Page 143 of The Beta's Heart

See? That’s what I mean,Dovie laugh. A shiny rock, a scoop of ice cream, the way the light hits a crow’s wing—You always find happiness in things that others overlook. It makes me happy.

Me love you, Dovie. So much.

Oh, Riv, I love you, too.

Me chest feel warm. Warm like Dovie soft fur. Warm like mate brown eyes. Warm like when Ty-Ty say me a big gentle teddy bear good boy.

Since Dovie came, dah mad in me sleep more. Me not want to break so many tings so much. She not want to chase goats like Siddy—BOOOO!—but she still dah most wonnerful of all. No one beddah den my Dovie!

And no one happier den me.

Epilogue

Tyler

I sprawled on the front porch steps, the well-kept wooden boards creaking slightly under my weight. Beside me lounged Landry, his long legs stretched out in front of him, as we sipped on Arizona Sweet Tea, an empty bag of barbecue chips crumpled up between us.

“Been a hell of a year, ain’t it?” Landry broke the comfortable silence between us, something I’d been expecting the chatterbox to do for the last ten minutes.

“Yep. Feels like we’ve lived a lifetime since last March.”

That was the honest truth.

The day after our visit to the Blue Rock pack, Ray Hawkins put in a transfer request, which our alphas approved immediately, so he sold his house in Louisiana and bought the Breckenridges’ old place. He was a frequent guest at our family dinners, and Mom and Julia Price had taken such a liking to him that they set him up with one of their friends, a widowed she-wolf named Emily Webb.

Ray was hesitant at first because Emily was seven years younger and had two teenage sons, but the couple quickly fell in love, and her twins, who were the sweetest and kindest boys I ever met, readily accepted him. When Ray popped the question, no one was surprised, and now Emily was dropping hints about a new addition coming soon to their family.

Speaking of pups, Emmeline Graves gave birth to a son, Patrick, last week, and Mom was ready to push Walker out any day now. Then there was Charlie Popov, who had just announced she was expecting a little one in about six months. Misha was over the moon and thanked me every single time he saw me. I finally told him to stop because I hadn’t done anything special, but he insisted I’d saved his sanity and gave him a new lease on life.

As for my ‘aunt’ Brenda, she’d gone downhill quickly after Covey faded back to the Goddess and had been admitted to the pack’s care facility the day after Bram and Reuben discovered they were mates.

Best place for her, really.

Finding out the truth about my family hit me harder than I ever expected. It took time—time to accept, time to heal—but Bram and I were closer now than I could have imagined. We spent lots of time together and always met up at the gaming shop for our weekly Dungeons & Dragons session with the gammas, rolling dice and sharing laughs over pizza. We’d both been through a round of hell, butwe’d finally come out on the other side and were happier than either of us ever thought we could be.

I knew good times ended the same as the bad ones did, but just for now, I was content to laze here next to my best buddy, watching the fluffy clouds skate across the blue sky as a steady breeze blew away the last of winter’s chill, just being in the moment and enjoying the peace while it lasted.

Glancing at Landry, I noticed how much more relaxed he was, and the spark in his eyes was nothing but pure happiness. I knew I wasn’t the me I was a year ago, either, and reckoned I probably looked a little different, too.

Goddess knew, Ifeltdifferent.

“Don’t guess luna’s going to go back to school in the fall,” Lan said, maybe feeling my eyes on him.

“Naw, she’s had enough of it.” Leaning back, I settled my elbows on the step behind me. “Not that she can’t do the work, but now that she’s confident in her place, she’s taking on more luna duties, and that eats most of her time and energy.”

“Not to mention riding herd on our five alphas. That’s a full-time job right there,” he grunted, and I snorted in agreement.

Then the rumble of a powerful engine reached our ears, and I squinted into the distance. A sleek, vintage Mustang rolled up the driveway, its polished black paint gleaming in the fading sunlight. My heart skipped a beat when I recognized it as the wreck from the Busted Knuckle, the one I’d spent countless hours working on before I became beta.

Parking the beauty a couple of yards in front of us, Nathan Barlow stepped out with a proud smile on his face.

“Thought you might like to see the old girl all gussied up,” he said, patting the hood affectionately.

“She looks amazing!” A grin spread across my face as I approached the Mustang with awed eyes.

“Plenty of hard work and dedication went into making her what she is now. Kind of like you, son,” Dad said, clamping a hand on my shoulder.

I glanced at Landry as he joined us by the car, and we shared a knowing look, understanding Dad’s unspoken message. We’d both been through our own process of restoration this last year, and it had shaped us into better versions of ourselves.

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