“He’s gone now,” Colt goes on.

“He was gone a long time ago,” Lexi replies. “The second he went to jail, he was gone for me.”

“Me too,” Colt says, and I can scent his happiness.

Deep inside Lexi, I can scent something else. It has the same quality as the little one before she came home crying, screaming, and finally settling down when her loyal friend sat by her little human bed.

I whine, climbing into the front, drawn to the new scent, the new little heartbeat to protect.

“He’s been doing that a lot lately,” Lexi says. “Wait… Colt… do you think?”

Colt’s warm, strong hand moves over my head. “Are you trying to tell us something, boy?”

EPILOGUE

TEN YEARS LATER

Colt

Why do you always have to look so handsome?

I grin as I read my wife’s message. We’re at our place in the country. Lexi decided that, after everything, she wanted to learn martial arts. She became a black belt, and we opened a gym together and then another and another. Now, we can sustain a place in the country, a perfect getaway.

Our two boys are swimming in the lake, laughing as they splash each other. I turn back toward the house. Lexi stands on the porch, her shape tempting me even at this distance. The sun glitters down and distorts her slightly.

You can’t even see me. You look beautiful, though, Lexi.

Oh, so YOU can see ME?

Don’t make me tap you out, Mrs. Blackbelt.

She laughs. I can hear it quietly from across the distance. We’ve got a fair amount of land out here, enough to forget the city and the world and just be together as a family. It’s perfect.

Is that a threat or a promise? she texts.

A promise… You know how crazy you drive me.

I have to go. The girls are calling, but later, Colt…

Later, I’m going to show you who you belong to. Never forget that, Lexi. Ten years of marriage, twenty, fifty, it doesn’t matter. You will always be mine.

“Dad, Dad!” Adam yells. “Is the water too cold for you?”

I laugh, tearing off my shirt and running for the shore. “Too cold?”

I jump into it, and both my sons laugh. It makes the icy water worth it. I swim toward them. David giggles and starts swimming my way.

THE END

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