Bonded Beyond Trickery (Trick or Treat Monsters)

EPILOGUE

ONE YEAR LATER

TILLY

I feel like I’ve been here before. I guess I have, in many ways, but so much has changed. Everything really.

The last time I stood in front of a mirror with my hair styled just so and a dress that looked made for me was when I was getting ready to attend my Luna ceremony. I smile at the memory. It was perfect.

Elodie, my mom, and Kyra helped me to plan it and make it not only a celebration for the Silver Howler Pack, but a solidification of the bonds between my pack and Golden Summit.

Honestly, losing my birth pack was the only dark cloud that presided over my Luna ceremony. It was what I was thinking about as I stood in front of my mirror, much like I am right now, and my mom slipped up behind me. There was so much understanding in her eyes when our gazes met.

I turned and wrapped myself around her without saying a word. It wasn’t needed. We knew and we understood.

Her hands ran over the back of my head, comforting me and calming me. “It’s okay. It is bittersweet, but it’s supposed to be. It is also the way of things,” she assured me. When I leaned back and looked up at her with tear filled eyes, her smile was gentle. “One day, you will stand just like we are and help your own daughter say goodbye to her birth pack and let a new pack into her heart. One that will shield her. One that will raise her up. One that will give her room to make new memories and run free.” Pain and pride laced her words, “It is the way of things.”

She was right.

In the last year Silver Howler has done all of that and more for me. They’ve listened, they’ve respected, they’ve let me into their hearts just as much as I’ve let them into mine. I feel useful and I feel at peace.

I press my hand to my belly and can’t help but wonder if Mom was right about everything. Often, boys are born first. They are the heirs to the pack, but is that the way it has to be?

Is it possible that I won’t say goodbye to my daughter one day? Is it possible her birth pack can become her forever pack, one that she rules and brings new blood in through her bond?

Time will tell and it’s not like I know whether the pup I’m carrying is a male or female. It’s still too early.

The only reason I know I’m pregnant is because my wolf told me. We decided to keep it a secret and allow our mate to scent me when the time is right. We’ll even try to act surprised when he lays the news at our feet.

When hands slide around my waist and over my hips, I jump a little and drop the hands cradling my tummy, which shows no sign of being pregnant, immediately. I know that scent. Pine and thunder wrap around me, cradling me and reminding me what safety feels like.

“You have no need to be nervous, little wolf,” Whitaker assures me. “You’ve done an amazing job as Luna. The mating ball will be a huge success.”

Little does my mate know that I’m not worried about the preparations I’ve made for the mating ball. Now, with my mate’s arms around me, I care little about the whole affair beyond wanting my pack mates to find the other half of their soul.

I spin around in my mate’s arms and peer up at him. He looks down at me with so much love as the tingles from his touch race across my skin.

I’m a lucky she-wolf.

“I just don’t want tonight to bring up bad memories for you,” I admit the truth.

Whitaker’s eyebrows pull together in confusion. “Bad memories?” A cheeky grin curls on his lips, and he shakes his head slowly. “Not possible, Tilly,” he assures me. “Sure, the mate ball wasn’t something I looked forward to and we would have found each other much earlier, but it also brought me the one thing I hold most dear—you.”

I melt into my mate, my arms wrapping around him and holding him close. He does the same to me, tingles dancing along my body as his hand slides up and down my back. The movement is hypnotic and almost enough to make me forget that we’re expected to head downstairs and make sure the event goes off without any problems.

And I want to be there.

Mates are a gift, one granted by a Goddess who holds our faith, our hope, and our future. We are blessed by her with our wolves and our mate. All she asks for in return is our trust.

Whitaker buries his face in my neck and takes a deep breath. My heart starts to pound with the way his breath fans across my skin. Is this the time he realizes?

“When are you planning on telling me?”

I jerk out of his hold and look up at him in confusion. “Tell you what?”

Whitaker smirks, “That you’re pregnant with my pup.”

The smile that takes over my face can’t be helped, and I wouldn’t want it to be. I tease him, “Why would you think I have any idea about being pregnant with your pup? Aren’t males supposed to tell their females when their scent changes?”

“Oh please,” Whitaker huffs, “you’ve known for a while.”

I blink at my mate, more than a little surprised that he knew.

As he starts to lead me out of our room, through our suite, and then down the stairs to the bottom floor the packhouse, he winks at me. “You’ve been rubbing your belly almost constantly without even realizing it.”

My head tilts back and I laugh, the sound floating along with us, a reminder of the life we live, the one we were always destined to share. I chose to trick my mate, to prevent the natural order of things, because I wanted to chase my dream.

I’m still not sure if I would do anything differently, but I also realize that this, the bond that hums and the love we share, is a dream I get to live every day. Trickery was never necessary.