“You, too. It’s been good to see you again.”
He couldn’t quite bring himself to sayDadat the end – but, well, baby steps. He thought that it might come in time. And if it didn’t… well, it was still better than what the two of them had had up until now.
Addressing Poppy, his father added, “And it was lovely to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Poppy said with a smile. “I hope we can see you again.”
“I am sure you will.” He turned to Max, then hesitated. “I’m uncertain whether to ask you to pass on my regards to your mother or not.”
“Oh, boy.” Max scrubbed a hand over his face, unsure how to openthatcan of worms with her. “At this point? I’m not sure, to be honest. I’ll have a think about what would be best.”
He’d work all of that out later. Right now, all he wanted was to go back to the B&B, curl up with Poppy, and sleep forever.
His father nodded. “That sounds appropriate. Well – I shall leave you both to your travels. Farewell.”
And with that, he and the other fae disappeared in a flash of light.
Max and Poppy stood there for a moment, taking it all in.
“… Wow,” Poppy said at last.
Max nodded. “You can say that again.”
“Wow,” Poppy said. But he didn’t think she was saying it to poke fun – she really did sound awed. And he couldn’t blame her.
Turning to face her, he reached up to touch her cheek. “Are you okay?”
She smiled, brilliant in the darkness. “Yeah. More than okay. Now that our lives are no longer in danger, I actually feel fantastic. Though I’m sure I’ll crash pretty soon.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said honestly. “We should probably start heading back – there’ll be no magical emergency to summon help for us this time if we need it.”
“There better not be,” said Poppy, before her mouth split open in an enormous yawn. “Oh my God. Excuse me.”
Max pretended to think on it. “Hmm… okay. But only because you’re so wonderful.”
“Oh, stop,” Poppy said with a grin. Reaching up, she pushed up his glasses where they’d slid down his nose, before rubbing at his upper lip. He’d completely forgotten about the mustache she’d drawn there.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with an exaggeratedly long-suffering sigh, before pulling her in close to him and holding her tight. Shockingly, the manticore retreated to a respectful distance, giving them some space. Now, it was just the two of them amongst the trees and the falling snow, and there was nothing else he wanted in life.
There were still so many things that needed to be sorted out, but there would be time for that later. For now, all he wanted was her.
“My mate,” he murmured into her hair. “My Poppy.”
“My Max,” she whispered back. “My everything.”
Holding her close, feeling her warmth, her love, the glow of the mate bond, he knew that everything from now on would be more wonderful than he could ever have imagined.
Epilogue
“Phew!”
Poppy sagged back against the counter, fanning herself with a magazine. It had been a hectic day, with tourists pouring through the Girdwood Springs Gift Shoppe from dawn till dusk. Well, from ten till five, anyway.
And since then, she’d been counting cash, doing reconciliations, tidying shelves, and doing all the other countless little things that needed to be done. It was way more work than she remembered it being in her retail days back in college… but then again, she supposed, now she was in charge of everything. She couldn’t just do her set tasks and pass the time by chatting with her coworkers, not caring about anything beyond finishing up and going home.
On the other hand, though…
She watched with open admiration as Max swept the floor, sweat glistening on his forehead, his perfectly sculpted arms bare in the summer heat.
