Page 92 of Can't Be Love

I’m sure I gave her a wild-eyed look as I jumped from the truck and ran around to her side. I swung open the door and threw her unceremoniously over my shoulder. “Too bad, you’re all mine now!” I said as she laughed and kicked while I raced us into the house, carried her over the threshold of our home, and took her to bed where we finally got to truly celebrate.

Lily

Epilogue

10 years later

I looked over towards the field, watching my daughters play with their cousins. Every year since Thomas and I bonded, we had brought together each of our siblings and their families. It had certainly grown over the years.

I leaned against Thomas with a happy sigh. “This is my favorite weekend of the year. I love having us all together.”

He laughed. “Yes, I know. You tell me a thousand times every year.”

We had taken over Collier Pack as Alpha and Pack Mother at such a young age that we’d been forced to grow up quickly. We’d had our battles, both of us being too stubborn for our own good, but things always had a way of working out for us. Overall, I’d say that Mom was right, God really did know what he was doing when matching true mates.

“I wish we could all get together more than just once a year like this,” MC said.

“Me too,” Kelsey agreed. “We never get enough time together, Lily.”

I smiled at her sadly. “I know, but thank God for video messaging, right? I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on quite as much in all your lives because of it.”

Elise raised her wine glass, filled with sparkling cider. “Cheers to that! I don’t know how I’d have survived this pregnancy without you,” she said, rubbing her round baby bump. Thanks to modern technology, we were able to see each other every single day.

After more than a decade, Elise and Patrick had sworn they just weren’t meant to be parents, much to our mother’s disgust. One trip to Paris and forgotten birth control later, and they’d come home with the surprise of their lives. It had been a shock at first, but as her pregnancy was quickly coming to an end. They were both ecstatic with their little oops and couldn’t wait to meet their son or daughter.

Oscar came over to join us where we sat, all the grown-ups sprawled out on blankets and in lawn chairs just catching up. I was mesmerized watching the young man before me. He wasn’t a child anymore and it was hard to imagine when exactly that had changed, but at eighteen, going on nineteen, he was a full-grown man now.

“Oscar, you still haven’t shifted?” Thomas asked him.

I noticed he squirmed at the question and tried to avoid it. Pinned down by a dozen eyes waiting, he shrugged. “Still no wolf.”

“Could be a tiger,” Jack offered, sounding hopeful. As Oscar’s biological father he had somehow been incorporated into the family. Maddie and Liam had made their peace with him, so I had, too. MC actually seemed genuinely okay that Jack had taken an interest in Oscar’s life and chosen to be a part of it, despite everything that happened.

Liam initially had a harder time accepting him, but Oscar had come to my brother and asked him to reconsider. He told Liam that he, and only he, would ever be his father. Oscar still didn’t call Jack “Dad.” He had always just been Jack. I knew that meant the world to Liam, who loved the kid as his own.

Something seemed off with Oscar, so given the chance away from the others, I cornered him, and the interrogation began.

“Spill it. What’s going on?”

His eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“You’re eighteen, and you’ve always had signs of a shifter for as long as I’ve known you. You’re healthy, and—” He squirmed under my close scrutiny—"You’ve already shifted, haven’t you?”

Oscar turned his big brown eyes on me. I’d always been a sucker for those eyes. “Aunt Lily, you can’t say anything. I’m not ready to admit it. I know Mom’s going to be disappointed.”

“Tiger, huh?”

He shrugged, his head dropped, and he slowly, sadly nodded.

“How long?”

“Huh?”

“How long since you’re first shift?”

Oscar looked around uncomfortably. “Almost two years.”

“What? You’ve been keeping this from them for almost two years?”

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