EPILOGUE
801 Words
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*CHAPTER 12: EPILOGUE*
Five years later, the snow still fell the same way on the lake.
I was standing on the dock at 6am. Coffee in my hands. The cuff was blue. It had been blue for 1,827 days straight.
Kade came up behind me. Wrapped his arms around me. His sweater smelled like cedar and him.
“Cold,” he murmured into my hair.
“Worth it,” I said.
Behind us the house was loud.
Elara was yelling at the pancake batter.
Damian was trying to teach a six year old how to tie her shoes.
And the six year old was laughing.
Her name was Lyra.
She was wolfless.
She was ours.
*Five Years Ago*
The day after Maris was arrested, we went to the orphanage in Billings.
Rowan had called. Said there was a girl. Age one. No pack. No family. Cuff had never activated.
“She keeps asking for you,” the director said. “Saw you on TV.”
Lyra had gray eyes. Just like mine.
She crawled straight to me and grabbed my finger.
Kade knelt down.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Wanna come home with us?”
She nodded.
That was it.
*Year 1: The Moore Center*
The building opened with 500 kids. Now it had 4,000.
Wolfless housing. Wolfless jobs. Wolfless legal aid.
I ran it.
Kade funded it.
Elara ran outreach.
Damian ran security and self-defense classes.
Every kid who walked through those doors got one thing:
A blue bracelet.
It didn’t do anything.
It just meant: You are chosen. By us.
*Year 2: The Law*
We got three laws passed.
1. No forced mating.
2. No Ireton-style facilities.
3. Wolfless could own property, start businesses, and adopt.
The Council fought us on all of them.
They lost.
Elder Rowan retired.
His replacement was 28. Wolfless. And she called me “Boss” on day one.
*Year 3: The Letter*
One more letter came.
From prison.
`Lyra has your eyes.
Take care of her.
- E`
Elara cried for three days.
Then she framed the letter and put it in Lyra’s room.
“Your aunt made mistakes,” she told Lyra. “But she loved you.”
Lyra was three. She said, “Okay. Can I have more pancakes?”
*Year 4: The Proposal*
It wasn’t roses. It wasn’t a ring.
It was Kade on the dock. At sunrise.
With coffee.
And Lyra asleep on his back in a carrier.
“Kira Moore,” he said. “Will you marry me?
Not because the Goddess said.
Because I choose you. Every day. For the rest of them.”
I said yes.
We got married in the backyard.
50 people. All wolfless.
Damian walked me down the aisle.
Elara cried through the whole thing.
*Year 5: Now*
Inside the house:
“Pancakes are burning!” Elara yelled.
“They’re not burning, they’re caramelized!” Damian yelled back.
Lyra: “Uncle D, my shoe!”
Kade laughed against my neck.
“This is chaos,” he said.
“This is home,” I said.
The lake was still.
The moon was down.
The sun was coming up.
My phone buzzed.
Text from the Center: `200 new enrollments this week. They all asked for you.`
I typed back: `Tell them I’m making pancakes.`
Kade took the phone and tossed it inside.
“No work today,” he said. “Today is ours.”
We went inside.
The kitchen was a mess. Flour everywhere.
Lyra was wearing one shoe and holding a spatula.
Elara had batter in her hair.
Damian was flipping a pancake that landed on the ceiling.
And I stood there.
In the middle of it.
With my blue cuff.
And my pack.
And my daughter.
Five years ago I was wolfless.
Rejected.
Alone.
Today I was none of those things.
Kade came up and kissed my forehead.
“Happy anniversary,” he said.
“Of what?” I asked.
“Of choosing us,” he said.
Lyra ran over and hugged my legs.
“Mama, can we go to the lake after breakfast?”
“Yeah baby,” I said. “We can go to the lake.”
Elara raised her mug.
“To the pack the Goddess didn’t choose,” she said.
Damian raised his.
“To the family we chose instead,” he said.
Kade looked at me.
“To you,” he said. “For saying yes.”
I raised my coffee.
“To all of us,” I said.
Outside, the snow kept falling.
Inside, the house was warm.
And for the first time in my life, I wasn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Because it wasn’t going to.
We built something stronger than fate.
We built each other.
*END OF CHAPTER 12*
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