The Panther Uncaged ✔

Epilogue

One year and four months later:

"Xavier!"

I scowled at the foolish man juggling a handful of hot muffins before he ran off, two giggling girls following him. Honestly, that man had no common sense sometimes. A reluctant smile crossed my lips as I heard laughter coming from the den. When Xavier suggested a new building be built closer to the main house, I never realized his true intentions for it. The orphanage had much better facilities now and better yet, I didn't need to make quite a journey to get there. I loved having them so close and I knew Florence, who had permanently taken residence there along with her niece, loved being close to her Luna and Alpha again, so she could boss us around I'm sure. Of course, I didn't mind it too much. Especially not when she had so much valuable advice for me.

I became pregnant just four months ago and Xavier had been more excited than I had. He didn't seem worried about being a parent at all, though I knew he still worried he would turn out like his father. Nothing I said reassured him, but his father truly was a unique situation. Not long after we came back from the cottage, journals of both Robin and Rae had been found. The answers we all sought were found there. Rae had attempted to seduce Xavier's father with the help of Lily by first eliminating the competition. None of us knew that Lily dabbled in black magic but she used that skill to place false memories in the man's head. He'd been forced to believe that his mate had been cheating on him and that Xavier wasn't actually his own child. Rae had been delighted when Lily had found a way to channel all the violence a person was capable of to one target and she made it so that Xavier's father's target was his own mate. When that finished, she aimed to get rid of Xavier since he was the first born child and would get in the way of her own child's path to the title of Alpha. Somehow, Rae had some sort of sick obsession with Finn that portrayed him as her flesh and blood. I knew that there was a bigger story behind it than what was in the journals but that was Finn's story to tell, and he still was not ready to voice it yet. While Xavier's father had been able to kill his mate, something inside him was strong enough to resist killing his own child and for that, Rae despised Xavier, owing her inability to have the Alpha as her own to a scarred child.

None of it made logical sense but Robin was not logical in any way. Lily had vanished, with the threat of being drained of her magical abilities imminent. The black arts were forbidden and she broke that rule. Carter, part of the circle that helped make these decisions, assured us that measures had been taken to ensure that she could never harm us again, or even be within three hundred yards of us again. It was their way of apologizing for a fellow witch's actions.

"Luna, your parents called. They want you to call them tonight."

Giovanni strode into the kitchen with the phone in hand. Gio had come a long way, as had I, with help from the wolf doctor Javi graciously allowed us to visit. Both of us still weren't exactly the same but we were happy and that's all I could ask for. My editor had been understanding when I decided not to renew our contract and focus on healing for now.

"Thanks. Is Sasha still training some of the pups?"

"Yes."

Sasha and I were still somewhat strained in each other's presence. The first time that Xavier and I had gone to her, she refused to stay around, claiming she had no desire to see the Luna. I had been devastated, though not hurt, and made sure Xavier didn't force her to be in my company. After Gio finally convinced her to seek mental help, she allowed me to become friends with her again. True, sometimes it seemed like she would rather not be around me and I understood that, but every day we moved closer to that playful nature of our relationship that I had missed.

"Ok."

"Giovanni, catch."

Gio caught a hot muffin out of reflex as Xavier wrapped an arm around me gently, resting his chin on the top of my head.

"You buffoon, those muffins were for Florence!"

Gio took that as his cue to leave, muffin still in hand. Xavier chuckled and turned me around to face him. As always, my eyes dropped quickly to the crook of his neck, evidence that our claiming bond was completed.

"Don't pout, mate. The children needed something to put in the treasure box. They're playing pirates."

"Then you're going to have to help me make more."

"I don't know. That flour is kind of expensive these days."

His eyes twinkled playfully and I smacked his chest.

"Oh go drool in a cup old man!"

"I'm in my prime, woman!"

Xavier dropped a kiss on my lips before I could reply, leaving me as breathless as the first time. He cocked a brow and a smug smile before whispering seductively,

"See?"

"EWW THE ALPHA IS KISSING THE LUNA!"

Childish giggles alerted me to an audience that wasn't needed and my cheeks heated up. Well, maybe having the orphanage so close did have a few downsides.