“But I wasn’t.” Cole’s thumb brushed the back of our joined hands. “Sorry. I know it was risky, but I didn’t want Madison to feel like she had to change to be with me. And if she didn’t show up at the truck tonight, I didn’t want everyone to know she backed out.”
Asher placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. “I’m not everyone. I’m your Alpha, and I can keep a secret.”
Cole clasped his forearm. “Point taken.”
Asher straightened. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow we need to regroup. We need to be ready if Deidra pays us another visit.”
Asher walked away, and Cole pressed a kiss over the new scar on my hand. “I meant what I said. You didn’t have to do this for me. I love you, shifter or not.”
My heart melted as I lost myself in his eyes. “I know.” I kissed him again. “I did it for me. This is my family now. I want to help protect it.”
Across the room, my mother embraced my brother, and my eyes brimmed with tears. If I hadn’t taken that leap of faith to move my life here, none of this would have happened. I walked through a portal into a world where danger lurked in the shadows but love flowed in a way I’d never known before.
And I’d do it all over again.
EPILOGUE
Cole
I looked up from my patient to find Ryker filling the doorway to Asher’s guest room. He stared at Serenity. His gaze was distant as he spoke. “Do you think she’ll ever wake up?”
I slid the blood pressure cuff off her arm. “I don’t know.”
Madison’s sister hadn’t moved since we’d freed her from the lab three weeks ago. I’d set her up on IV fluids and a feeding tube, and her vitals were still strong, but I couldn’t explain her continued comatose state. Without being able to run blood tests and drug screens, my hands were tied.
I put the cuff and my stethoscope back in my bag. “Are you on your way to the bar?”
He nodded, his attention jerking over to me as if he just noticed I was in the room. “Yeah. I came by to give Asher the deposit from last night.” He started to smile. “It’s karaoke night.”
I chuckled. “Oh, believe me, I know.”
Madison dragged me to the bar almost every week for karaoke night. I loved watching her sing, but I still wasn’t a fan of getting up to sing in front of a room of inebriated strangers. Most of the time she let me off the hook, but tonight was her birthday, and I could deny her nothing. In fact, I’d been working on a surprise for her.
“Good. Then I’ll see you guys tonight,” Ryker said.
I nodded, following him out of the room. “It’s Madison’s birthday so I was going to bring a cake over.”
Something flashed in Ryker’s eyes, and I raised a brow. “Wait a second. You already knew that?”
“Yeah.” He lowered his voice. “Chandler and his mom are bringing a cake, but it’s a surprise. Don’t tell Madison. I wasn’t supposed to tell you, either, so you didn’t hear it from me.”
“What if I was planning to take her someplace else?”
He chuckled. “We figured karaoke would lure her over.”
“Probably true.” I shrugged, bumping him with my shoulder. “Not like I’m up to taking her out dancing yet.”
The compound fracture in my leg was healed now, but it still seemed a little fragile to me. The limp was gone, and I kept working on physical therapy. The next full moon would be the big test. My secret fear was the bone might shatter during the transformation from man into beast.
I shoved the thought aside for now. “What time should we come by?”
Ryker stopped by the kitchen. “The whole pack is coming at about eight thirty.”
Aw fuck. The entire pack was going to be there?
My gut clenched. “All right. I’ll get her there about nine.”
“Sounds good. See you soon, man.” Ryker clasped my forearm and walked out, leaving me alone with my dread.
Asher came into the kitchen and sized me up for a second. “Dead man walking?”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “Just found out you’re all coming to the Wolf Pack Bar tonight for Madison’s birthday.”
He grinned. “Ryker’s got a big mouth.” His smile softened. “Did we foul up your birthday plans?”
“No.” I shook my head, staring at my boots. “I was planning on taking her over for karaoke night anyway.” I blew out a breath and lifted my head. “But I was going to sing for her tonight.”
“She’ll love that.” He paused. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “I wasn’t expecting anyone I know to be there, and now everyone I know will be.”
He clapped my shoulder. “We’re your family. It’ll be fine.”
“Fine?” I shot him a glare. “If I fuck it all up, I’ll never live it down.”
He laughed. There was something about Asher’s laugh that made it impossible not to join him. Maybe it was because it was rare, but when he did laugh, it came from the depths of his soul.
And it calmed the jitters in my stomach.
He met my eyes. “Don’t let nerves steal this gift from the woman you love.”
Wise words.
I left the ranch and stopped by the vet clinic to grab the birthday card I had stashed there. After the altercation with Deidra Harlow during the full moon, I’d convinced Madison to move in with me. Since 90 percent of her boxes were still packed, it was a quick move. She never went back to Serenity Farms, either. Instead, she turned my guest room into an office and was working on starting her own marketing firm. My mom was her first client. Her nonprofit fundraising business was already benefiting from Madison’s input.
I fucking loved living with her. Knowing I’d get to wake up to her smile every day meant everything.
Inside my truck, I hit a playlist on my phone and cued up my song for tonight. It had taken me the better part of a week to pick the right song. I didn’t want it to be too sappy because if I did mess it up, I didn’t want to ruin the song, and I wanted to make her smile, not cry. Then I had to find one with a vocal range I had half a chance of being able to tackle.
I’d finally decided on “Happy Together” by the Turtles. It met all the requirements for my range, it was peppy, and the words were exactly how I felt about her. Until she’d walked down to that barn a few weeks ago, I’d forgotten what it had felt like to just be happy.
She made me happier than I realized I could be. And with any luck, tonight I’d tell her so.
Apparently, in front of every person I knew.
Dammit.
I pressed the “play” button, singing along as I drove, and next thing I knew, I was smiling. Even if I made an idiot out of myself, as long as she was happy, that was all that mattered.
I knocked on the doorframe of her new office in the guest room. “I’m going up to shower before your birthday dinner.”
She peered over her computer screen. “Okay. I’m almost done here.”
“Actually—” I pulled off my T-shirt and tossed it over my shoulder “—I was thinking we might save some water.”