“Yes, Raphael.” I laughed or cried, I wasn’t sure. “Yes.”

“Put the ring on her, you fool,” Doolittle said.

Raphael slipped the ring on my finger and I hugged him.

“I’d kiss you,” Raphael said. “But I need to brush my teeth and I’m covered in blood.”

“I don’t care,” I told him. “Kiss me anyway.”

EPILOGUE

My Pack admittance ceremony was held on Tuesday in the Pack’s main gathering place, a large room deep below the Keep, where the terraced ground sloped in “steps” toward the stage with the metal fire pit. I’d heard Kate describe it before, but I had never seen it. I thought about dressing up, but it seemed kind of pointless. Whichever outfit I wore, I would still be me and that’s what really counted.

A few minutes before ten p.m., Martina knocked on the door to the small room where I was asked to wait. “It’s time.”

I followed her down the stairs, lower and lower. I had no idea the Keep went that deep underground.

Finally she stopped before a solid door. “Nervous?”

“Not really.” I had spent the morning sitting in a small room with Raphael and the families of the four murdered shapeshifters, telling them the whole long story. The Pack had rounded up the snake people. It didn’t take long for the truth to come out: Raphael’s crew was murdered by Saii, the priests. They were the only ones with poison glands. The rest of the snake people had fangs, but their bites were hardly fatal. All six of the Saii were dead. I took out Gloria, Roman and I had killed Sanchez on the bridge, and the four remaining perished before our battle with Apep. The Pack loaded the remaining cultists and what little baggage they had onto the boats and shipped them under armed escort out of the Pack’s territory. They were forbidden to return. Derek oversaw the convoy and said that most of them seemed relieved. The Saii had worked them like slaves.

I got to hold Baby Rory again. We made a pact, he and I. He would grow up to be kind and strong, and I would make sure that his clansmen would never mistreat him or break his bones.

I was able to look Nick in the eye when I told him that the people who had murdered his wife would never again hurt anyone else. He thanked me. This ceremony paled in comparison.

“Last chance to turn back,” Martina said.

I knew what waited behind the door. Raphael and his mother. A few members of Clan Bouda. Kate and Curran. My friends, my alpha, my mate, and the new future. For once, I wouldn’t have to hide who I was.

I opened the door.

The vast chamber stretched in front of me, dipping down to the stage, on which a metal fire pit stood. Flames danced inside it.