Page 31 of Hexy Bear
“I love you,” Griff whispered against her skin, the words not just a vow but a completion. “I love you, and Tilly, and the life we’ve built together.”
“I love you too,” Mara whispered back, voice raw and full of wonder. “And I love what we just made. What we’ll keep making. This life.”
The next morning brought the peaceful routine of married life: shared coffee and comfortable silence, planning for the day's responsibilities, and the quiet satisfaction of waking up beside someone who chose to love you despite knowing all your flaws and fears.
Tilly returned from her sleepover with Aerin and Leo full of stories about their research projects and questions about magical theory that would have challenged graduate students. But it was her simple declaration of "You both look really happy" that made the completion of their family bond feel truly real.
Over the following weeks, Mistwhisper Falls settled into its new normal with the Cooper-Voss family as one of its anchor points. Ruth continued her work identifying supernatural corruption while slowly healing from her decades of internal warfare. Nico traveled between communities, sharing the genealogical knowledge that helped other supernatural settlements understand their heritage and prepare for potential threats.
And Aerin and Leo's research revealed that their success in transforming rather than destroying the ancient entity had indeed attracted attention from other cosmic forces. But these new threats found a supernatural world that was better prepared, more connected, and more committed to choosing redemption over revenge.
"Let them come," Tilly said one evening as they sat together in their living room, her homework spread across the coffee table while her parents worked on their own projects. "Let them try to prove that being mean is better than being nice. We'll show them what we showed the lonely lady. We'll show themthat families who choose to love each other are stronger than anything that tries to hurt them."
Griff and Mara exchanged glances over their daughter's head, both amazed and slightly concerned by her fearless confidence in the face of cosmic-level threats. But they'd learned to trust Tilly's instincts, just as they'd learned to trust each other and the community that had supported them through every crisis.
Whatever came next, they would face it together. As a family bonded by choice rather than fate, as a community united by love rather than fear, and as people who had proven that connection was stronger than isolation, healing more powerful than destruction, and hope more enduring than despair.
The foundation had been laid for whatever challenges the future might bring. And in the growing darkness where new threats might already be gathering, their love shone steady and strong, a beacon for everyone who believed that tomorrow could be better than yesterday if they were brave enough to build it together.
