by Rebecca York
The sheriff nodded.
Sara looked toward the men and women lying on the ground. “I…I hope you don’t think I’m like them. I hope you know it’s possible to have…psychic powers and not be…evil.”
Delacorte gave her a long look. “The way I heard it, your momma was a good woman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She swallowed. “Yes.”
“You go on. I’ll square the car with Tyreen. You’re going back to the park?”
“Yes.”
“Then I guess I’ll know where to find you. I’ll send someone out there to pick up the vehicle.”
Sara nodded, then turned to Adam. Reaching for his hand, she led him back in the direction from which she’d come. He held tight to her, waiting until they were in the vehicle before he pulled her into his arms, crushed her against himself, and kissed her.
She kissed him with equal passion. When she lifted her head, it was to say, “Adam, don’t ever put yourself in danger like that again.”
“Funny, I was going to say the same thing to you. I only agreed to look for Barnette because I knew you’d be safe. Then it was like a nightmare when you showed up.”
Her eyes shone into his. “But I had to come here, because I love you. Because I couldn’t lose you.”
He made a strangled sound and clasped her tightly again. “Sara, Sara,” he murmured. “I love you so much. I need you so much.”
“Yes.”
“You can make a life with a man who turns into a wolf so he can tear his enemies to bits?” he found himself asking, because he needed to know it was true.
“Well, it looks like you scratched and bit yourself, too. That was a clever move.”
“Yeah. I thought so!”
She dragged in a breath and let it out in a rush. “I can make a life with you, if you can make a life with a woman who hurls thunderbolts when she’s pissed off.”
He managed a small laugh. “More like majorly pissed off. More like your life was in danger.”
“And yours.”
He hugged her tightly, overwhelmed with the feel of her in his arms. Moments ago he had barely been able to stand. Now he might have made love to her right there in the station wagon if he hadn’t realized that they were no longer alone. Men in uniform were hurrying past the station wagon, some of them wheeling stretchers.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said.
“Yes. Let’s go home so I can tend to those self-inflicted bites and scratches. And then I’ll tuck you into a nice warm bed.”
He grinned. “Only if you tuck yourself in with me.”
“How did you know what I was thinking?”
“Maybe I’m learning to read your mind.”
EPILOGUE
ADAM STOPPED THE car at the edge of the meadow and stared at the modern wood and timber house where his brother lived. It looked like Ross had done pretty well for himself.
He was glad he had come here. But he was also nervous. Two adult male werewolves were going to try to stay in the same room for more than five minutes without getting into a fight.
But he figured if Ross could keep his cool, so could he. He had to because the need for a connection with his family was greater than the need to assert his dominance over his brother.
He and Ross had been exchanging e-mails for the past month. And then phone calls. And Adam had finally convinced himself he was ready to make the trip to Maryland—with Sara beside him.
They were getting married soon. Her mother was fluttering around in Wilmington, making arrangements. And he was going to stand up in front of a minister and fifty other people and say the words. Sara said she wanted a minister. A judge would have done it for him. But he decided he didn’t object to having a man of God join a witch and a werewolf in holy matrimony. If that’s what it took to make sure he kept Sara for the rest of his life.
They’d talked about the wedding. And he thought Sara was probably going to invite her father, too. She had been so confused about her feelings and so angry at the man. But now it looked like she was coming around to acceptance and understanding. And Adam was glad of that, because he wanted as much joy in her life as she could gather up.
He reached for her hand.
“Nervous?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“If he attacks you, I’ll hurl a thunderbolt at him.”
He laughed. “I hope you’re kidding.”
“Well, just a little one.”
He pressed on the gas pedal, and the car started again with a jerk. They crossed the meadow and pulled up in the parking area, next to an SUV that looked a lot like his.
The front door opened, and Ross came out. Followed by a pretty blond woman holding the hand of a little boy. His wife, Megan, and his son, Jonah. Megan looked like she was five or six months pregnant.
Adam climbed out of the car, then went around to Sara’s door, to give himself a few more moments.
Ross had stopped several yards away. But Megan had given him the care of the little boy and came forward.
Holding out her arms, she said, “Adam! Ross has talked so much about you. I feel like I know you already.” She gave him a hug, then turned to Sara and hugged her, too.
Stepping back, she said, “If Adam is anything like Ross, you’re a lucky woman to have hooked up with him.”
“I know.”
Turning, she held out her arm to Ross, and he came slowly forward.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said to both of them.
“An historic occasion,” Adam answered around the lump that had formed in his throat.
“The two werewolves and the witch,” Sara said.
“You must have been waiting for hours to deliver that line,” Adam muttered.
She grinned. “Days, actually.”
“Let’s go in,” Megan said. “I’ve made a big pot of blackberry tea. And some oatmeal cookies.” Then she looked at Adam. “Your mother’s recipe.”
“I remember those cookies!”
“I’ll get the recipe from Megan,” Sara said.
It sounded so normal. So normal that it made him feel dazed. He had never dreamed of anything like this. But here he was at his brother’s house. Meeting his brother’s wife and son. And bringing the woman he was going to marry.
They all went inside. The boy stuck close to his parents while they got the refreshments. It was so strange seeing Ross and Megan work together, Adam thought. His dad had sat back and let his wife do the “women’s work.” Ross was obviously different.
They all settled down in the great room, with its huge windows that looked out over the woods and the meadow.
“So what did you decide to do?” Ross asked.
Adam turned his mug in his hand. To his shock, just before Austen Barnette had been kidnapped and killed by the witches, Barnette had changed his will and left Nature’s Refuge to him—along with a trust fund to keep the place running—and an endowment to give the head ranger a very nice income. Maybe he’d had a premonition that something was going to happen to him.
There had been another change at Nature’s Refuge, too. Amy Ralston had quit. He’d wondered if she’d had something to do with the witches. Like was she the one who had left the gate open? He’d found out that Brenda from the card shop, who called herself Starflower, was Amy’s cousin. But he wasn’t going to pursue the matter.
Now he looked at Sara. “We’re talking about staying. The park is the perfect environment for me, of course. All that land where I can roam free. And Sara wants to try and find some of the other witch families. She’s thinking we can have a little werewolf and witch colony down there.”
“A refuge where we can live in safety,” Sara clarified. “One thing I hope I can do is save children with my heritage from growing up feeling like they’re different from everybody else. We know it’s not all going to be smooth sailing. We know there could be problems with some of the people in town. But we think it will be worth the effort,” she added.
“I will,” she answered solemnly.
Ross began to speak again. “And I want you to know there are people who don’t have our…special genetic heritage who can still accept us. Tomorrow I want to introduce you to Jack and Kathryn Thornton. I met Jack through my P.I. work. He’s a police detective, and he knows what I am. Once he even saw the wolf in action. But we’re still friends.”
Adam was watching him intently. “He saw what…?”
Ross glanced at his son. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Yeah, right.”
Sara looked at the little family seated across from her. How did you deal with a child who would grow up to be a werewolf? Well, she’d find out. She was almost sure she was pregnant, although she hadn’t said anything yet.
She would tell Adam soon. But she also wanted to talk to Megan about the genetic research she was doing. Research that Adam had told her would make it a lot more likely that the children of a werewolf would survive.
Sara knit her fingers with Adam’s, then looked up and saw Megan watching her. She smiled. The two of them had talked on the phone several times. She already thought of Megan as a friend. Which felt so good. She hadn’t had many real friends in her life.
Ross broke the silence. “We’re in this together,” he said, his gaze moving from his wife to Adam and Sara.
Megan tipped her head toward her husband. “You’ve come a long way toward accepting yourself.”
He answered with a small shrug, obviously uncomfortable with the subject. He was like Adam in that way. Quick to question the wolf part of his heritage. But Sara understood that. She’d had the same kind of worries. She still had them. And maybe if Adam had been a different person, she would have left him, at least for a time, until she was more sure of herself. But there was no question of separating herself from Adam Marshall. He was as necessary to her as the air she breathed. And she knew it went both ways.
He’d opened up with her in the weeks since the witches had kidnapped and killed Barnette. Many of the things he’d told her about his family had made her sad. His father had been a tyrant who insisted on obedience from his wife and sons. They’d lived on the edge of poverty because he’d been an uneducated man who relied too heavily on his werewolf skills. But probably he’d only been doing what he’d learned from his own father.
Adam would be different. He was her lover. Her partner. Her companion in a journey she’d never thought she’d take.
She looked up and saw Ross watching them. “I’m glad you found Adam,” she told him.
“I wasn’t so sure at first,” Adam muttered. “Now I’m damn glad.”
She knew how hard it was for him to say that. Her hand squeezed his tightly.
He was no ordinary man. But then, she was no ordinary woman. She had tried to be one, but she had failed. And then fate had brought her Adam Marshall. And her whole world had turned into an adventure. A lifelong adventure.
It wouldn’t always be easy. She knew that. They were two people who didn’t quite fit into twenty-first century life. But they had found a place where they could live and thrive. Near the black waters of the Olakompa swamp. Where she had learned that anything was possible.