"

"Hey, Nan. We were just talking about you," Sly adds from his seat.

"We were unpacking and getting everything settled at the apartment." Nan slides her hand into the woman's and turns her gaze to me. "Sara, this is my brother Wiley. Wiley, this is Sara—my mate."

I hope you enjoyed Wild Wolf.

Want more of Wiley and Geneva? Check out their Bonus.