I found him.
Epilogue
Bayzon
Three days after my claiming, I sit in front of the fireplace at our compound, an ale in my hand, my two younger unmated brothers on either side of me.
Life is good.
Which is surprising, considering it was bad, really bad, for a few years there.
The females and offspring are all outside in the backyard, laughing and shrieking. The sound of their joy filters in through the open windows. I can hear Naomi’s voice among them, already blending in as if she’s been part of this family for years instead of days.
My Bride.
A smile tugs at my lips. I still can’t believe she’s mine.
“You’re doing it again,” Trunk grunts from beside me.
“Doing what?”
“Smiling like an idiot.” He takes a long drink of his ale. “It’s disturbing.”
“Leave him alone,” Scar mutters from my other side, though there’s no real heat in the words. “He’s newly mated. He’s allowed to be insufferable for at least another week.”
“A week?” Trunk snorts. “Hook has been insufferable for two years. Cannibal isn’t much better. I don’t think the smiling ever stops.”
I take a sip of my ale and let them talk. They’re not wrong. I am smiling like an idiot. I can’t seem to stop. Every time I think about Naomi, about the way she fits against me when we sleep and mate, about the fierce way she broke my arm during our claiming chase, my face does something I can’t control.
“How’s the arm?” Scar asks.
I flex my fingers, rotating my wrist. “Fully healed. No pain.”
“Good. Because I need to talk to you about something.” Scar’s voice drops, losing its teasing edge. “Both of you.”
I glance over at him. My brother’s expression has gone serious, the perpetual frown he’s worn since our parents died deepening into something darker.
“This is about the mist,” I guess.
“Yes.”
Trunk leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I thought we decided it was natural. Illibrium gas escaping during the Dark Moon. You said it yourself that night.”
“I said it’s happened before, but it hasn’t happened in our lifetimes.” Scar swirls the ale in his cup, staring into the amber liquid. “I didn’t say I believed that’s what actually occurred.”
A chill runs down my spine despite the warmth of the fire. “You think someone triggered it deliberately.”
“I think the timing is suspicious.” Scar meets my gaze. “A mist event that hasn’t occurred in generations just happens to flood the cavern during the biggest public gathering of the year? While all the fever brothers are in attendance? While you’re inthe middle of dancing with a human female you’re clearly about to claim?”
“Could be coincidence,” Trunk offers, but his voice lacks conviction.
“Could be.” Scar takes a drink. “But I don’t believe in coincidences anymore. Not after everything that’s happened to our family.”
The fire crackles in the silence that follows.
I think about our parents, murdered in their beds by masked killers. About Daxon, betrayed by our own cousin and banished from Timbur. About Heavy, drugged and left for dead at the Hunter Station, his memory wiped, a fake goodbye note left to make his Bride think he’d abandoned her.
“Someone is targeting us,” I say quietly. “We’ve known this for years.”
