Beyond the Grasslands (Mirage Islands Mates #2)

16. Epilogue

THORIN

One year later

“The council wants to know the secret of the Grasslands Pack. When so many other packs have started to fail, that we don’t have enough Alphas to replace the ones who can’t live up to the job, your pack has not only thrived, but it has grown.”

I smirked at Adrian, the youngest member of the council and one who had come to visit my pack regularly since we realized just how close the goddess who had attempted to sabotage us resided. No one was prepared for how that played out, but thankfully it was over and this was the last step in closing that chapter of our lives out.

“You want to know why so many packs have fallen on hard times and mine hasn’t?” I asked. The entire council offered a collective nod in agreement. “I’ll tell you. It started with my father’s stance on rejected mates and what to do with them.”

“And what exactly was his stance?”

“My father didn’t believe your moon-blessed mate should be something you threw away frivolously, or simply because the mate the gods chose for you didn’t meet your expectations immediately. He believed there were some circumstances that made forming a bond with someone who had wronged you were plausible, so his rule was that the mates in question, along with any other interested parties, had to come to him for a final judgment on their mating situation.

“In some circumstances, my father told them to suck it up and accept the bond because they were being petty or stubborn about some silly little thing. He required that they tried the touch bond out for a specific time period before they gave up on one another. Normally, that worked itself out and those shifters ended up forming a full bond within a month’s time.”

Whispers broke out around the room and I knew that people agreed with my father’s findings. “And what of those who had been betrayed by a mate, perhaps had a child with someone who was not their moon-blessed?” Albert asked.

“My father agreed, as do I, that there are times when you can’t just get over the damage done to a bond. In those cases, the mates in question were given a choice to move on to another pack, or stay and swear not to interfere with their mate as they moved on with another. Most often, one or the other of the original moon-blessed pairings would leave the pack because it was too uncomfortable of the one who was rejected to watch as their mate moved on without them.”

“And at any time were rejected mates from your pack sent to Mirage Island?”

“Never.”

“Why not?” Albert’s tone was more than just curiosity. He truly didn’t understand why our pack refused to send rejected females there.

“Let’s be honest with one another for a minute,” I explained before looking every council member in the eye. “The only rejected mates who are ever sent to Mirage Island are females. The packs who send their females to that island do so because some selfish bastard decided they wanted something that wasn’t on offer for them. For example, if Ms. Lucy - who was a council member - found her mate in Albert, but Albert decided he wanted to be with Ms. Temperance instead, then by the laws of these other packs, Ms. Lucy - who had done nothing wrong - would be sent to Mirage Island. Make no mistake, Mirage Island is a hostile prison environment where choice does not exist.”

There were a few shocked gasps and murmurs after my description, so I waited for the noise to calm before I continued to make my point.

“Now, Ms. Lucy has to go to the prison island where her only hope to leave is if rogues come to claim her, or on the off chance that another pack decided to send people to look for second chance mates. Ms. Temperance would suffer no consequences for breaking up a moon-blessed union, beyond being shackled to her chosen mate. Albert, the chosen mate, would also suffer no consequences. Then there is Ms. Temperance’s moon-blessed mate. Somewhere out there, he would be waiting for his other half to find him. It might even be possible that he knows who it is because they touched or she told him. In which case, that male shifter would not be sent away like Ms. Lucy was. He would be free to stay among the pack.”

“It is the least fair to the person who should be protected from the outcome,” Ms. Lucy stated for me in summary. I nodded my head.

“Exactly. We’ve been punishing the wrong shifters. The ones who spit in the face of Selene’s choice, of our perfect match, get off Scot free. Then they are left within the pack to taint the views of everyone else. Suddenly, you have an epidemic of shifters who reject their mates simply because they’ve been taught that they can. You have some packs who encourage their young to date one another and form romantic bonds that can be the ruin of their potential moon-blessed union down the road.”

“So, you’re telling us that your success is due in large part to your pack’s stance against betraying your moon-blessed mate?”

“There are always exceptions, but when other packs make it a rule rather than an exception, then it becomes the norm. Eventually, you have children born of weak bonds, you have relationships that aren’t as healthy as they could be. You also lose some of your best pack members to a prison island so that rogues can snatch them up and procreate with them.”

“I see,” Albert suggested. “And what of the shifters who have to seek a second chance mate? There is no other market available for them to seek out those potential mates.”

“Then make one. A healthier one. Do you know that the packs who send their females to Mirage Island rarely follow through with delivering supplies to those women? The first month, the women might see supplies, but then they have to fight the others on the island to keep them.”

“If everyone is getting supplies, that shouldn’t happen unless women are being greedy.”

“Women aren’t being greedy, they’re trying to survive,” I yelled at Albert who was bound and determined to see Mirage Island as a necessary space. “Within three months, half the packs stop sending supplies to the women they’ve dumped on the island. Within six months that number climbs to a staggering 80-90 percent. Within a year, no supplies are coming for any of the women of the packs. The common practice is that if they didn’t get chosen to be a second chance mate by then, then they were on their own and could leave the island of their own accord.”

“Yes, that is how it was meant to be,” Albert stated with a bit of a frustrated sigh added in the mix.

“The problem is that the women can’t leave the island without someone coming to get them and escort them across the waters. There is magic imbued on that island that keeps those women there.”

“Nonsense.” Again, it was Albert who responded.

“Have you ever been there?” I asked.

“Why would I?”

“Why indeed?” I asked. “Maybe because it is your job as a council member to ensure the safety of all your subjects, including the women who are left on that island at the whim of selfish choices others have made. They are literal prisoners there and their only crime is that their mate chose someone else.”

“I assume that your sudden championing of Mirage Island females is to do with your own moon-blessed mate?” Adrian cut off whatever Albert had been about to say.

“It does. She is the reason I was able to see what a travesty it was that women were left there. She is the reason I know that not only are rejected females brought there, but small female children are dropped off on the island as well. Then they are forced to fight for the limited supplies available to them, ward off rogues who take them against their will, and other packs who are just as bad as the rogues themselves.

“Where is your mate, when she should be here to champion these women?” Albert asked snidely.

“She is at home with our two newborn pups. We have been blessed with both a son and a daughter.”

“Twins?” Adrian asked needlessly.

“Yes, twins.” Twins were seen as a blessing among our kind. A male and female set were extremely rare and thought to be a blessing directly from the gods. “She couldn’t be here because she only just gave birth a few days ago.”

“Very well. We will form a committee to look into Mirage Island and how to end the practice of sending unwanted females there.” It was Adrian who made that decision, despite the sputtering disapproval of his cohort, Albert. Fortunately for the women of the shifter community, they had more support in favor of ending the practice than those against it.

“One more bit of business before you are dismissed,” Adrian called out to me. “We wanted to let you know that we did manage to find a way to imprison the lesser goddess who caused so much damage to your pack. She is being held until such time as the other gods determine the appropriate punishment for her crimes. Either way, once she is turned over to them, we have received a guarantee that she will no longer be allowed in the mortal realm.

I offered a nod of my head and then left the council’s chambers. If it hadn’t been for the summons, I wouldn’t have left at all. It was all worth it the minute he entered his home later that day.

“Did you have a good day?” Nika asked as she smiled up at him from her perch on the overstuffed chair that had quickly become her favorite spot.

“I saved the best part of the day for last, so that means I had a wonderful day.”

“Oh yeah? What was the best part?”

I had already started to take off the suit I was forced to wear for the council. When I was finally down to just my boxer shorts, I moved to kneel in front of my mate as she nursed our son and used her foot to rock the cradle our daughter napped in. “This. Coming home to my beautiful mate and our pups. This makes every day the best there ever was.”

“As soon as your son is done filling his belly, I’m going to make you even happier,” Nika promised with a beautiful, playful glint in her eyes.

“Is that so?”

“It’s a promise. I love you Thorin. Thank you for taking the time to go to bat for shifter women. I know not everyone on the council agrees with shutting Mirage Island down, but it needs to happen.”

“You’re right and if they don’t get to it soon, we will take another trip to pick up any women who want to leave. I made you a promise and I don’t intend to back out of it. I will keep fighting, whether you’re standing by my side or at home with our children, because I promised you a better world for them.”

I tipped my head to indicate our daughter. Our son as well, but she would be the one to face the same consequences her mother did if things stayed the same and something happened with her future mate. The chances that he is in our pack are slim, so it would be another pack’s rules that regulate what happens to her if she were to be rejected and that isn’t a fate I can live with.

“Our daughter will be just fine because she has you as her father, Thorin.”

“No,” I argued as I shook my head. “It’s because she has you as her mother.”

“We’ll agree to disagree on that one.”

“How about later, I can remind you of all the ways you’re perfect for me?” Her brows rose in interest. “I’ll do it with my tongue, so the lesson really sticks. Then, you’ll forget the we disagreed about anything and later, after you are swamped in complete bliss, you can look at our children and remember they are the perfect blend of us both. Your sweet, my brooding nature, your laughter, my protection…” I listed off to her amusement.

“I think I get the picture, but you’re right, it is best to drive the point home over and over again until it sticks.” My naughty little minx of a mate bit into that plump lower lip of hers just as my son finished his meal. I took him from her arms and burped the little guy as Nika tucked her beautiful breast out of sight. She laughed as I pouted at the display being taken from me.

“Get your son to sleep, meet me in the bedroom, love.”

“I promise not to take too long,” I called after Nika as she made her way down the hall to our bedroom. Before I followed I kissed my son and laid him down in his own cradle then leaned over and gave my daughter the same kiss I just bestowed on her brother.

“Love you, my sweet babies. I hope you both take after your mother because she’s absolutely perfect in every way.”

“No, I’m not!” She called from the bedroom. I glanced around and noticed that the baby monitor was on and sitting not far from where I stood.

“I promise you, she is. I don’t break my promises, guys. You have the best mom and I am going to do whatever it takes to make her happy, so she always has a smile on her face for you because your dad isn’t perfect, and just in case you get some of my silly genes mixed in, we need to make sure the scales are tipped in your favor before you mess up.”

“I’m getting sleepy,” I heard my mate call out.

“Be back soon, my loves.” I hurried into my bedroom and left the babies to their sleep. My mate had long since recovered from childbirth, as happened with shifters. It was one of the reasons I was thankful not to be fully human. Our animal side was able to work miracles.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to keep my wife from being exhausted after handling the twins on her own all day. By the time I made it to the bedroom, she was fast asleep and our adult fun times would have to wait. That was okay because there were other ways to keep my woman happy and snuggles happened to be chief among them.

“Love you with everything I am, in this life and the next, Nika.”

I watched as the ghost of a smile sprouted on her face before she rolled and stuck her ass in my crotch in search of my heat. I pulled her in tight against my body, offered my heat, my love, and anything else she could possibly ask for. I still couldn’t believe my luck and thanked Selene again for sending me the love of my life when I needed her the most.