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My lips find hers. When I pull away, I look down at her. “I love you,” I say.

“And I love you,” she replies. “I want that life with you that you promised.”

“You got it. Forever.”

I pull her back into me. Standing over the headless corpse of her ex, we kiss. We kiss so long; Chayton eventually has to come get us.

Epilogue

Redo

Enzo

One month later…

Standing before me in a black and white long sleeve dress is the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen. One thing I wanted to do now that things have died down was renew my mating ceremony with Michaela. I wanted this time to be special.

I sat down with Marley so that I could figure out all the many traditions of vampires. For instance, vampires always wear black and red at weddings. So, both Michaela and I are in black and white. I have a red rose pinned on my shirt and she has a halo of red flowers on top of her head.

“Enzo,” McCob, the pack elder, says. “Do you have a gift to present to your bride?”

I grin as I let go of her hands to reach for the gift Chayton is hiding for me. I turn back to her with the box in my hands.

She looks confused.

“I have to apologize,” I say. “I know that I’m supposed to make something by hand, but I think this gift will be much better.”

Lifting the top of the box, I watch as her eyes widen and then the tears fall.

I pull the leather, fingerless custom-made gloves out of the box. Grabbing her hands, I place the gloves on. Her fingers are free, but the cuffs are hidden. On the front and back of the wrists are slits. Each was just big enough that a blade or darts can fit out of.

“I won’t lie. This gift is more for me than you,” I say with a laugh. “I know what looking at those mean to you. We can’t remove them, but you can cover them whenever you want and still wear short sleeves. Which is why this gift is also for me. Now, your wolf marking can be on display, and everybody can see who you belong to.”

She chuckles and wipes her eyes. “Thank you.”

I nod my head, feeling proud.

“Great goddess,” McCob starts.

“Wait,” Chayton says. “We have one more very special part to add to this ceremony.”

Again, Michaela looks confused. I wave Tech over while Chayton steps up to me. Marley walks over holding a silk white scarf.

“Oh my goodness,” Michaela gasps, clutching a hand to her chest.

“This is a very important part of vampire ceremonies,” I say to the wolves around me. “It represents the binding of two families. And I think it’s even more important now that we are combining more than just families.”

Marley ties the scarf around both our wrists. She places a kiss on her sister’s cheek before stepping away. The little sister has seemed to mature overnight. She’s still the bubbly girl that buzzes around the house like a bee, but she’s taking her lessons more seriously and she’s really found her place in the pack.

Michaela and I turn to face the pack. Tech steps forward with his knife. I swear having him and Marley living with us has felt like we were raising teenagers. I love to see the joyand happiness Michaela gets when she’s around her younger siblings.

She told me that Tech’s mother was killed by her father when he found she’d hidden her pregnancy from him. Fortunately, Tech survived the attack. She basically raised him alongside his adoptive parents. He’s supposed to go back to school in a few weeks, but the way he’s basking in the glow of having both his sisters with him, I don’t think he will.

Tech cuts a small slit into his sister’s upper arm. Immediately, blood runs down, soaking the silk. Chayton steps up and does the same to me. My blood drips to the silk. We all watch as our blood soaks the fabric, changing the white silk to maroon and then slowly, the stains meet in the middle.

Cheers go up all around us. I turn to my mate, pulling her into me. I kiss her lips.

“I love you, vamp,”I say into her head.