A fairly-wise woman with long, blonde hair and perfectly manicured nails once told me that epilogues are 'shit'. She stared me dead in the eyes and told me that epilogues are like politicians. They're the liars.
Now, I don't exactly agree with that entirely. Okay, okay, yeah, so epilogues do seem to over exaggerate the whole 'happy ending' concept. They lie a little. I get it. Everyone wants their big, happy ending with their loving spouse and two children, but that's not really reality. That doesn't actually happen. People end up paying taxes and working most of their adult lives to feed those two children who are going to up and leave in eighteen years.
If stories were supposed to end with all of this 'happy ending' nonsense, then we'd just call it a happy ending. We don't, though. That's why it's called an epilogue.
The epilogue is basically just the conclusion of the story. That's it. Its the ending. No one ever set up a law that stated that the epilogue had to be happy. It just has to end the book. It has to conclude the author's entire thought, but then again does it really? I mean, there really isn't a set law that states it has to end the book right? Who says the epilogue can't start another one? Why do we have to read an epilogue and feel sadness? Because it's the end of a journey? Is that a bad thing?
Why do we have to think of an epilogue being like the night time? Why not the morning? Why can't I sit down, read a book, and think of the epilogue as a new beginning? It could be like the ringing of an alarm clock to start my day, or an obnoxiously hard flick to the temple waking me from my peaceful slumber. Literally.
I groaned and rolled away from whoever had decided to wake me up so very rudely. Another flick was then placed to the back of my head.
"Knock it off!" I shouted as I turned around to meet a familiar pair of grey eyes. He chuckled staring down at me with amusement dancing in the grey orbs. He then proceeded to flick me dead center in the forehead.
"Dad!" I hollered sitting up against the arm of the couch causing the dark-brown-haired imbecile ahead of me to jump. His eyes widened as the sound of dad's heavy footsteps neared the both of us.
"Baez!" he hissed at me knowing darn well he was about to get yelled at in less than five seconds. As if on cue, Dad's head peered around the corner. His green eyes finding my grey ones, and then switching his gaze to the large male above me. A glare settled on his face as he walked out from around the corner to stand in front of the two of us.
"Boid, can you not be a prick to your sister for one day?" Dad growled out angrily. Boid turned to shoot me a glare which I gladly returned with a smirk. "Boid Elijah, look at me when I'm speaking to you!" Dad scolded instantly earning back Boid's attention. I'm pretty sure he paled a few shades, as well. Dad could be pretty scary. I'll give him that. He usually didn't get this mad over Boid and I's little fights. Sure, we bicker, but Boid's my twin. We wouldn't do anything drastic much like other shredders. I'd even go as far as saying that the two of us are pretty civilized. Call me cocky, but I think we could pass as pack wolves.
I shifted my gaze from my very irritated father to the floor. He was wearing his work boots that he only wore when he went to do a perimeter sweep. That's why he was most likely a bit touchy. There aren't ever many incidents at the border, so when one does occur it normally sets dad off like a firecracker. Fresh remnants of mud and dirt trailed behind him on mom's freshly swept floor. Uh, oh.
Dad's large, calloused hands were suddenly on both sides of my face pulling me away from my thoughts. I was inches away from literally touching noses with him which freaked me out to no end. What the heck is he doing? His dark, green eyes narrowed in on my forehead.
"Boid," my dad barked. I couldn't see Boid's expression due to the fact that I was practically touching eyeballs with my father, but I could already assume he was pretty much peeing himself. Heck, I was practically peeing myself! Dad can be freaking terrifying when pack wolves get a little too close to our side of the border, "did you do this to your sister?"
"I was just joking around, dad! I swear! It wasn't supposed to leave a mark!" Boid defended. A mark? He left a freaking mark dead center on my forehead? Wow!
"For once can you act your age rather than your height? You're fifteen not five!" Dad snapped making me cringe. Okay, if I would have known this was going to be a shouting match between Boid and our father then I definitely would have just settled on giving Boid a bloody nose.
"I'm 5'11," Boid muttered angrily too afraid to shout back at Dad. Me too, buddy. Me too.
"You can't just go around beating up on her all the time! She's little!" Okay, no. I'm 5'5. That's average, dad.
"She hurts me more than I hurt her-!"
"Kieran James!" My mother's angry yell practically shook the house making all three of us freeze-Dad, especially. Rarely does Mom ever yell. She was a quiet lady with steely, grey eyes much like Boid and I's. I would say little, but then I would be calling myself little, and I'm not. She's like two inches taller than me, and she refuses to let me live it down. "I swear, if this is you tracking mud all over my floor, I'll kill you!" My eyes shot around the room to see Boid and Dad sharing very similar facial expressions. Dad's was just a bit more fearful. Her footsteps got louder and louder as her bare feet padded against the wooden floor until her slim body appeared from around the corner.
How does one lady have five children and still manage to have like .7% body fat? It makes no sense.
Her eyes narrowed furiously on Dad's boots turning to a much darker shade of grey as a few strands of dark, brown hair fell into her face. Dad's a goner. Bless his soul.
"Arden, baby, I-" Dad didn't even get out his entire sentence before mom interrupted him.
"Kieran, just take the boots off!" Dad made very quick work of taking off the dirty boots. He hurriedly carried them out of the living room with mom trailing behind him hot on his heels saying something to the effect of 'you never do the floors' and 'I'll make you sleep on the floor if that's what you want'. My mother was a little savage. What more can I say?
Mom had that effect on everyone. Well, everyone in the shredder pack. She couldn't exactly order around a pack wolf or a human because she's only alpha female on our side of the border, but I'm sure that anyone would listen to my mother out of fear of what she would do to you. Mom didn't exactly have many limits which many people often find weird seeing as how my mother was born a pack wolf.
Thankfully, we mainly inherited the shredder gene from Dad. Yes, the scent of a pack wolf still lingers amongst the five of us besides Kai, our oldest brother, but it isn't really all that noticeable. Therefore, I don't mind it. It's not noticeable in Kai's scent due to the fact that he's the next alpha. Besides Dad, Kai is the strongest and most dangerous shredder out there. As far as I'm concerned, I'd say he's probably the strongest and most dangerous wolf out there, period. I say dangerous knowing what Kai is capable of. I don't mean that he just goes around killing whoever whenever. He's the next alpha. He has morals.
Dad wanted Kai to take over the position last year when he turned eighteen. He didn't want it yet, though. Kai's plan was to finish high school first. Now, its a whole year later, and his excuse for not stepping up is wanting to wait for his mate. I think Kai is just too afraid to take over as alpha. Its a big job, and he knows it. The pack wolves' alpha just stepped down and handed the title to his son about a month ago. This just added onto the pressure to hand Kai over the title. The title that he refused to accept without his mate by his side.
I respect Kai's decision. I would respect it a lot more if he waited for his mate in other ways too, though. It's not a secret that Kai tends to sleep around a bit. I'm not a fan of it, Dad isn't, and Mom most definitely is not. She even threatened to cut it off before if he didn't stop. He's honestly a good looking guy. I mean that in the nicest, most sisterly way. Kai was like 6'2 or something like that. He says 6'4, but I know for a fact that he's lying. He inherited his foresty-green eyes from dad and tan skin from mom. Considering both of our parents have dark hair, it never failed that all of us inherited the trait, too.
My gaze switched from my parents retreating figures and settled on Boid who looked as if he just dodged a literal bullet.
"Sorry," I mumbled feeling slightly guilty knowing that if it weren't for Mom, Dad would still be hounding Boid about flicking me. I was a daddy's girl. What can I say? Being the only girl in the family does that to a person.
"You almost just caused and witnessed my murder," he retorted as the color returned to his slightly pale cheeks.
"I wouldn't have let him actually murder you," I mumbled pushing myself off of the couch and into the kitchen. I expected Boid to follow, but he didn't. All that I heard from him was a frustrated sigh as his body hit the couch.
I did not hear any yelling from the kitchen, so that had to be a good sign. Right? Mom wouldn't have killed dad that quickly. I'm sure we would have heard some pleading from him by now.
Dad was a huge softy for Mom.
I froze in the door way of the kitchen not sure whether I should smile or vomit.
My dad had my mom's small frame wrapped up in his arms. She was pulled flush against his chest as their bodies rocked back and forth. I could just pick up on the quiet humming coming from Dad. He always loved to sing to Mom. Mom's face was hidden in Dad's chest as they continued their swaying. It was a cute moment. I'll admit it.
"Ew, second youngest coming in hot," I announced making my way over to the snack cupboard.
"We're not ew, Baez. You're ew," my mother fired back. I was trying my absolute hardest not to laugh at her. She didn't move her face from Dad's chest when she had spoken, so it all came out a bit muffled.
"Yeah, I'm so ew," I deadpanned rolling my eyes. I shut the cupboard not finding any of the snacks appealing. They were ew. "Anyone see Tess?" My father pursed his lips in thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"Nope, but you could do me a favor by grabbing the stack of papers off of my desk and giving it to her brother," he said with a hopeful smile. I already knew the only reason he was asking me to do this was so that I would leave him and Mom alone.
"Fine," I replied slowly moping out of the kitchen.
The capital house was big. I would never try to hide that. It had to be big in order to fit the alpha, beta, and gamma families in. The capital house is where we live since my dad is the alpha. The house is split up into three parts. There's the beta's quarters which is on the left. Then, there's the gamma's quarters located on the far right of the house, and then the alpha's quarters placed front and center. There were some good and bad things about living in the capital. I could go visit Tess, Marilyn's (my dad's gamma female) daughter, any time I wanted to really. That was nice seeing as how we're the only girls under the age of twenty in the entire house. That was the bad part, too, though. Living under one roof with not just four, but eight boys was a bit hectic. Thankfully, I only had to deal with four of them in the alpha's section of the house, but more often than not, the other four made themselves at home in our living room and kitchen. Hence why we have no good snacks.
"I hate these stairs," I groaned taking my last step before hitting the platform. Curse whoever designed this house. I made my way down to the end of the hall. You couldn't really miss Dad's office. You were stupid if you did. It was a big, oak door that read 'ALPHA' on it. Mom finds it funny to occasionally put a sticky note over it with the word 'Kitten' written on it. Dad really doesn't find it all that humorous.
Dad doesn't really ever find anything humorous, though. He's sort of a brute, but I guess he has to be. You can't rule an entire shredder pack while enjoying the smell of daisies. Okay, Bolton (Dad's beta) actually told me that, but it's true! If Dad were some sweetheart, we wouldn't be standing where we are today. Mom, Dad, Marilyn, and Bolton would not have managed to not only over throw the werewolf government but human government, as well. Shredders would still be creeping in the shadows like Mom told me stories of when I was little. Shredders wouldn't be dominating half of the world. Life would be so messed up if humans and pack wolves continued controlling everything. Unfortunately, pack wolves still do control half of the Earth, but I mean at least it's not all.
Dad's always had this somewhat twisted plan to take over the entire capital country, but Mom thinks its far too risky. Apparently last time Dad had a brilliant plan to rid the world of some pack wolves, he murdered some people close to Mom. Quite frankly, he ripped through the entire pack that her friends belonged to. The only survivor, as I am told, was Trevor. That was the start of the whole shredder uprising. Mom wouldn't speak to Dad for weeks after what he did. He had to get down on his knees and literally beg for forgiveness. Anyone who knows my dad will tell you that my dad does not 'beg'. Oh, but boy did he. I don't think Mom, Marilyn, and Bolton will ever let him live it down.
Dad's plan involves a mass murder which my mother is highly against. She's sort of the delicate, daisy-loving side that my father was not born with. He wants all of the capital country-not just half-in shredder possession. Once the country became our territory, it would be ten times easier to wipe out any pack wolf or human on it. To do that, we would have to take out their central pack house (their term, not mine), though. No one really knows how many pack wolves infest their main house. That's the problem.
Shredders can be pretty savage, but based on the stories that I've heard, pack wolves can be just as bad. They all travel in groups-little packs lead by little sub-alphas which are all lead by one main alpha. It's weird. Apparently, they still go by these things called states, as well. Strange, I know. It's much simpler just to use territories. We just have to remember east, west, north, highland, ridgen, etc. They have to memorize words like Minnesota. Honestly, what the heck?
I yanked open Dad's office door taking in the scent that surrounded me as I did so. Yep, smelled like Dad.
I sauntered my way over to his desk before planting my bum on his cushioned, spinny chair. My eyes raked over the mass amounts of paper work on his desk. Letters, payments, updates. Just flat out mass amounts of documents from pack members all around the world. I had no clue how Dad did it. I'd be going bonkers! Quite frankly, the desk would probably have a very evident indent of my face on it from the amount of times that I would no doubt smack my head off of it out of frustration.
Mom says I get my anger issues from my grandmother.
That's really all that she's ever told me or anyone about her family, but I'll take it!
Mom never really spoke of her family. I knew she had a brother named Elijah, but other than Uncle Riley I had no connections with any of her side of the family. Mom apparently had a falling out with her parents and brothers. She tried numerous times to search for her one brother, Eli, but he never surfaced. I was okay with just Uncle Riley, though. He and Mom were mega close. He used to tell Boid and I this story of how he saved mom's life after she fell off of a cliff and smacked her head on a rock at the bottom. I loved Uncle Riley, but he was literally insane.
I smiled as my eyes landed on a picture laying under a stack of border patrol routine papers for the Northern Territory in District Twelve. It was the whole family-well, all seven of us.
Me, Mom, Dad, Boid, Kai, Beau, and Knox.
The photo was taken about three years ago. Mom said she always wanted to have a big family photo, so Dad being the push over he is made us all take one. He actually smiled in it, too. I find it amazing how we managed to get Dad smiling on camera.
The photo was not perfect. Oh, not in the slightest. I'm pretty sure the only ones paying attention were Dad and Knox. Don't ask me how a two year old managed to pay better attention than a sixteen, fifteen, and two twelve year olds. I can't tell you.
Kai stood on the far left. He managed to get into a fight at school about three hours prior to the photo being taken. This ended up giving him a dark, purple ring around his right eye. He didn't seem too bothered by it. In fact, he seemed more annoyed by Beau pulling at his ear.
Beau was the second oldest. I'd say he took after Mom's side of the family looks wise except for his bright green eyes and height that he inherited from Dad. I say that he takes after Mom only because he's a spitting image of Uncle Riley when he was younger. Well, that's what Mom says. She would know, though. I mean, she did grow up with him.
Beau was always the quietest one out of the five of us. He tended to just observe more than anything, but he never failed to anger Kai in some way. He still does, and he's eighteen! Practically an adult! To be honest, I don't think Kai minds it. The two of them were always close considering the age difference between them is only a year.
Mom stood beside Beau with a little Knox in her arms. She had her mouth open saying something to him as he had a fistful of her hair in his little hand. Knox sucked away on his binky carelessly. His big, green eyes were trained on the camera in wonder. It was weird seeing Knox so tiny. He had grown so much in the past three years. His binky obsession turned to a thumb-sucking obsession, and Dad still can't seem to break him of it. Mom thinks it's cute. Dad stood to the left of them with a smile on his normally stoic face. I think he was just smiling through the pain, honestly.
It wouldn't be a family photo without the twins-Boid and I. Yeah, okay, so I was actually supposed to be a boy. My parents literally thought Boid and I were going to both be boys. I was almost named Bex. Baez isn't really all that better, but it's something.
In the photo, I stood in front of Dad. My bright blue, sparkly rain boots shimmering quite violently thanks to the sun. This was the day I realized I couldn't trust Boid with much of anything. Being the unthoughtful prick he was and always will be, he stomped his big, muddy boot directly onto mine leaving a boot print on it. Boid was smirking wildly with an evil expression plastered across his face. My small hand firmly grasping Dad's as my face scrunched up in disgust. Some days I wondered if he really was the older twin. He sure didn't act like it.
"Nothing ever changes," I mumbled to myself pushing the picture aside. After five more minutes of searching, I gave up on finding the papers for Sydney, Tess's oldest brother. He was practically gamma already. He would fully gain the position when Kai took over as alpha. I feel bad, though. Sydney is twenty now, and he's becoming a bit restless.
Jax, Bolton's oldest son, isn't really in much of a hurry to take on the beta position just yet. He's only fifteen like Boid and I, so I mean Kai's still got time. Once Jax turns eighteen though, he'll definitely have to take over as alpha-mate or not.
Wandering out of dad's office, I headed straight for my room. Time for nap part deux.
"Baez" poke. What does he want now? "Hey, Baez." poke. Ignore him and he'll go away. "Baez Alexandra." poke. He's not going away.
"What?" I groaned out not bothering to open my eyes. I didn't have to look in order to know it was Boid trying to wake me up again.
"Want to go spot the perimeter?" He asked making my eye that wasn't squished to the side of my pillow pop open. Spotting the border didn't sound too bad.
Spotting the perimeter was just a nicer way of saying 'shining bright lights at the pack wolves as they did border patrol at 11:30 pm'. We'd been doing it since we were little. Bolton would take Kai, Beau, and Sydney when they were younger. Then, he did it with Kai, Beau, Sydney, Boid, Tess, Jax, and I when we were all old enough. Since then, just us kids usually make the time to spot the perimeter at least once a month. We just ride the dirt roads along the perimeter and use the headlights or spotlights to shine over the border. There's nothing illegal about it. We aren't breaking any rules by just simply looking over the border. No harm done.
"Who's all going?" I asked barely being able to make out Boid's facial features in the dark.
"If you mean Tess, then yes. She said she'd go if you would." Okay, good.
"Who else, though?" I asked making Boid groan. He was always so impatient.
"Um-Beau, me, you, Jax, and Syd. Mom won't let Knox go because it's late, so he's just staying with Mac." Knox and Mac are both five. Knox is about seven months older than Mac, though so he won't be five for much longer. Mac is the youngest of Bolton's two sons just like Knox is the youngest of us five.
Like I said, we all have large families. My parents, Arden and Kieran, had the five of us-Kai, Beau, Boid, me, and Knox in that order.
Bolton and his mate, Lauren (my dad's betas, as I had mentioned before), had Jax and Macellan, but we just call him Mac.
Marilyn and her sorta-kinda mate, Trevor (my dad's gammas), had Sydney, Tess, and Hero.
Ten children all under one roof.
Some days I wonder how I get any sleep.
"Kai and Hero aren't going?" I asked. Hero would never miss spotting the border. He loves sitting on the hood even though we usually have to duck tape him to it.
"No, Kai's sleeping. I tried waking him up, but he threatened me, so I left him alone, and Hero went to check out something in the Southern Territory with Trevor. They won't be back for like a week," he stated.
"Oh, okay," I mumbled slipping out of bed. "I'll be out in a second. Just let me throw a hoodie on."
Boid left seconds later. I rushed in and threw on a sweatshirt that I had stolen from Beau. It was his hockey sweatshirt from like the tenth grade, I think. Boid was waiting in the living room with Beau and Sydney by his sides. We had to wait about five minutes for Jax and an additional three for Tess before heading out.
Tess and I took our usual seats in the bed of the truck. Jax and Boid accompanied us while Sydney and Beau drove. Well, Sydney drove. Beau was just telling him how to drive from the passenger seat. It took us maybe forty minutes to reach the back roads of the border. No one ever stopped to tell us that having four children in the back of a moving vehicle was unsafe. No one ever does. Telling the children of the highest ranking shredders to not do what they want to do is unsafe. There was not a single person-shredder, pack wolf, or human-who had never at least heard of the last names Mina, Ryner, or Daley. We were important.
Boid was the first one to turn on his spotlight. Jax followed his actions. Tess and I normally just sat back and hollered when necessary.
"Peek-a-boo!" Jax shouted once his spotlight landed directly on a very annoyed looking pack wolf. The man didn't say anything. He just stood about twenty yards away from the border with his arms folded over his chest. Sydney continued driving as every few minutes our lights would catch the glint of a pack wolf's eyes whether they be in human or wolf form. Our hooting and hollering continued as well. Anytime our sights would land on a wolf, we all would immediately bust out into obnoxious fits of curse words and howls which in turn earned us some very irritated looks. Occasionally, even a growl.
This was how the world worked, now. This is how the book of werewolves was supposed to end. Pack wolves were no longer meant to be the dominant species. The shredder uprising proved that.
I won't sugar-coat anything. This was life. I won't lie about how it. I never wanted to be a politician, anyway-not that I really could be. Politics aren't really a thing anymore.
There are so many more things to lie about. It's called a story for a reason. It wouldn't be much of one if I lied about the ending. There isn't really any need to feel sadness or anger toward an epilogue. I get it. It's the end of a story. It's a bit stressful to finally finish such a journey, but that's what the epilogue does. It ends the journey. It concludes everything. It brings a sense of peace to the contents of a book.
So, again, I ask. Why does the epilogue have to be a bad thing?
It could be so much worse.
It could end on a cliffhanger.
__________________
No. You haven't skipped a chapter.
No. I haven't skipped one either.
No. This was definitely not in Arden's POV.
No. This was not the ending you were hoping for, but it's the ending I had planned.
I told you that you all would hate me last chapter LOLOLOLOLOL
It's been a year friends. Hope you had fun siding with the bad guy(s) this entire book because even if you don't think you did, you most likely did.
This book was not meant to be about two mates. Sure it played a big part of it, but it was supposed to be about a girl finding herself. It was supposed to be about Arden's internal struggle whether to choose her mate or her family. That was achieved because in the end she chooses Kieran.
Stay awesome Gotham 9/20/16