Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
I blink. “Okay, that’s intense.”
“You’re the mate Fate chose for me. The only one I will ever feel this way about. It’s no wonder you showing up at Wolf Ridge caused my nervous system to go haywire. It’s also no wonder that marking you fixed it.”
I trace his eyebrow with my fingertip. “You still feel good? No more headaches or eye problems?”
“I feel incredible. Say you’ll be mine, Lauren. I will never deny what you mean to me again.”
My chest feels warmer than an oven. After losing my mom, the promise of forever with someone has a huge appeal. It also feels like she somehow led me here. To this. She wanted us to come to Arizona.
I don’t know whether she knew about the bear thing or not–I may never know–but she brought us to this place. To the magic.
To Abe.
“I’ll be yours,” I murmur.
Abe takes my face in both his hands and kisses me. It’s a slow but deep kiss. A beautiful kiss. A promise and a discovery.
Epilogue
Abe
“Geronimo!” I shout, running and leaping off the roof of the Sterling Mansion into the pool far below. The deep, kidney-shaped pool was clearly designed to blend into the landscape, with a built-in waterfall crafted from the boulders found right on the mountainside.
The water splashes out onto the pebblestone deck, making our classmates shout and groan.
Lauren and Lincoln are hosting a pool party, and everyone in the in-crowd–and even quite a few outside of it–are here. In fact, it seems like the party at Sterling Mansion is the social event of the season. Bigger, even, than Homecoming or a full moon run.
Everyone has been curious about the mansion on Moongaze Hill, and now that I’ve claimed Lauren, she and her brother are their new fascination. Even more after I let out that she’s part bear.
That fact also made it easy for my parents to fully embrace her as my mate although my dad did warn that pregnancy could be difficult for her. He thinks the fact that she’s part human will mitigate the risks of a bear-wolf breeding, though. Not that we plan to start a family anytime soon.
Lauren and Lincoln’s dad stands out on the deck above us. “All right. No more jumping from the roof,” he calls out.
He’s not in a robe. He’s freshly shaven and fully dressed, playing host to my parents and a few other Wolf Ridge luminaries. Something about Lauren coming back to the living breathed life back into him, as well. Lauren says he’s working again, and he’s started to get to know the people in Wolf Ridge. She and Lincoln are overjoyed at the change in him.
Asher’s staring up at the deck with a ferocious glare. I look back up to see what has his wolf riled. I don’t see Alpha Green, who Asher will probably always hate for banishing his dad. Who else, then? It’s my parents, Wilde’s dad and Rayne’s mom, Mr. and Mrs. James and–oh.
I study Asher’s scowl again.
Yep. He’s looking at Carlotta James, our former babysitter–the hot she-wolf who haunted all of our middle school pubescent dreams. She’s back after graduating from college, and word is she’s filling in at Wolf Ridge High for a human teacher on medical leave.
Huh. Interesting. I’m not sure what Asher’s hang-up is with her, but I intend to find out.
Lincoln is in a chaise lounge surrounded by a half-dozen she-wolves from Wolf Ridge High. We haven’t told him anything–not about his bear blood nor what I am–but we plan to when we decide he needs to know.
We looked for the old bear, but it seems he left Wolf Ridge. No one has caught his scent or seen him. Lauren told me about the last time she saw him, and we agreed it seemed like a goodbye. Like once he knew she was safe, he moved on.
“My turn!” Lauren yells from the rooftop and leaps.
“I said no more!” her dad calls out as she plummets into the water.
I catch my stunning mate, both of us plunging toward the floor of the pool together. I kick hard to swim to the surface with her in my arms, and the two of us mate mouths before we rise, so we come out of the water in a kiss.
We’re greeted by a chorus of “Awws” from the party-goers.
“That was magnificent, Pearls.”
She tosses her head, her teal eyes dancing. “So fun. Too bad it freaks my dad out.”
“You’re magnificent,” I tell her. It’s true. She’s incredible. Smart, strong, beautiful. Fate sent me the best possible match.
I never get enough of this girl. She’s in a lime green string bikini that makes it challenging for me not to have a continuous hard-on at this party. But then, that’s a constant around her.
My eyes are no longer a problem, though. My dad thinks Lauren’s bear blood might be part of what healed me, or it could have just been a good old-fashioned love healing. One heart finding its match.