Chapter 233: Epilogue

Ellie

There was a time when I believed the greatest adventures could only be found between the pages of a book.

I remember sitting on the porch outside my mother’s house with a paperback balanced on my knees, losing myself in worlds where ordinary girls discovered they were destined for something extraordinary. I used to laugh at those stories, quietly reminding myself that real life didn’t work that way.

Books were safe.

Books didn’t judge me.

Books didn’t make me feel awkward or invisible.

When I finished one adventure, I could simply close the cover and begin another.

Back then…

I honestly believed that was enough.

Now, as I stood on the balcony of the Alpha house overlooking the rebuilt village below, I smiled at the memory of the girl I used to be.

The compound looked different than it had a year ago.

The watchtower had been rebuilt stronger than before.

New homes stood where the battle had left scars across the land. Children chased one another through the square, their laughter carrying on the summer breeze, blissfully unaware that there had ever been a war here.

That was exactly how it should be.

They deserved peace.

All of them did.

Strong arms wrapped gently around my waist from behind.

“You’ve been out here a while.”

Theo’s voice was softer these days.

Not because he’d become less of an Alpha.

Because he no longer carried the weight of wondering if tomorrow would bring another battle.

I leaned back against him.

“I was thinking.”

He laughed quietly.

“I should’ve guessed.”

“I was thinking about the girl who used to hide behind books.”

“The one who thought she was ordinary?”

I smiled.

“She would’ve fainted if someone told her she’d end up living in an Alpha house with three mates.”

Blake’s voice floated through the open balcony doors.

“She definitely would’ve fainted.”

I laughed as he wandered outside carrying two plates piled embarrassingly high with pastries he’d clearly stolen from the kitchen.

“I didn’t steal them,” he said before anyone accused him.

Theo raised an eyebrow.

“I borrowed them.”

“You borrowed muffins?”

“They’ll never miss them.”

“They’re muffins.”

“Exactly.”

Sebastian stepped onto the balcony a moment later, shaking his head.

“The cooks are looking for you.”

Blake looked genuinely offended.

“They found out already?”

“They counted.”

“I hate when they do that.”

I couldn’t stop laughing.

Some things never changed.

Blake still found reasons to smile even after everything we’d survived.

Sebastian still said more with one look than most people could manage with a speech.

Theo still instinctively reached for my hand whenever we stood together.

The four of us had found our rhythm.

Not perfect.

Never perfect.

But ours.

Footsteps sounded behind us again.

I turned to find Marcus climbing the stairs carrying a familiar cardboard box.

He smiled the moment he saw me.

“I found these while helping your mom clean out the attic.”

He handed me the box.

Curious, I lifted the lid.

Books.

Hundreds of dog-eared paperbacks.

My paperbacks.

The corners were bent from being read over and over again.

Some still had little notes tucked between the pages where I’d marked my favorite scenes.

I picked up the one resting on top.

The cover was faded from years of being carried everywhere.

Marcus leaned against the railing.

“Your mom was going to donate them.”

I looked down at the worn pages in my hands.

“I couldn’t let her.”

“You read those books until they practically fell apart.”

“I know.”

“They got you through some lonely days.”

His words settled gently over my heart.

They had.

Those stories had been my escape when I felt invisible.

When I believed no one would ever choose me.

When I thought love belonged to other girls.

I smiled as I traced my fingers over the cracked spine.

“I don’t think I need to escape anymore.”

Theo squeezed my hand.

“No.”

Blake leaned over to look inside the box.

“So…”

He grinned.

“Are these all romance novels?”

I laughed.

“Most of them.”

Sebastian picked one up.

“‘The Forgotten Princess and Her Three Knights.’”

He looked at me with the tiniest hint of amusement.

“Seriously?”

Heat rushed into my cheeks.

“I was sixteen.”

Blake burst into laughter.

“You manifested us!”

“Oh my gosh.”

Theo actually chuckled.

“I think he may be right.”

“I’m never living this down, am I?”

“Absolutely not,” Blake answered.

“Not a chance,” Sebastian agreed.

I rolled my eyes dramatically, but my smile refused to fade.

A year ago…

I would’ve hidden my face.

Today…

I laughed with them.

The afternoon sun dipped lower across the rebuilt compound.

Warriors trained in the distance while children ran between them pretending to be wolves.

Life had begun again.

Not because tragedy had never happened.

But because we’d survived it.

I looked toward the forest where so much of our story had begun.

The fear that had once lived inside me was gone.

Not because I had become fearless.

Because I had learned courage wasn’t the absence of fear.

It was choosing to keep walking anyway.

The shy girl who believed adventures only happened in books…

She hadn’t disappeared.

She had simply turned the page.

I closed the paperback in my hands and smiled.

Maybe that was the funny thing about stories.

We spend so much time searching for heroes that we never imagine we might become one ourselves.

The books that once gave me somewhere to hide had quietly been preparing me all along.

Not to escape reality.

But to face it.

Theo kissed my temple.

“What are you smiling about?”

I looked at the three men standing beside me.

At Marcus.

At the village below.

At the life I never thought I’d deserve.

Then I looked down at the worn novel still resting in my hands before gently placing it back inside the box.

“I think…”

I intertwined my fingers with Theo’s as Blake and Sebastian stepped closer.

“…I’ve finally found my favorite story.”

And this time…

When I closed the book…

It wasn’t the end.

It was simply the beginning of the life we’d fought to earn.