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Epilogue 
Six Months Later
“Mi reina bella.” I kissed my beautiful Queen as we stood minutes away from the start of our coronation ceremony.
The outdoor pavilion was transformed into an enormous ballroom. Large white special event tents had been brought in to expand the room and host an event as large as this, for one had not been held in a thousand years. We remained in the small room behind a black velvet curtain on the pavilion stage. Ranked wolves from around the world conversed while they waited for the ceremony to start.
Every Alpha in the werewolf kingdom contributed a precious stone for the making of our crowns. It signified our unification under the kingdom. Pappoús arrived yesterday with the crowns and Eudora insisted on a sneak peek.
“She must be related to me.” Grandpa Crow laughed and Pappoús allowed us a peek. Her mouth fell open when he unveiled her golden crown. A stunning and rare pink diamond was set in the center front of the crown. The rest was ornamented with a hundred other precious stones. 
My crown was a little bigger and the large stone that graced the front was just as impressive. It was a large natural blue diamond and it was also adorned with over a hundred other stones in matching intricate design.
Pappoús explained Alpha Jace Crow provided the flawless pink diamond from Australia, and Alpha Thandeka, from South Africa, bestowed the generous contribution of the pure blue diamond from a local mine. Alpha Thandeka not only had the largest pack on the African continent, but she was also the sister of Beta Simon’s mother.
The gifting did not stop there, Wylder amused himself and others with jokes about the royal regalia and the kissing of my ring.
Papa Diesel and Grammy Lucy had special thrones made for us, which would be unveiled tonight. Demeter and Balthazar spent some time traveling and getting to know each other in the last six months. They stopped in Morocco, which produces some of the world’s finest fabrics, to have our coronation clothing custom-made. We were dressed in rich burgundy and gold colors. I couldn’t take my eyes off my beautiful mate and couldn’t wait to have her under me tonight.
The voice of Grammy Lucy rang out over the microphone as she addressed the eagerly awaiting crowd. “On the night of this full moon, we honor the wishes of the Moon Goddess and rebuild our kingdom under one crest. Tonight we crown the first Alpha King in a thousand years and unite lycans and werewolves. I present to you, Alpha King Ares Theodorus Crow, and Luna Queen Eudora Luz Crow.”
“Look alive, Your Grand Imperialness.” Wylder whispered as he pulled the curtain back.
I held my left arm out and Eudora placed her hand over the top of my hand as we moved to the thrones on the stage. They were magnificent and I could practically hear the endless jokes Wylder would make in the future. Papa Diesel Stood next to Grammy, waiting to officiate our oaths to the Moon Goddess and Kingdom.
I recited my oath and lifted my sliced palm open as Papa Diesel placed a royal scepter in my sliced palm. It was crowned with a half moon, equally representing the half light and half dark sides of the moon.
Grandpa Crow had insisted on all the royal insignias, not only did he have a scepter specially crafted, but he had an orb, as was a royal custom. The only difference was instead of the king holding both scepter and orb, I had insisted my Queen be given the orb since she would rule by my side.
Eudora recited her oath as Papa Diesel instructed before he crowned her. With the same blade, she gave him her hand and he was careful to place a shallow cut in her palm. She held her palm out to the room before he placed the orb in her bleeding hand. It also had a dark and light side. The light side was etched with a werewolf, representing the full moon. The dark side represented the new moon and was etched with a lycan standing on his hind legs.
“We will begin the proclamation of fealty, starting with us, my King and Queen.” Grammy Lucy said with a proud twinkle in her eye and bent down to her knee to bow her head alongside Papa Diesel.
We took our seats in the thrones with my Royal Zeta standing beside me and the Royal Beta standing beside Eudora. A string of LaRue Alphas lined up with Australian Crow Alphas, Theodorus Alphas, Kappas Alphas, and a wave of all the other Alphas. Some offered additional gifts, jewelry, and flowers. Alpha Karan kneeled before us, and Luna Maitri carefully draped some of the finest crafted gold necklaces India had to offer around our necks.
When the coronation was complete, everyone made their way to the dinner tables under the stringed lights of the white canopies. My mother and Poseidon stood with Beta Simon and Finn discussing the recent trip they had taken to visit the South Africa pack. While Mateo rushed to his mate to cradle a fussy little five-month-old pup named after his mother, Selena.
“Pups.” Apollo yapped looking for our pups.
The twins were born just over three months ago. To our surprise, we had one of each. Rex was born first with the traditional jet black hair and blue eyes of a LaRue. Little Storm took her sweet time and was delivered an hour later. We had originally planned to use Ranger or Syble should we have a boy or girl, but Hazel had requested the honor of using Ranger’s name for a future pup. He had not only saved her life but was the first man to offer friendship and comfort to her.
When our baby girl arrived and we saw her beautiful silver hair with the LaRue blue eyes, we instantly knew the only name that would ever suit this little lycan Princess was Storm.
Eudora’s parents cradled the sleeping twins so we could eat. Alpha Balthazar was engaged in deep conversation with Great Aunt Payton, and her grandson, President Maxamillion Taylor, who had managed to attend with a limited security detail. All of which happened to be werewolves working for Gamma Chase. Eudora quickly excused herself to the ladies' room, and I made my way to Demeter who looked annoyed with Wylder.
“All I’m saying is after two thousand years, you’d better go easy on your grand-daddy of a mate. I don’t think Mateo can fix it if you break it.” He roared.
“Keep it up and I promise you won’t be able to produce any more heirs.” She threatened Wylder who was expecting his firstborn in three months.
Grandma Dori did not miss a beat. “Oh honey, don’t hold back for one moment. You cannot let a fine specimen like that go to waste.”
This was not a conversation I wanted to hear, so I continued walking. My father was seated next to Alpha Jace Crow who had also grown out his facial hair to further confuse people with a case of mistaken identity. Ambrose was busy with some other vampire guests along with Grandpa Crow, and Alpha Chatom, from the New Orleans pack, discussing vampire history.
Alpha Killian LaRue was engaged in close discussions with Xena and for a moment uneasiness flooded me at the idea they could be mates. Killian looked like he wanted to devour her for dinner instead of his steak. I was not about to upset Zeus with the potential loss of his Beta if this turns out to be true and continued to move on.
My eyes found Stryker who was laughing at something Niko was sharing with Pappoús and Yia-yia. Conner poured a glass of champagne for Chris, Jarvis, and Mitza. Tymber and Thalia sat with Alpha Louise, discussing a future visit to Scotland.
Hazel sat smiling with Zeus and their eyes were glazed over. Now that they had completed the mating, they could speak through the mind link. Hazel had been sad by her inability to communicate with Eudora so Zeus had purchased sign language books and Ambrose tutored them weekly along with my inlaws so they could also communicate with her. Despite the mind link, Hazel would also need to know sign language to communicate with her future pups, since they wouldn’t be able to mind link until they experienced their first shift.
“Ares, I can’t tell you enough how happy the pups have made my sister. She spends so much time at the Moon Realm, I almost forgot she lives in Greece.” Great Uncle Knox chuckled. He was Yia-yia’s oldest brother, both he and his mate, Luna Rocky stopped to speak with me.
“It’s so good to see you.” I hugged both of them.
“Is Eudora considering turning into a lycan?” Rocky whispered excitedly.
“Not at the moment. Though we certainly have years to mull it over.”
“The only thing I want to mull over is nibbling on my mate tonight!” Apollo snickered in my head.
“Lukas? Lukas, where are you?” My mate called out, looking for our oldest son.
“I’m guessing one of the grandmothers may have scooped him right up.” I replied.
“Lukas? Mi amor, where are you?” She continued to search.
“Excuse me. I need to go sniff out the guilty grandmother or aunt who stole our son.” I chuckled and followed my mate.
“What’s the matter?” Mateo rushed to us.
“We can’t find Lukas.” Eudora replied.
“Where’s Chip and Earl?” I asked.
We turned to find Chip and Earl were laying next to the large woven baby bassinet Paola used for Selena. We walked over to discover our lycan Prince sleeping next to Selena with a protective arm draped around her.
Eudora tried to reach in to pick up our pup and a low growl rumbled through him as he held on tighter.

“Sunsets are proof that endings can be beautiful too.”
Wany more!?