Epilogue

"I'm sad." Theo rested his chin on my shoulder.

"Me too."

This place that was originally Theo's and became ours was where we brought the kittens home that first night, where we first made love and where our daughter spent her first night.

And where you hinted that I existed. My beast didn't want to be left out of the memories. He was part of the family too.

I tapped my brow. "But we have our memories, and no one can take those away from us." Turning around, I draped my arms around Theo's neck.

"Something is driving a wedge between us." He smirked. "Or should I say someone." Bernadette, or Bernie as we called her, was in a carrier, resting on my chest. She didn't care about leaving the only home she'd ever known and was fast asleep.

"And we'll make new memories, the three of us."

Four, my beast protested.

"Sorry, four. My mistake."

"Make that eight." Theo held up two cat carriers, the ones he bought the day we met. The kittens were complaining, which they often did when they couldn't get out. They probably thought they were missing out on something.

"We'd better go before there's any howling." He closed the door on the empty apartment. "From the kittens."

We'd been back and forth between the city and our new house all week. New furniture was arriving. Check, but someone had to be there. The movers were coming to pack up the apartment. Check. But the kittens and the baby shouldn't be there. That same furniture was being delivered to the new house. Check. The internet was being connected. Check. The landlord was coming to inspect the apartment. Check.

We rented a short-term apartment for a week because the new house had little furniture and the apartment was in the midst of packing hell. Theo and I were exhausted, and I recalled what I'd said about moving being stressful.

But it was done now, and we were headed to our new home. No, not all the curtains had been hung, but our closest neighbor was a hundred yards away, and there was a wooded area between the two homes. The baby's room was ready, complete with blackout curtains so she wouldn't wake us at the crack of dawn. The rest of the house would come together over the next month.

We had been so fortunate in Jack wanting to sell his childhood home to us. None of his tenants were right for the house, he'd reasoned. They looked after the house, but he needed a special family, one who would treasure what his parents had built. And he thought we were that family. I hoped we wouldn't disappoint him.

"Welcome home!" Theo whispered because Bernie was still asleep.

The kittens quietened and stared through the carrying case's mesh window.

"Don't get any ideas." I waggled my finger. "If you're outside, you'll be on the leash. You know the leash, right?"

As we unpacked the car, I wished we could order a pizza or a curry. There was a convenience store, gas station, and post office a mile away, but chips and soda or a frozen pizza wasn't what I had in mind.

"I'd love a pad Thai." Theo opened the fridge and put in the few items we'd brought from a cooler.

"Neither of us wants to drive back to the city to get takeout." We should have picked up something on the way here, but we were so eager to reach our new home, neither of us thought about it.

"Luckily, I thought about that this morning." My mate brought out takeout from the Thai restaurant around the corner from our old apartment.

"I knew there was a reason the universe chose you as my mate." I pressed my crotch against his. "It wasn't just for your sexy smile and your cute butt." I squeezed his ass. "Or your biceps." I walked my fingers over his upper arm. I lowered my voice in case the kittens or Bernie were listening and cupped the bulge in his pants. "Or your big, thick cock."

"Stop," he hissed. "Or I'll come." He nibbled my ear, his breathing speeding up, and he ground his crotch on mine. "And the kittens need food, and we should show them around the garden. Bernie will need another feed and a bath." He slid his hand inside my jeans, and I moaned as he stroked my cock. "And we need to eat."

"Thai noodles or cock?" I'd forgotten about food and was hoping to swallow my mate's length.

"I was thinking about your ass. Maybe shove my tongue in your hole and then my dick."

Bernie interrupted us, her cry ringing through the baby monitor. Our daughter had impeccable timing.

"You see to our daughter, and I'll put the kittens on their leases and we'll explore the big wide world." Theo kissed the end of my nose and called our four fur babies. They side-eyed him when he grabbed the leashes, but I dashed in to grab Bernie and changed her diaper.

Wanting to witness the kittens outside, I sat by the large picture window overlooking the garden and fed Bernie, while watching the kittens prancing around, inspecting flowers, chasing a butterfly, sneezing when a blade of grass tickled their nose and tumbling over one another.

In the long journey between buying the house and today, both Theo and I had been beset by doubts. Anyone who'd moved, with or without children and animals, would understand how the upheaval took its toll and often put a strain on a relationship. But we had come through our bad patch before I got pregnant, and we'd worked through our issues.

That might have saved us, because when stress threatened to beat us down, we'd turn on the music and dance, using headphones when Bernie was asleep. We'd bopped, shimmied, and wiggled our asses, punching the air and telling the stress to piss off until we flopped, exhausted, onto the couch or bed.

Theo shot me a "help me" look, and I beckoned him inside. The kittens were running in different directions, and my mate reminded me of a cartoon character where the animals twisted their leashes around the person, turning them into a mummy.

"That was fun. Not." He closed the back door and the one leading to the rest of the house.

"We'll have to build a catio." The kittens could enjoy being outside but be protected from the wildlife, and they couldn't escape.

"Good idea. Who around here is handy with a hammer? Not me."

While I was a project manager for a huge construction firm—and still on paternity leave—carpentry wasn't my thing. But living where we did, I was sure we'd find someone who could build one.

After we bathed Bernie and put her to bed, the kittens were still hyped up after their outing. They chased one another around the kitchen, making me dizzy, but when they tired themselves out and collapsed in their bed, Theo heated up the food.

We ate out back on the porch, inhaling the perfume from the jasmine bushes.

"To us and our new home." We clinked glasses and took a mouthful of food. "Is this from our usual place? It tastes different, better somehow." I was ravenous after a long day, especially as I hadn't eaten much except a cereal bar and an apple.

"Same old, same old." Theo shoveled noodles in his mouth, suggesting he was as hungry as I was. "It's this place, Carlton. Everything tastes, smells, and feels better now that we're out of the city."

"You were right about moving here." If we'd been in our apartment, we'd have been in bed, eating and watching TV. Fireflies were flitting around the garden, but Theo took one look at them and tapped his phone. A wave of irritation swept over me at him ignoring our surroundings and reading whatever had popped up on the device.

"Babe, fireflies bring good luck and prosperity according to the internet."

And the internet was never wrong, but I chose to believe we would prosper in this place, not because insects predicted it but because we were building a strong foundation for us as mates, our family, and our careers.

And we'd left the city where we didn't know our neighbors except to nod and say good morning. In our to-ing and fro-ing in the past weeks, we'd already met some of the people who lived nearby, and they'd welcomed us with fresh eggs, flowers, fruit, and vegetables.

Theo yawned. Maybe there'd be no sucking, licking, thrusting, or fucking tonight, but we'd sleep in one another's arms, our family safe under our roof, with a bright future ahead.

But my mate smacked his leg. "Damn mosquito."

I giggled, and he held up his palm, a tiny blood spatter in the middle. "Oh no! Bugs! The horror! Maybe we'd better return to the city. There's no mosquitoes there."

"Very funny. They like me because I'm so delectable."

"I agree." I didn't mention that mosquitoes didn't bite shifters. That'd be my secret.

Sometimes the wrong number is the exact one you need.

I never answer my phone, especially not when the caller's number is "private". Today is no exception, only unlike normal, they leave me a message and for the first time, I'm kicking myself for not answering. The man on the other end is choking up, telling me there's been a terrible accident and his son is in surgery, begging the person they thought they reached to come to the hospital waiting room so he isn't alone.

If I could call the man and tell him about the wrong number, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I can't. So I do the only thing I can think of; I rush to the hospital. Only when I walk into the emergency department waiting room, my dragon doesn't want me to find the mystery man. He scents our mate and that becomes his only mission in life.

My beast discovers we're both there for the same man. The one who left me the voice mail is the father of the injured child and there's no one by his side.