With Hearts to Hear| ✔

| Epilogue |

"Were you nervous when I didn't walk down the aisle?" Rachel laughed, as they swayed together to the soft twinkling music. The moon had come out pale and full, and the rain had long past stopped. A little bit of damp didn't stop wolves from going out, so their reception had ended up being an outdoor affair.

"Just a little, that you had gotten hurt or something." Killian murmured. He had not for one second doubted Rachel's desire to marry him; though he had been entirely surprised to see her walk down the aisle with his mother.

Close by, Leandra danced with Diana, if you called raising the girl in the air like she was a barbell dancing. Rachel also spied Ai over by the bar with Sebastian, leaning in a little closer than was polite for strangers, as they signed to each other in conversation.

"They seem to have hit it off." Rachel nodded in their direction, musing gently to her new husband. She wondered if she would have to warn Ai not to get involved with him knowing that he probably had a soulmate out there...

She hoped not, she had no idea how to pull that off.

Killian followed her gaze, watching his cousin with his wife's best friend. He had never seen him this way, actively flirting with a woman. He'd been eager about moving forward in life, so Killian couldn't imagine he would start up something frivolous.

"Hmmm, I bet they're mates." Killian mused into her hair, watching as Ai laughed at something that his cousin said. It must have been a really good joke, because she hunched over clutching her stomach.

"What! How can you tell?" Rachel pulled back to look at Killian with wide eyed shock. She couldn't decide if to be happy for Ai, or worried for her (if Killian was right.) She knew that Ai wasn't exactly looking for a relationship right now, but she also knew that Ai was facing a lot of pressure from her parents and maybe this was another reason for them to back off.

On the other hand, she would be so glad to be able to share this secret part of her life with her best friend. It had been hard to keep it a secret, especially after today's ceremony; she could tell that Ai had questions after notions of 'moon goddesses' and 'soulmates' had populated the ceremony. The only reason she had not deemed to ask was because she wanted to be polite on their wedding day.

Rachel fully expected to get a facetime tomorrow with an onslaught of questions that she was ready to answer.

"I know my cousin."

"You think they'll go through anything like we did." Rachel mused, thinking about the rollercoaster ride they had to go on to reach to the point they had. She supposed it was the journey they needed, but she didn't think Ai had the patience for what they had gone through.

"Well, every couple has their journey right? Even those Alphas over there had their own waters to wade through." Killian nodded to the other mated pairs who had come and offered their congratulations.

Leora and her husband Adam were sitting leaning into one another at one of the tables watching their daughter play with Spiraea and Vincent's son. Adam pressed a kiss to Leora's cheek, murmuring something into her ear as he caressed the barely there bump of her stomach.

Vincent twirled Spiraea into his arms on the dance floor, the girl laughing when he crooned the lyrics of the love song to her softly. Every so often one of them would turn to see what Max was doing, but they seemed to be enjoying the time for themselves also.

The last mated couple were Seth and Orion, who sat at a table, their hands joined, speaking with the only female Alpha, Renee.

Before she could get too lost in her observation, Killian's words brought her back to their conversation. "Whatever it is, I'm sure they'll be just fine."