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I let out a few slow breaths when I stepped outside of the prison before I met up with the warlock who was going to portal me back to where I belonged. I needed a few more and then I felt like I could function again. I’d never held out hope or onto some fantasy that my mother was alive.

No, I’d seen too much darkness and knew most stories didn’t actually have happy endings… Or at least in all areas of their lives.

That didn’t even make a good story because it was so far from reality.

But hearing the truth and fitting the pieces in my mind was what I’d truly needed. One more breath and I pulled out my phone to turn it back on.

I smiled as messages from Ha-joon immediately started popping up on my lock screen. He was my happy ending. A life with him—a future better than anything I had ever pictured for myself.

That was the fairy tale I was living, and I was so fucking grateful for it that words would never do the emotions justice.

I saw the warlock approaching and headed towards him. “I’m sorry, but can we change the location? I don’t want to go back to ASH but my new house with my future mate.”

“Congratulations,” he accepted before asking me the address and then pulling it up on a map so he could make it work. He did his thing and dipped his head to me. “Be well, Ms. Reed.”

“You too. Thank you again.” I dipped my head to him before walking through the portal. I came out the other side and found a massive fucking wolf sniffing around the front yard.

I laughed so hard that I wasn’t sure if I’d ever laughed so hard before in my life. Ha-joon’s wolf shot me a guilty look, and somewhere in my mind I knew without a doubt he’d just peed on something to mark the property as his.

And I loved the damn wolf for it just like I loved his person.

I went over to him and scratched behind his ears in the way he adored but Ha-joon would never admit. “The title transferred to us faster than I would have thought. No other problems getting the keys or anything?” I smiled when he shook his head. “Anything your wolf doesn’t like?” Again, the wolf shook his head. “Perfect.”

I kept scratching his ears as we stared at our vacation house. It was way bigger than needed and luxurious to the max. I’d argued that we could let our friends and family use it when we weren’t and they wouldn’t ever have to touch the master suite.

Plus—and this was important—I was fucking rich.

Duh.

But when we’d talked about moving in and back and forth about who should move in with whom or Ha-joon had really wanted us to moveforwardand buy a place together… We’d struggled. I wasn’t ready to let go of my condo where I had so much history.

I also understood Ha-joon’s side that the history included other men and that bothered him forourfuture.

It was Joyce who got annoyed with me talking about it again and again and just yelled at me that I was rich and to buy a separate place together. It had been the perfect solution and Ha-joon loved the idea, somewhere for us to just be us and not the hospital or Atlanta. We had access to witches and warlocks because of my position so… Why not?

But then it was the back and forth about how much he could afford versus what I could afford. When Alan reminded him how much money I was making off the blood because of his blood, Ha-joon relented.

And that was how we now owned a huge vacation mansion that was everything both of us could ever want for relaxing. Full indoor and outdoor pools. Private beach. Just… Everything.

“I love you, Ha-joon Clark,” I whispered as we kept staring at it. I wasn’t surprised when he changed back to a man and hugged me. “I told you getting a lot of land was smart. You’re naked on the front lawn. If we didn’t—”

“Ellie, shut up and let me kiss you after the first time you said the words to me,” he said with a growl.

I could suffer through that.

The kiss was so good I felt it down to my damn toes, but honestly it wasn’t enough. I blinked up at him when it was done and raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to do more than kiss me, right? I was thinking we were going to christen the whole place and—” I let out a yelp as he swung me up in his arms.

“You’ve had a rough day if you’re doubting me or acting like you’re so neglected that I would ever leave you wanting,” he grumbled as he carried me towards the front door. He sighed when we got there and nodded for me to help.

“Kiss, please,” I teased, pursing my lips.

“You’re too damn adorable to even pretend to be mad at.” He gave me a kiss and waited until I opened the door. “You okay? I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”

I nodded. “I got him to confirm the answer and that was all I needed.” I reached up and cupped his cheek. “Now I just want to move forward and be happy. Make me happy, Ha-joon.”

“Always, and not just with hot sex, my sweet kimchi.”

That I believed maybe more than anything I ever had before.

The End