Chapter 118 : Epilogue

THREE MONTHS LATER.

MAXINE.

If anyone came up to me seven months ago and told me that I would be a revered White Wolf and a trusted friend for both Humans and Werewolves, I would have laughed to their face. I would have dismissed everything as crazy talk.

But now, that’s my life.

I smile to myself as I flick on the lighter, bringing the flame close to the big white candle in front of me. The fire appears, igniting the words on the marble slab in front of me. The names of all those who lost their lives in the battle, to the ones who sacrificed so much in the days leading to it. Paul, Overseer Finnegan, the soldiers, the women, my mother and my father, Ajax’s mother, Theo’s mother. Everyone who's gone, at the hands of the kind of violence that should never have touched them.

I take a deep breath, whispering so many praises and thanks for all of them. This is something I do whenever I can, just to show my gratitude for the freedom that we all enjoy now.

Ajax had been crowned Alpha Supreme shortly after getting released from the hospital, which stopped him from arranging that promised date with Livia because of the workload. She had to come back to her university and just pester him all day about it through text. From what I’ve seen when I’ve been called to work for him, I don’t think he minds all that much. In fact, I might even say that he enjoys it. Of course, we never left his side either. We continue to support him, especially since the goal ahead of us is much bigger than we anticipated.

“This girl is insanely funny,” he told me once when we were trying to map out new plans to abolish the territories and slowly introduce cohabitation. “Do you think it would be bad if I just skip one day and go out with her?”

“I won’t tell,” I said. “Right, Theo?”

“I mean, we would pretend we never knew,” Theo told him. “Jonathan might, though. I think he might be secretly gaining the favor of Beta Jackson because of a certain daughter.”

We all looked at Jonathan teasingly as he pretended not to hear us. But eventually, he cracked and said, “I never said I liked Yelena!”

Laughter. Smiles. Banter at work. Everything just feels so easy now, even with the Herculean task ahead of us.

***

I watch the candle melt, inhaling the smooth vanilla scent. I close my eyes for a moment to just be in their presence, but instead I feel eyes on my back.

I immediately know who it is.

“Theo, don’t watch me in silence while I’m trying to concentrate like this,” I tease. “It’s becoming borderline stalkerish.”

“How dare you,” he jokes. “I just want to be in their presence too.”

He walks over to me, wrapping his arms around me from behind as we watch the flame sputter and then go higher. His warmth is incredibly comforting, so much so that I don’t even notice the flame going out until smoke rises to my vision.

Together, we exit the shrine and walk in the garden, back to our house by the beach. Over in the distance, the construction of the new Pack House is still ongoing. The workers are all on break right now, so Theo and I head to the rooftop to bask in the afternoon sun.

“The Unclaimed Pack,” he whispers as he eyes the horizon, where the sea meets the sky. “I don’t think it sounds weird at all.”

“It doesn’t,” I say. “It all means so much to all of us who’ve been there. A lot of people from the other packs seem to want to join too.”

“I know,” he says in a happy but bemused tone. “You really have to wonder what kind of Alphas they have there. But I don’t think it’s that bad. At least not anymore.”

“They certainly don’t have an Alpha like you.”

Theo spins me around in his arms and looks at me. Even after so long, I still melt under his touch and his gaze. My heart still flutters whenever he’s in the same room. Our love feels stronger than ever, forged by everything that we have been through and strengthened by everything we're going to do together.

If anyone told me I would be living day by day with a man who’s so wonderful to me and would do anything for me, I would have called them insane.

But not now.

I’m living the life now.

Theo kisses my left hand, going from one knuckle to the other until I laugh and try to take my hand back.

But he doesn’t let go.

There's a certain look in his eyes now. A certain seriousness that I have never seen before, but at the same time there is hope there. There is longing. I want to ask why, but then he speaks and the softness of his tone just makes my knees weak and robs me of my air.

“There’s just one thing missing now,” he says.

I frown. “What is it?”

He reaches into his pocket and takes out a small velvet box. My heart nearly pops with so much joy. Tears immediately spring into my eyes. He opens it, revealing the prettiest ring I have ever seen. Golden band, like the gold in his eyes. And the clear aquamarine gem like my eyes.

Theo steps back, his gaze not leaving mine as he gets down on one knee and presents the ring to me.

“Maxine, I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you that you would change my life,” he whispers. “Will you give me the honor of changing yours and giving you all the best things in the world? Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

The word slips out of my lips, effortless.

He slides the ring onto my finger, and I hug him, holding his body against me so close that it feels like we’re one.

The Unclaimed Alpha, and his Unclaimed Luna.

The End.