“Told you my uncles would get to him,” Mila said to Dominic.

“So he’s dead and buried?” asked Dominic.

“There was nothing left to bury. Except some teeth,” replied Alex.

Knowing that meant her uncles’ inner beasts had pretty much eaten Forester’s entire body, Dominic shuddered. “Good to know. Next time you have news, maybe you could just call us instead.”

“But that wouldn’t annoy Mila or her cat, so there’d be no fun in it,” Alex pointed out.

Dominic shook his head. “Whatever. Just go.” But when he and Mila walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later, wrapped in fluffy towels, they found Alex lounging in a chair and reading a book. “Unless you want to see your sister naked, you really need to leave now.”

Alex lifted a brow. “I’ve seen her scrawny body before. There’s not a lot there to see. But she already knows she’s not much to look at.”

Mila took a step toward him. “Oh, you little fucker.”

He looked at Dominic. “Aren’t you put off by all those sharp bones digging into you? Honestly? Not even the protruding shoulder blades? You could play her ribs like a xylophone.”

Her cat hissing and flexing her claws, Mila pointed at the door. “Out, Alex.”

“So you can pretend that if I put a sesame seed on your head you wouldn’t look like a pushpin?”

She shifted so fast Dominic didn’t get the chance to grab her cat before the feline launched herself at Alex’s face.

Dominic sighed. So this would be his life. He could honestly say he was looking forward to it.

EPILOGUE

Eight years later

Plucking a fresh beer from the cooler, Dominic blew out a breath. It was approaching evening, but damn, it was hot. The sun beat down on him like a heavy weight, and he had to wonder if he was the only one who’d been thinking that Taryn’s idea to have a picnic near the lake wasn’t so great. If so, no one had chosen to retreat to the dwelling.

The breeze was light but cool, creaking the branches and bringing with it the scents of warm herbs, sweet flowers, lake water, and the food that was set on the buffet table. Everyone was spread around the clearing. Some stood around in groups, some sat on logs or lawn chairs, others gathered around the various picnic tables.

Mila had been sitting with Lydia, Cam, Rhett, and Grace while burping Lydia’s baby boy, who had one hell of a set of lungs on him. But Mila was now gone, and he couldn’t see her anywhere.

He was about to ask Tao if he’d seen her, but Dominic noticed that the Head Enforcer was glaring up at Savannah, who sat in one of the weathered trees that hemmed the clearing. Her brow was furrowed in concentration, and her thumbs were tapping furiously on the screen of her cell phone.

Tao’s lips thinned. “You’d better not be texting boys.”

Savannah frowned down at him. “Why would I text boys? Boys are dumb.”

“Yes, they are. Never forget that.”

“I won’t—you prove it every day.” She swiped out at the little boy who’d climbed up the tree just to pull on her hair. “Ugh, your spawn is being a pain in the butt again, Tao. And I think he’s been back in the dirty cave near the river—I can smell it on him.”

Sidling up to Tao, Riley planted her hands on her hips and glared at their son. “What have I told you about staying away from the cave? There are bats in there!”

Tao sighed at his mate. “Woman, there are no bats!”

Riley sniffed. “Now you’re just lying.”

The young cheetah at the base of the tree chuffed in what might have been amusement, sprawled on the grass in his animal form as Lilah idly stroked his back while reading a book.

“Any of you seen Mila?” Dominic asked, but they all shook their heads.

“She might be with Jaime,” suggested Riley. “You know how those two can natter on and on for hours.”

He spotted Jaime perched on a log, wiping the sticky fingers of her young daughter. Mila wasn’t with her, but the Beta female might know where she’d gone. Dominic headed her way, the long grass and wildflowers whispering against his shoes with each step. Sunlight shimmered off the grass stems, just as it did the rippling lake water.

Reaching Jaime and her group, it came as no surprise to see that Dante and Hendrix were arguing. Again.

“Stop calling me Popeye!” Dante rounded on his mate. “Jaime, this is your fault.”

She just lifted one shoulder. “Can we help it if it’s an appropriate nickname?”

Standing beside Hendrix, Jaime’s nephew laughed. When Gabe Jr. wasn’t hanging in the security shack with his father, he was trailing after Hendrix.

“I’m looking for Mila,” said Dominic. “Any of you seen her?” They hadn’t. And there was still no sign of her anywhere.

He almost dropped his beer when a little blonde girl nearly crashed into him, singing, “Cujo.” Sofia squealed and ran off as her father’s wolf playfully charged at her. She was as much a born alpha as her parents and older brother. Kye was currently talking with Gabe, Hope, and Taryn near the buffet table as they piled food on paper plates. Kye totally dwarfed his mother now that he was almost as tall as Trey, though not quite so broad. Yet. The kid kept having growth spurt after growth spurt.

Dominic took a swig of his beer and then resumed his hunt for his missing mate. Passing Roni, he felt his lips twitch. She was sighing down at her mate and three sons, who were all gathered around a table with chocolate crumbs and bits of sponge cake on their mouths and fingers.

Roni threw up her arms. “Why do you all do this to me?”

The oldest grimaced and popped open a can of soda. “Sorry, Mom.”

“We were hungry,” complained the youngest, sitting on Marcus’s lap.

Her nostrils flared. “I’m hungry.”

The super-intelligent middle child looked at his mother, somber. “Perhaps you’re pregnant again. Statistics say that—”

“Don’t throw random facts at me, Keane.”

Dominic paused long enough to ask Roni and Marcus if they’d seen Mila, but the enforcers shook their heads. Great.

“Makenna might know,” said Marcus, taking a sip of his beer.

True. The females were reasonably close. So avoiding the pine cones that peppered the grass, Dominic stalked to the spot where the she-wolf stood with her little family. Sienna and Ryan were engaged in yet another standoff. The gruff enforcer didn’t like that his little girl was growing up, and she didn’t like that he treated her like she wasn’t.

Hands clenched, she grunted at her father. “Daaaaad, I’m not suggesting that I wax my legs or something extreme. I just want a cell phone—most kids my age have one.”

“I don’t care about most kids.” Ryan lifted a hand. “I told you, you can have a cell phone when you’re thirteen.”

“Which is an unlucky number!”

Ryan clenched his jaw. “There is no such thing as luck.”

“There is no such thing as luck,” parroted the little boy clinging to his father’s back.

Arm wrapped around his recently found mate, Zac laughed. “Are you always going to make fun of your dad?”