Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
I went up on my tiptoes and kissed Cody. Nothing wild, just a… reminder.
“What about Nana?” I asked, remembering he wasn’t the only one in the family who was here. “Does she think this is just a picnic?”
“It is just a picnic,” Willow said, coming up to Rob and welcoming his embrace. “With a little something extra.” She smiled and winked. “As for your Nana, she’s known all along.”
I whipped my gaze to my grandmother. She looked my way and smiled. Gave a little shrug.
Holy shit. She knew.
Then I laughed. Because everything was just right.
I had my man. I had my family. I had my pack.
I had… everything.
EPILOGUE
CODY
“You may now kiss the bride.”
I reached for Riley, my beautiful bride and cradled the side of her face. My lips slid over hers, softly at first.
Nah, fuck it.
I scooped her up, honeymoon-style and spun her around while I kissed the hell out of her. Her arms looped around my neck, her veil trailed in an elegant sweep behind her head.
Our wedding guests let out a few shocked twitters, and then the church erupted into applause. The feeling of finding my mate, that fateful day brought about by a mountain lion, wasn’t surpassed by this moment. But it was close. Riley was already mine from that first hint of her scent, but when she said she loved me, that solidified it. Then my mark on her perfect ass finalized it. And now…
To the human world, we were forever.
“Oh, well, that’s a new one,” the pastor said with a laugh.
I assumed the whistles were coming from the shifter side of the church.
“Okay, Dad.” Tyler, my best man, thumped my shoulder, embarrassed laughter in his voice.
“Okay.” The pastor laughed when I still kept kissing my bride. “Now you two are supposed to walk down the aisle together holding hands.”
Nah. I wasn’t putting her down. She wanted her human tradition, and I was all in, but now that we were officially hitched, I was going to claim the fuck out of her. Human style.
I broke the kiss, so she could smile at her friends and family as I carried her down the aisle.
Carried. She was lucky I didn’t toss her over my shoulder and kidnap her again.
Our guests cheered as we sailed past, the event growing more boisterous by the moment.
“All right, put me down,” Riley said when we’d exited the sanctuary.
“Nope. I’m never putting you down again,” I swore, grinning. I never expected to be this pleased with a human rite.
She laughed. “Cody, we have to stand here and greet everyone as they come out.”
“Oh.” I stopped and pivoted, still reluctant to detach her from my arms.
“Right here.” She kicked her silver-sandaled feet.
My wolf wanted to growl, but he knew this was only bonding us together even further.
“Okay, fine. But don’t run.” I tipped her down to gently set her on her feet and put my lips close to her ear. “You know my wolf is dying to rip that gown to shreds to get at you.”
She laughed. “I knew we shouldn’t have picked a wedding date on a full moon.”
We’d given it a full year for the humans of Cooper Valley to get used to our May-December relationship. I’d bought the engagement ring the day after I’d marked her, but she didn’t put it on her finger until the new year–for appearances sake. I didn’t care. She was marked as mine.
That was all that mattered to me.
Over the last year, I’d spent half the nights at her place, and she’d spent half of them at mine. There’d been some tittering of us being scandalous gossip at first, with people harping on about how she was the same age as Tyler, but it died down quick enough when they saw us together. Everyone could see that we were perfect for each other.
It also helped that her dad shut shit down left and right. I doubted he waved his gun around to get people to zip their lips, but I wouldn’t have put it past him. After the night the intruder held Riley hostage and all that happened, he was more on board for us being together than anyone else. Even Riley’s Nana.
Well, maybe they were tied.
I also had no doubt that she was the one who swayed the town the most. She was formidable, and her word was just as much law in this town as the sheriff’s department.
Riley had one more year of school to go for her degree and teaching certificate. While she didn’t have to work–the perk of marrying and mating someone older who’d had time to invest and save–it was her dream job.
I would deny her nothing. But she did quit the preschool to help at the bar, putting our sleep schedules more in sync. That was a definite perk.
The members of the wedding party–Tyler, Kyle, and Boyd for me, and Lila, Alice, and Wendy for Riley took their places in the receiving line behind us. Our guests emerged–Riley’s nana first, whose face was streaked with happy tears, followed by Anne, Tyler’s mom, and her mate, Kevin. Anne gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I’m so happy for you. I always hated that I’d found a mate and you hadn’t.”