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Yet, in many ways, we’re the same.

He’s still the scarred boy who touched my heart. And I’m the wounded little bird, whose wings he made fly again.

EPILOGUE 2

Cali

Eight years later …

Sunlight warms my skin, as I lie stretched on the blanket, watching the young blond boy hold a stick as a sword that he gently knocks against the stick belonging to a younger dark haired boy. The two of them remind me so much of their fathers. Much smaller versions, of course.

“You can’t defeat an Alpha! We’re the greatest fighters in the world!” the blond says to the younger boy, holding up his sword in victory.

They only know of the Alphas from the many stories kept alive by the other members of the community, the survivors of Calico, who praise the men and have made them legends of our history. Never to be forgotten.

“I don’ wanna be Wegion. I wanna be Awpha, too!” The dark haired one throws the stick down and stands with his arms crossed, angry, stubborn--a trait I’m certain he gets from me.

The sight of him brings a smile to my face, but more heartwarming than that is when his older brother kneels down in front of him, setting a gentle hand on his shoulder, and tips his head, whispering something.

I sit forward, straining to listen over the rustle of trees above me, trying to make out what he’s saying to him. Whatever it is, the youngest smiles and picks up his stick, and they’re back at it again, knocking swords in battle. I ease back, but pause at a massive and imposing figure standing off beyond them. One familiar to me, otherwise I’d have gathered the boys up, thinking it a threat. I push to my feet and squint my eyes, trying to determine if he’s real, or imagined. It happens sometimes, in the thick of my thoughts, and today, I’m feeling particularly vulnerable. Perhaps because, today, I saw so much of him in our son while he played.

“Cadmus?” I call out to him, blinking to hold back tears.

He lifts his hand to wave, that roguish grin stretching his lips.

Screwing my eyes shut, I suck in a deep breath and exhale. “Verisimilitude,” I whisper, and when I open my eyes again, he’s gone. Fizzled away, like every other time before.

A tug at my shirt draws my attention to where my older son stands before me.

“Mama? You called me?”

I run my fingers through his curls and smile. “No, love. I thought I saw something.” Crouching in front of him, I stare back at the bright green eyes that mirror his father’s, and brush the hair from his face. “What did you whisper to your brother?”

He glances back to where his baby brother stands swinging his stick around in play. “I just told him Alpha brothers don’t fight each other. And somebody has to be the bad guy.”

A soft, caressing familiarity springs goosebumps across my skin, as I recall the many times his father said these very words to me. “And your brother, he agreed to this?”

“Only when I said he could play Alpha next time.”

Lifting his hands, I kiss his knuckles and smile. “Somebody has to be the bad guy.”

He nods, and his eyes catch on something behind me, sparkling as his face lights up with a smile. “Dad!”

I twist around to see Valdys striding toward us, six rabbits hanging from his fist. The youngest boy, Cyrus, who bears his father’s real name, scampers past me, after his big brother.

“Daddy!” he squeals, dropping his stick along the way, while his tiny legs try to keep up.

Valdys kneels down to scoop both boys into his arms, and somehow manages to lift them up, one handed, never dropping either of his quarry.

Cadmus doesn’t yet know who his real father is, though I plan to tell him someday, when he’ll better understand. For now, I want him to grow up feeling happy and whole. To know that he’s loved, regardless of his missing pieces. But when he’s older, I’ll have stories to share of the man I knew. The good man beneath the scars.

Valdys plants a kiss to each of their heads and strides toward me, handing off the rabbits that I’ll prepare for dinner later.

“Does this mean you have a free arm to carry me, too?”

“Always.” He smiles against my lips and bends just enough to grab hold of my legs.

The rabbits slip from my grasp, falling to the ground, as Valdys’s shoulder knocks against my belly, hoisting me up, and I let out an involuntary scream.