When I’m done speaking, they both stare at me, hooting softly. Then Buttons takes wing and lands on my shoulder, his claws digging in. I wince, but bear it, not shaking him off.
After a few seconds, he lets up, then hops on top of my head. Stormy flies over and lands on my opposite shoulder, giving it the same treatment, punishing me for almost taking her mate.
I silently absorb the pain, knowing I deserve worse.
Just as Buttons did, she loosens her grip and flies back over to their perch.
Buttons hops back on my shoulder, nips my ear, then flies to his mate.
“They accept your apology, I think,” Maverick says, grinning at the owls.
“Yeah,” I sigh, admiring the closeness of the birds, how Buttons places his wing around Stormy, almost as if he’s drawing her closer. “I think so too.”
epilogue
MAVERICK
One yearlater
“Cade,”I call when I step inside our apartment.
“In here,” he yells from the bedroom.
I carefully lower my bag to the ground and rush to him, eager to tell him the good news.
He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling off his socks. I launch myself at him, bowling him over. He wraps his arms around me, chuckling as he rolls me under him. I giggle, feeling more loved than I ever have as he peppers my face with kisses.
“How was work?” he asks between kisses.
“I landed the contract with that fancy law firm that has a party every few months. That will guarantee close to five grand a quarter from my lead.”
Cade grins down at me, love shining in his eyes. “I knew you’d get it. You won them over with that cookie recipe you and Blossom worked on.”
For the past year, Blossom and I have been hanging out more and more, getting closer. She’s an amazing woman, and funny as all get out. I also learned to talk like a normal fucking person around her. She said that the jitters would wear off and I’m gladthey did because it was getting embarrassing to yell at random times, especially when we were in public.
When she comes over, sometimes we talk and hang, other times we bake. Cade joins sometimes, but he gives us space to have a good time together.
Much different than Walt. That fucker would give me and Sawyer the side eye when we were alone for even a minute, upset that he wasn’t involved. Cade is the opposite; happy I have friends that can keep me company when he’s in school.
Speaking of that fucker Walt, word from Sylvia is that he got fired from his job for underperforming and lost his place. He had to move back in with his parents and still doesn’t have that couch.
Fucker.
I wrap my legs around Cade’s waist. “Yeah, it was that strawberry one we worked out together. The one you always steal every time we make it.” I give him a pointed look and he grins wolfishly.
“What can I say,” he mutters before planting a soft kiss on my lips. “They’re delicious.”
“Mm-hmm. Just getting back from class?” I rub my hands up and down his back, loving the large, warm expanse of his skin. I love touching him. He’s so beautiful and he’s all mine.
He rolls us over until I’m straddling his waist, his hands landing on my ass. “Yeah. Had that Systems exam this morning, remember?”
“Yeah. How was it?”
His smile is wide. “Think I aced it.”
After we got the paperwork from Blossom, Cade immediately enrolled in a general studies college program so he could get the basics down. It was hard for him, starting off. A lot in education has changed since he graduated, but he stuck with it, gettingeverything down in the first semester so he could transfer to a software development program.
The campus he attends is within walking distance, but he purchased a bike to get him back and forth to school. I would have bought him a car, but Cade preferred the fresh air, as well as not wanting me to spend a bunch of money on him. I don’t mind and he knows I don’t, but my mate would rather we save for our future than spend it on a car we won’t use very often.
