Haven

Epilogue

One year later...

Norah really wished she could be anywhere but where she was going at that moment. The drive up north to the Quiotta clan's Gathering had been long and Rylan had insisted on driving his motorcycle rather than using the car. He complained that he never got to ride it - which was rubbish. He had plenty of opportunities to ride it, he just wanted Norah to go with him.

After becoming a werewolf, Norah's appreciation for motorcycles had taken a nosedive. The noise was like a drill to her ear drums and even after a year of assimilating, she still barely tolerated the noise. In her annoyance, Norah ditched him halfway at a rest stop and hitched a ride with Olivia.

"Drive now," she slammed the door shut.

Olivia put her foot down and they sped out of the stop before everyone else. "What's the rush?"

"I need to get away from that bike before the urge to destroy it overwhelms with me," she muttered.

"Still can't get used to the noise, huh?"

She winced. "It's slowly getting there."

Noise was still a big issue for Norah. Everything else had come naturally - even the shifting after her initial freaking out - but noise still had a way of overwhelming her. Her ability to control it fluctuated and only two weeks ago she had run out of the grocery store because the beeping of the scanner felt like it was going to make her head explode.

Trees rose on either side of the road, reminding Norah of her first drive into Bellvale. So many things had changed since then. For one - Bellvale had become her permanent home. She sold her old home, and purchased her Bellvale rental from Jack with the promise that she would give him any and all broken furniture so he could burn it. She had taken up a part time job at the Mill, doing  office jobs in between writing her novel which was finally finished. On the previous Wednesday, she had gotten the final draft back from her editor and all the query letters to publishers had been sent out. She had thought about self publishing but decided to take a crack at the traditional method first. She knew it was a long shot but Wendy and Madison had threatened physical harm to her if she didn't mail them out.

Madison had finally moved on from Parker and was a whole new person. Norah thought that Charlie had a lot to do with it but she never said anything. Everyone knew they were hooking up in secret - apart from Wendy - and Norah had made Madison promise to ring her the day Charlie finally told his sister.

Norah glanced at Olivia. Her hair was loose, falling in long ringlets around her face and she watched her fingers tap on the steering wheel. "You feeling okay?"

Olivia nodded and then shook her head. "Ask me again after we get there."

Tonight was the yearly Gathering. It was a sore subject now for the Montoyas. As time had passed, their grief had receded and a sense of peace and happiness had returned to them. Baby Jared had played a huge part in their healing process and Norah had become quite attached to the little boy. Sadly, mother and son had opted to stay home this year as Jared had come down with a small cold. Luke, who had become overprotective of his son, had thought about staying home too until Meegan kicked him out the front door.

"So, spill it."

Norah started. "What?"

Olivia glanced at her wryly. "Come on. It can't just be the motorcycle you're annoyed with. Something else is going on to have you this on edge."

Norah flushed, not wanting to admit what was really bugging her. "It's just the motorcycle."

"If you don't tell me, I'll force it out of Rylan -"