Ash laughed. “Fuck, imagine if you’d met Dex then. You might have believed me from the start.”
Luc’s heart skipped. Would he have? That could have changed everything. He might never have hurt Harper or Ollie.
“It doesn’t matter,” Dante said, and Ollie nodded his agreement. “This is how things went, and in the end, we’re all here in my house as I’d dreamed. That’s what’s important.”
“You dreamed I’d be here with you?” Luc teased. No way that could be true.
Dante’s eyes crinkled and he smiled like Luc hadn’t seen in a thousand years. “In my wildest dreams, yes, Luc, you were here too.”
EPILOGUE
DEX
Ten years later.
“We have to get going,”Luc called from the front showroom.
“Give me a minute,” Dex shouted back. He threw a plastic tarp loosely over the day’s creations and went to wash his hands at the sink.
He’d been throwing mugs on the pottery wheel earlier that afternoon and had gotten distracted making teaspoon rests to match, with the extra clay. Now they were risking running late.
“The front’s all closed up.” Luc appeared in the doorway to Dex’s pottery studio. “You’re lucky I can fly.”
“You’re lucky I’ve cleaned already, or I’d throw clay at you.”
Luc’s eyes flashed. “The last time you did that, you begged me to spank you for being so naughty. We definitely don’t have time forthat.”
Lust zipped down the bond. “There’s always later.”
“Mm.” Luc wrapped his arms around Dex and untied hisapron, slipping it over his head. “What a lucky boy you are, mate.”
He was. Working with Luc had gone even better than Dex had imagined. They’d opened the Colt Ceramics brick-and-mortar store three years ago. How had time gone so fast?
Dex had never planned to run his own shop. His online business had taken off, and he’d had to resign from Seaside Coffee to keep up. That had been the dream, and it was six years ago now.
The in-person shop had been Luc’s idea. He’d wanted to build Dex’s brand and give him the opportunity to create and sell one-of-a-kind pieces.
Selling his pottery online and in other people’s shops had been the height of Dex’s ambition, but with his own shop, he could do sculpture alongside his homewares and sell both.
When he’d moved in with Luc, he’d sold his little condo by the river and bought this shop in the Arts District. There was a showroom out front and a studio in the back. He even had his own kiln. Which was awesome, but not as amazing as Luc firing pieces for him with his demon flames.
All of the sculptures were created by him and Luc as a team. Dex did the pottery, and Luc transformed the pieces with fire. No one outside the magic world was aware that they were created that way, but most of the people who ended up buying them were witches or vampires.
Onyx had hosted a magic-inclusive opening for Dex and Luc at Gallery Four. It was one of the highlights of Dex’s life, and he didn’t see that changing, no matter how long he lived.
Other than creating art together, Luc ran the shop while Dex made mugs, bowls, and all his usual fare out back. They didn’t actually see each other often during a typical work day, keeping them from getting on each other’s nerves or falling into each other’s arms too often.
Luc kept busy when he wasn’t working by volunteering at Harper and Ash’s center for witches in need. He seemed determined to spend his life giving back, and Dex loved that about him.
Dex wrapped his arms around Luc’s neck. “Fly me home so I can change, please?”
“Since you asked so nicely…” Luc scooped Dex into his arms and carried him out the back door, pausing to lock it magically.
The flight home was short. There’d been a time when Dex couldn’t have imagined permanently moving out of the Banks, but he loved living in the Arts District.
Ollie and Harper lived with Dante and Ash at the big house in the nature reserve, which had become somewhat of a home base for all eight of them. They had regular family dinners, and Dex had gotten to know Dante’s gaming room well. So had Luc. Of all things, he and Dante had re-bonded over video games.
Luc soared toward the tallest building in this section of the city. It was much smaller than the high rises downtown, but it had a perfect view of the Arts District and the northern expanse of the river with the main city skyline off to the west.
