Epilogue

“I’m glad to hear it.” 

Speaking into the phone, Monroe didn’t even tense at Dell BlackBird’s vicious tone as he shot back, “I’m not calling to update you on Chief and Alise to please you, Monroe.  I’m calling to tell you that they’ve cemented their claiming and have gone to her place in Great Falls to start their lives.  I’m letting you know because I’m placing them both under my pack’s protection.  I’m claiming them.  They will be left alone to sort their shit out.  I’m not asking.  I’m telling.”

Shoulders raising and falling on a bored sigh, Monroe shot Jenny a look where she sat on a couch in his office and waited for his call to end.

“Fine,” Monroe clipped out.  “Whatever.  I got what I needed from them.  Bigger fish to fry and all.  Give them both my regards.” 

Hanging up before Dell could respond, Monroe dropped his phone on his desk and took up pacing.  Arms crossing, one bent finger pressed into his lips as his brows furrowed in contemplation.  Stopping abruptly, he turned to frown at Jenny.  “You’re sure?  Absolutely positive?”

Shrugging up one shoulder, Jenny sighed and slid tired eyes from Monroe to his angel, Eden.  “I’ve run the tests two dozen times.  There’s nothing.  It’s like she’s a ghost; a genetic anomaly.  Not only can I not pinpoint any potential mate, I can’t even determine her damn blood type.  Nothing shows up.  Nothing at all.  Hell, I’d get more intel testing tap water.  It’s like Sha RedCloud doesn’t even exist.”

“She exists.”  King Mulholland spoke from where he was perched on Monroe’s desk, strong fingers curled around the edge. 

“She’s under surveillance, right?”  Eden’s dark eyes rounded in hope.  “Maybe if we watch her long enough, something will give.”

Monroe’s gaze slid to his mate, and with a tweak of his lips, he lowered his arms and closed the space between them, pulling her head into his chest before he brushed a kiss to her forehead and sighed.  He didn’t know if watching Sha and waiting for answers would work.  Worse, they didn’t have the luxury of the time it’d require. 

“We’ll figure it out,” he promised knowing it was the truth.  It had to be the truth because if RedKnife was right, hell was coming for them, for all of them, and Sha was the key.  Eyes narrowing on RedKnife, Monroe demanded, “What do you know?”

Stoic as ever, RedKnife stood near the door, expression impassive.  “Who’s doing surveillance?”

Monroe looked to King who answered, “I’ve got a team of four switching shifts.  Banta and Ash split the day shifts and Lok and Bodi cover the two night-shifts.”

With a slow shake of his head, RedKnife looked from King to Monroe and ordered, “Get rid of them all.”

Brows winging up in question, Monroe waited for an explanation.

“Haka,” RedKnife answered abruptly.  “Put Haka on her twenty-four seven.”

“Haka?” Eden asked excitedly as her head jerked up from Monroe’s chest and stepped away from him.  “Is it him?  Is he the one?”

RedKnife’s response was immediate.  “I’m not positive, Domina.  But he was in my vision.  He was with Sha.  Every time.  He was there.”

“It’ll have to do.”  Monroe looked at King, lips thinning into a grim line.  “Make it happen.  Today.”

Shoving off the desk, King headed for the door.  “On it.”

“And King,” Eden’s words halted him.  “Don’t tell Haka.  If he’s looking for a mate, we don’t want to get his hopes up.  And if he’s not, we don’t want him running.  We can’t afford it, not right now.”

King replied, “Yes, Domina.”

It was just Monroe, Eden, Jenny, and RedKnife in the room and none of them spoke for long minutes.  All lost in their own thoughts and fears of what was to come.

“We could run,” Eden said into the quiet, eyes shooting to Monroe.  “We could go into hiding.”

It was RedKnife who answered, his tone hard, his eyes flashing as he fumed, “No, Domina.  There’ll be no running.”

Monroe’s tone was equally firm as he declared, “There’ll be no hiding.  We face what’s coming head on.”  He shifted his gaze to Jenny.  “Give Haka the injection to reverse the delay.  In fact, I think it’s time we give it to everyone.”  He looked at Eden with a rueful smile.  It’s the one thing she’ been asking him for.  She wanted the injections given to each Walker to delay their affliction reversed.  She’d wanted it from the second she’d found out what Jenny had done, but Monroe had stalled.  He too wanted to investigate just how deeply the affliction ran.  He needed to know if it could be deferred permanently or if mother nature was strong enough to override the drugs.  The days of watching, and waiting, and playing God with his Walkers and their mates was over.  There were more pressing matters at hand.  “How long before it takes effect?  If Sha is Haka’s, I need to know ASAP.”

Jenny shrugged with a tired sigh.  “It varies.   For some, the affliction has been stronger than in others.  Recker’s injection has taken the longest so far to kick in.  It could be the same for Haka, there’s just no way to know.”

“And now you pay,” Eden hissed furiously.  “Finally, all your meddling in your Walkers’ affliction comes back to bite you both in the eyes.”  Her angry eyes darted between Monroe and Jenny.  “This is what I feared.  This is why I asked you to stop!  Now we’re all at risk!”

She was right.  He should have known better.  He should have stayed the hell out of things that he had no business meddling in, but admitting that now did little to aid their cause.

Turning from Eden, Monroe jerked his chin at Jenny.  “Go.  Get it done, and keep me updated.”  Looking at RedKnife, he ordered, “I want a second surveillance team on Haka.”

“Monroe!” Eden fumed.

Without looking at his angel, he explained.  “We need to know if and when he’s afflicted.  And if he suspects something, I won’t have him running.  It’d help if you could get close to him,” he told RedKnife.  “Find out how he feels about the affliction, about mating.”

RedKnife nodded silently before turning and holding the door open for Jenny who exited with him.

Alone, Eden heaved a sigh that ended with slumped shoulders and a defeated look. 

Monroe hated more than anything the weariness evident now on his angel’s face.  It gutted him that he was responsible for it.  For years she’d warned him that his blind eye into Jenny’s injections that delayed the affliction would come back to haunt him.  He’d been too curious, too power hungry to know if there was a way to use the injections or the delay to his advantage.  Scrubbing a hand down his face, he fought down the surge of regret that flooded him.

“It’s going to be okay,” he promised.  “I’ll never let anything happen to you…”  He’d been about to tag on “or our children” but Eden cut him off with a snarled, “You think I give a fuck about me?”  Tears were filling her eyes now as her face darkened in helpless fury.  Jamming a finger at the window, she quaked, “We’re responsible for them!  All of them!  We invited them here!  Told them it was a safe haven, a place they could finally breathe, a place to build a family, a place to have chil-children.” 

Her voice broke on the last word, and when Monroe took a step toward her, she held up a hand and glared at him with a defiant shake of her head as one lone tear slipped free and slid down her cheek.  “It changes today,” she declared.  Turning to fully face him, she squared her shoulders, lifted her trembling chin and fisted her hands at her sides.  “Today, my love, I Eden StoneCrow, vow no more.  You and Jenny are done.  I’m dismissing my passive role as Skin Walker Domina.  From this second forward, I will know what happens in every single aspect of this estate, and I will have a say in it.  And if you ever deny me a request where the betterment of our people is concerned, or if I even have an inkling that you’re hiding something from me, I’ll take the children, and I’ll walk.  And you know I’m good for it!”

He swallowed hard at the punch of lust that tore through him at her show of dominance.  It had his mouth going dry and his dick going hard.  He didn’t deserve her, he knew it.  Here she was standing before what most deemed was the most dangerous Skin Walker in existence and threatening him with his heart and his home.  She was claiming his people as her own and doing what he should have done from the start, she was looking out for them. 

Nodding his head by way of agreement, he had to clench his jaw against a grin of pride when Eden’s eyes narrowed on him.

“Oh no.  I’m not asking for approval.”  Her body leaned slightly forward as she clipped out, “I’m telling you!”  In a classic Dominant move, she turned and gave him her back, tossing over her shoulder as she exited the office, “Ring the bells and let my Walkers know…mama’s home!”