Epilogue
Michael hadn’t planned or expected things to come full circle but, being reunited with his brothers, and the many late-night conversations about their childhood that followed, raised a lot of questions that he decided needed answers. Giving birth to Ben only seemed to drive his need to know. When Ben was a few weeks old, he broached the subject with Griffin and then Drew.
In part, it was Drew who drove him to bring it up. The alpha was… distant. Even more so since Ben had been born. He wasn’t sure why but he suspected it was the scars on Drew’s neck, the ones that, in theory, prevented him bonding. Beau and Griffin were living proof that the mere presence of scars wasn’t enough to stop love.
Still, Drew took more and longer jobs, often far away from home. He was gone for weeks on end and only home for days at a time in between. The alpha seemed lost, and a part of Michael hoped this might be enough to help him heal and bring him back to them.
“You want to go where?” Griffin asked, staring at him in consternation.
Michael shifted Ben onto his shoulder, rubbing a firm hand in circles across his back.
“Home. Home home.”
“Our childhood home,” Griffin said slowly as if confirming what Michael was saying.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I feel like it’s time. After everything that’s happened, everything we’ve been through, we’ve come full circle, we’re together again. It seems like the next step.” And maybe the last step. A way to close the door into the past. Or a way to start some badly-needed healing after all the betrayal.
“I don’t know,” Griffin said. “That’s a door I have long been reluctant to open. Except as a means to find you and Drew. It’s been a long time.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“It won’t be like it was when we left.”
“I know that, too. But how can we move forward with all of that weighing us down? I have everything I ever wanted right now, Finn. I’m lucky, I know that. But I look at Drew and I worry for him. He’s been free longer than me and almost as long as you but… it’s like he’s still in chains.”
Griffin stared at the wall for a long moment before nodding.
“I’ll make the arrangements. But if Drew doesn’t want to go, I won’t push the subject.”
“Thanks, Griffin.”
Despite what he was suggesting, he had a feeling Drew would share his desire for answers.
They were an odd traveling group the next week. They took two cars, with Drew alongside on his motorcycle. Max had insisted on coming, and Ben needed to be where Michael was, but they had left Ryan and Eliot with Tristan. It wasn’t a long journey, and they’d be back within the day, but it still felt strange to leave his boys behind.
Michael was surprised Drew had agreed to the trip so quickly. Max called it morbid curiosity but he wondered if it wasn’t more a yearning for something familiar. Seeing their pack again wasn’t going to be easy. What would they say to them? Would they be welcomed? Did they want to be?
“Is it starting to look familiar?” Max wondered. “We’re only a few miles away.”
Michael looked left and right, the landscape unremarkable.
“Not yet,” he said.
They turned a corner and his perspective shifted.
“I remember that tree,” he said, pointing. “We used to climb it. Drew was always faster but I was smaller so I could climb higher.”
It all started to come back to him, the silhouettes of buildings and nearby hills carrying hints of familiarity. There were changes too; new houses, the human world encroaching on their old home.
“The main pack house is right around the next corner,” he said. “It was always much grander than our house. Ours was just a run-down cabin on the outskirts of the pack.”
He waited eagerly to catch the first glimpse but the sight that greeted him was not what he was expecting. Gone was the majestic house that was the center of their pack. Or rather, it was still there, but no longer grand.
“This is wrong,” he said, realizing that it wasn’t just the pack house that had changed. The nearby cottages had broken windows, torn roofs, even crumbling walls.
Griffin’s car pulled to a stop in front of them, and Max followed suit. Michael climbed out hurriedly, going to stand with his brothers.
“What happened to the pack?” he asked. “Where is everyone?”
Drew looked as pale as a ghost, staring around like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Or what he wasn’t. Of the three of them, only Griffin didn’t look shocked by what they were seeing.
“I’d heard rumors,” he said, his voice cracking. “But I didn’t want to believe them.”
“What rumors?” Drew demanded.
“Our alpha was a gambler, he kept getting into more and more debt. That’s why I was sold, and why you were sold later on. He was struggling to keep up appearances while secretly running the place into the ground. I guess, eventually, he ran out of people to sell.”
“So what was the point of it all?” Drew demanded. “All that we went through, all that we suffered, if the end result was this.” He gestured around to the crumbling ruins.
“I guess there wasn’t one,” Michael said, struggling to hold in his emotions in the face of Drew’s fury. “There was no point to it all, no rhyme or reason. Just greed and inhumanity. What people in power do to those who are weaker than them.”
He wasn’t just talking about the three of them but about their parents, who failed to protect them, and the rest of their pack, who failed to speak out because they were someone else’s kids.
“Where do you think they went?” he wondered, his thoughts on their parents, struggling to picture their faces.
“Who cares,” Drew growled. “They’re probably six feet under at this stage.”
“I care. They were our pack. Our family.”
“They sold us like we were nothing to them. Packs are supposed to protect you, nurture you, keep you safe. Not hand you off to make a quick buck.”
“You’re right,” Griffin said, trying to soothe Drew’s anger. “They weren’t much of a pack or a family. And now they’re gone. There’s no score to settle and no longer anyone at risk of suffering like we did. Our past is in the past and now, we can move forward.”
But Drew was shaking his head, his hands on the scars on his neck.
“How am I ever supposed to move forward? It’s different for you. You both have mates, have families. That’s never going to happen for me.”
“But Beau…” Finn started to argue.
“Beau is the exception to the rule. He’s the strongest alpha I’ve ever met. I’m not him, I’ll never be him. And I’ll always be alone.”
The alpha stalked to his bike and mounted it.
“Drew, wait,” Michael called after him. “Let’s talk about this.”
Drew ignored him, taking off in the opposite direction from the way they’d come.
“He’ll be back,” Griffin said, “when he’s ready. This was always going to be hardest for him.”
“Why?” Michael didn’t understand, and he wasn’t anywhere near as confident of Drew’s return.
“He was the alpha of our family. In his eyes, even though he was just a kid, it was his job to protect us. He failed us, and they failed him. There’s so much anger there.”
Michael knew anger. And sadness. And fear. Emotions that had eaten him up inside. Before Max. Before his boys. Before the words home, pack, and family meant more than just distant childhood memories.
Max came up beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and Michael leaned into his touch.
“Let’s go home,” his mate said. “The boys will be waiting.”
And as Max said it, Michael realized it was true. Somewhere along the way, Briar Wood had become home, their people his pack, and Max his family.
“Home,” he echoed, smiling down at a sleepy Ben.
Already, he was imagining their homecoming, Ryan running to greet them, Eliot toddling after him.
Home wasn’t this ruin of a pack, empty and full of echoing memories. It was a house full of people, noise, and laughter. It was the sound of his sons playing in the morning and of Max humming to Ben as he rocked him to sleep.
“I can’t wait.”
At age four months and five days, early in the morning, Ben presented as alpha and a bear, surprising everyone and no one.
“Look, Max, look,” Michael called, even though his mate was watching right alongside him.
“I see,” Max said, sounding proud and astonished at the same time. “Hi, Ben. Look at you, huh?”
As if they’d known it was coming, both Ryan and Eliot were up early and in the bedroom with them, both in their shifter forms. Ryan’s wolf cub was sizing up Ben while Eliot’s leopard cuddled against Michael’s thigh.
“Two bears, an ocelot, a wolf, and a leopard,” Max said. “We’re a regular menagerie of animals, aren’t we?”
Michael stroked his fingers through Ben’s fur, encouraging the startled alpha to investigate his surroundings a little.
“That’s it, sweetheart. We’re all here for you. I know it’s a bit scary, everything changing like that, but it’s a good thing, I promise.”
“A very good thing,” Max agreed, holding one of Ben’s paws in the palm of his hand. “He’s so small.” The alpha’s eyes strayed to the window. “You know, it’s already light out. And it’s warm out there.”
“Huh?” Michael said, not getting what the alpha was hinting at.
“If we wanted to say… shift as a family, all together, now would be a good time.”
Michael wanted that very much, having missed the chance to do so with both Ryan and Eliot on the days they’d presented, the hateful collar and cuff keeping him from his shifter self.
“I’m ready if you are.”
Max grinned, scooping up Ryan and Eliot into his arms. Michael picked up Ben, cuddling the little bear cub to his chest. Together, they headed outside, stepping out into the bright morning sunshine outside their cottage, the heat warming their skins.
“I’ll leave the door open,” Max said. “We might be grateful for the shade in a bit.”
Right outside their front door was a little grassy clearing in the woods, with paths leading to the main house and toward the gardens. Michael sank to his knees, setting Ben down on the grass. The little bear huddled close to the ground, sniffing cautiously. Ahead of him, Michael watched Max change, his bear form majestic and strong. Ben lifted his head when he caught his papa’s scent, then tried to run to him, tripping clumsily over his paws in the attempt. Max came to him, gently setting him back on his feet and nudging him with his nose.
Then the alpha nudged Michael before licking his cheek, a gentle encouragement to join the rest of their family. With a sigh of contentment, he shifted. Nearby he could see Ryan stalking a bee through the long grass while Eliot rolled over on his back, kicking his paws up in the air. As soon as they realized he’d shifted, they both raced toward him, Ryan darting around him while Eliot rubbed against his flank, purring. With Ben so small, it had been a while since he’d changed form with them. Clearly, they’d missed it just as much as he had.
Max led the way and the five of them ambled off through the trees. Ben struggled to get moving, unresisting when Michael picked him up by the scruff of his neck and carried him onward. They didn’t walk far, just to a small pool of water the kids liked to play in. He set Ben down a good distance away, knowing the bear wasn’t quite ready to swim yet. Nudging, he gently encouraged the cub back onto his feet. He was steadier this time around, only a few wobbles as he made his determined way toward Max.
Meanwhile, Eliot and Ryan were in the water, chasing and splashing each other. It was lovely to watch them, so happy, so carefree. Ben reached Max and yawned, settling down next to him on the grass, resting against him like Max was a pillow and not a bear. Michael lay down next to them, Ben safely nestled between them. It wasn’t long before the other two joined them, Ryan cuddling up between Max’s front paws while Eliot stretched out and laid down against Michael side.
He let his head rest against the grass, glancing up at the cloudless blue sky above them. How many times had he looked up and wished he was somewhere else?
Max leaned in and nuzzled his cheek, the alpha’s scent reminding him how much things had changed for them all. His mate lay by his side, his children were all right there, close enough to touch. He knew he’d never again wish that he was somewhere else. Far from it. There was nowhere else he’d rather be.