MATED TO SERIES COLLECTION

EPILOGUE: NEW DISCOVERIES

"Daddy, what are we looking for?"

"Treasure."

"Oh." She was silent for a few seconds before she spoke again. "Treasure you and mommy buried?"

"No," I told her softly. "Treasure your Uncle Ethan and I buried."

"Did mommy know about this?" Ariana questioned with a frown.

I thought back and then shook my head. "I never told your mommy about the treasure."

"Why not?" Eva asked before her sister could.

I sighed and gripped the shuffle a little tighter. Why not? Because I never had the opportunity to. Because your mother would never have worried about some stupid game your uncle and I used to play. Because there was never really a time to talk about the past.

Shrugging, I smiled at them. "Mommy—"

"Look!"

I followed Ariana's finger to where she pointed to the tree house in the tree near the river. Ethan and I had built it and used it as a hideout when we wanted to get away from home. We used to stay here camping sometimes over the weekends when there was no school. But things changed when he started training. I came mostly alone after that, and then the whole thing with Avery happened.

Just thinking about her made me growl.

"Eva! You're not climbing up there!" I called when she ran towards the tree.

She stopped and glanced at me over her shoulder with a pout before glancing up at the tree house. Ariana approached slowly. She was always more cautions than Eva. Eva was a daredevil and it worried me. One of these days her reckless actions were going to land her in a heap of trouble.

"Why can't we climb up, daddy?"

I dropped the shuffle to the ground and made my way towards them. Stopping next to Eva, I tilted my head back and stared at it. I was surprised that it was actually standing, but I know it wouldn't be for much longer. The wood was rotten and the structure itself was very unstable.

"It looks like it's going to fall out of the tree at any second," Ariana said. "I don't think it'll hold your weight, Eva."

"Neither do I," I agreed with my daughter.

With one last glance at it, I turned and stared down at them. Eva was nibbling her lip as she continued to stare up at the tree house. After a few more seconds she sighed and turned away. My eyes darted between them—my two princesses.

"I don't want you wondering off or going near the river, understood?" They nodded. "Good. Now who's going to help me dig?"

"I'll help daddy," Eva said already picking up the shuffle. "Where should we begin?"

I stood back with my hands on my hips and glanced around. I had no idea where to begin. In fact I had completely forgotten about the treasure Ethan had mentioned before he died until last night when Eva started talking about a school project. My eyes dropped to my shoes as I tried to remember where we had buried the chest.

"How about near the tree?"

She nodded and moved closer to the thick trunk of the tree. A tug on my shirt had me glancing down at Ariana. Her eyes were glassy—a clear sign that she was close to tears. Swallowing, I crouched in front of her and waited for what I knew was about to come. She always asked questions and I encouraged it but sometimes it hurt too much to talk about it.

"Did. . .did you b-bring m-mommy here?" she asked.

I shook my head and gave her a sad smile. "I never got the chance too."

"But you came here with Uncle Ethan?"

I nodded. "We came here a lot. Sometimes in the summer we would sleep here and swim in the river or we'd go hunting."

She bit her lip and glanced around. "But you won't ever let Ariana and I do that?"

"No, because you are way too young to be out here on your own and it's too dangerous for girls to be out alone."

"Daddy?"

"Yes, honey bee?" I stared into eyes that were so similar to Lara's as I waited for her to tell me what was on her mind.

"I'm starting to forget a lot of things about mommy."

I wasn't expecting that. Dropping down to my knees, I reached out and pulled her against my chest. Ariana sniffed but I still felt her tears as it dripped onto my shoulder. I wished I was able to turn back the clock and change what had happened.

"Me too," I whispered. "But I know that your mommy wouldn't have wanted you to be sad about it. She would have wanted you to be happy and move on. It's okay to forget."

"I don't want too."

"I know." I patted her back before I pulled away and reached up to wipe her tears. "There are lots of pictures of mommy and you know it. Sometimes we'll forget a lot of things about a person but then we have photos and videos to remind us of them."

She sniffed again. "C-can we watch the video tonight."

"Of course, honey bee." Giving her a smile, I nodded towards her sister. "Why don't you go help Eva?"

She gave me one more hug before she ran off and joined her sister. I stared at them for a few more seconds before I got up and walked over to the river. The water was clear and calm but I know how bad it could get once it started to rain. I sighed and tilted my head back to stare up at the blue sky.

Ten year ago, Lara had given birth to two beautiful twin girls. They were her world. She was the best mother in the whole world but then our fate got twisted and we lost her. Lara got killed in a car accident on her way home after picking up some supplies for the twin's surprise birthday party. Two days before their birthday she died.

Seven months prior to the birth of the twins Luca was kidnapped and till this day was still missing. It wasn't all that hard to figure out who had kidnapped him but it came as a surprise when we realized that Avery had help from Calib who turned out to be her true mate. Luca wasn't Ethan's son and neither was he Calib's.

After Calib was locked up, he confessed everything. Avery had managed to talk him into helping her. She had promised him a happily ever after but in the end she had thrown him to the wolves and then disappeared. We kept searching for five years before we gave up. We only had baby pictures of him. None of the surrounding packs had taken Avery or Luca in; in fact none of them had ever seen her. Avery had managed to disappear without a fucking trace.

Losing Luca had destroyed Lara and a part of me too. There were times where I thought that I might actually lose her, but I hadn't. We had worked things out and somehow it made our relationship much stronger. The loss of Ethan was never forgotten but it had gotten easier as days passed.

Sometime the guilt would return and it would stay with me for months. Sometimes I would still wake in the middle of the night haunted by his painful screams. The reminder of what had happened would always be there. Every time I looked into the mirror I would be reminded by the scars on my body. But the pain kept me alive. It kept me going.

The past ten year had been hell, but somehow by some fucking miracle I had managed to survive. My father wanted me to stay Alpha but I had declined, I had two little girls who needed their father more than the pack needed a leader.

Out there, somewhere in the world was a boy who belonged in this pack—a boy who was family even thought he was not blood related.

And one day, one day he would return home where he belonged.