Fallen Lorde- Extended Epilogue (Spoilers for Kootenai Pack)

Hello all!

I’ve been working on Mark of the Void and Ginger’s book so much, I’ve been missing Kootenai. It’ll be a while before we get out of Easterville so here’s a bit of a taste of what happens after Fallen Lorde.

This takes place almost Eighteen years after the Fall of the House of Lorde (fifteen years after the end of Fallen Lorde)

“Kendrick! Kendrick! Come quick!” I shouted. No, I screamed. The bowl of popcorn dropped from my hands, popped kernels spread all over the wooden floor.

I survived over a hundred rank challenges, birthing twins, and every challenge my job as Kootenai Pack Beta threw at me. 

But this was too much. 

It was too soon.

They were too young for this.

“Willow!” Kendrick came bounding out of his office to the game room and he skidded to a halt, “Is that? Are those?”

I nodded, unable to rip my eyes from where my teenagers had been arguing only a minute ago. It was just a normal family movie night. The kids were yelling once again about movie choice while I made popcorn and Kendrick finished up his Alpha duties for the day. 

I was only in the kitchen for a minute, but when I returned, my twin teen terrors were gone. Replaced by two wolves. The tiny black one chewed on my brand new sofa, while the fluffy white one turned its attention to the popcorn all over the floor.  

I guess if there had to be a perk to my children getting their wolves early, I’d take popcorn clean up. 

“But it’s too soon,” Kendrick said, easing his way behind me, “They’re barely fourteen.”

“You shifted at thirteen,” I reminded him. 

He winced, “I was also in the midst of major trauma,” over the years, Kendrick made amazing strides in therapy. He was very open with Danny and Ava about his relationship with his parents and his history with the leaders of the Rogue Shifter Coalition. Overtime, the whole pack knew about the treatment we’d all faced at the hands of the deceased Alpha Biel. 

I rubbed Kendrick’s arm, “I guess having to watch the remake of the Mighty Ducks for the tenth time this year would have been pretty traumatic for Ava.”

“You’re hilarious.” 

Kendrick looked back at our pups- whelps. My babies were whelps now. I was officially old. Soon they’d be leaving for out of pack education and finding their mates and having pups of their own. 

“Who do you think their mates are?” I asked, “Should we let the twin terrors loose on the town and find out?”

Kendrick growled, “They’re too young.”

I threw my head back and laughed, “I’m not saying I want to be a grandma or anything, I’m just curious if it’s anyone in the pack.”

“I just don’t want them to feel pressured one way or the other.” 

I agreed. We’d grown as partners raising our pups and growing our pack. But the rejections of our Moon Blessed Mates still lingered. Our howls turned to whimpers over the years eventually disappearing altogether, but the pain never truly went away. 

I loved Kendrick with all my heart, my wolf did too. We found each other and created the life we always wanted. In doing so, we shaped the pack in our image. Moon Blessings stopped being an excuse for unhealthy behavior. My pups would never know the pain I felt with Jackson. They’d never suffer the absence Kendrick felt when Aster left. 

The two adolescent wolves stopped chewing on their respective distractions and started chewing on each other. 

“At least they’ll always have a sparring partner.” 

“Ava’s going to kick Danny’s ass,” Kendrick said, watching the two wolves roll around on the rug. 

“How do you know which one’s which?” I asked. The pups hadn’t stopped moving long enough to figure out who was who.

Kendrick shrugged, “Your daughter has hunter written all over her. Danny’s a lover, not a fighter. Besides, if he’s too mean to Ava, little Millie Nelson would never forgive him.”

At the sound of Millie Nelson’s name, the white wolf lifted his head. After a second, he bolted from the game room. The black wolf which must be Ava, took off in the other direction. No doubt to cut her brother off before he ran to her best friend’s house.

“You’re on Danny duty,” I yelled, following my daughter down the hallway. 

“Stay safe, I love you!” Kendrick yelled on his way out of the room. 

“I love you too!”

Mark of the Void Deleted Scene!

I’m hard at work on the sequel to Eye of the Void, and there are so many things I want to include but don’t have room for.

Enjoy this taste of the Preternatural Apprehensions and Warnings facility, South Dakota.

The laundry room was about what I expected with the unexpected addition of a giant centaur folding sheets. Earl looked up at me for a moment before returning to his giant laundry bucket of clean linens. He set a now neatly folded sheet on a stack of other sheets and pulled another from the bin.

“Hey, Earl, mind if I do a load?” I said, hoping like hell the centaur I’d met my first day was the only centaur at PAW. From the brief look of surprise followed by a small smile, I presumed I was correct. 

“Whites in the hamper on the right, darks in the left,” he explained, “I don’t do delicates so you’re out of luck there.”

“Oh, ok.” 

 I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with my new-to-me clothing being put into a communal laundry pile. How would I know I got everything back? These clothes were replacements for the ones Adrian destroyed, but Adrian replacthemian. I didn’t pick them. I hardly knew the clothes, but they were mine.

“Would it be ok if I did my own?” I asked. 

Earl looked up from his third sheet of our conversation, “Do you know how to run these machines?” “Are the machines magic?” I asked. 

“Why would we waste magic to wash clothes when humans have designed machines that can do the work?” he asked. His front hoof stomped on the ground, and his tail flicked out. 

“Fair enough.” I hefted my bag of laundry to an open washer Earl pointed out. I dumped the whole bag into the industrial-sized machine, poured an approximately correct amount of detergent and started the machine on the fastest setting. 

“You risk color bleeding,” Earl said, “Don’t they teach you anything in human schools?”

I laughed, “Not really. What about you, what do they teach in centaur schools?”

Earl’s face darkened, “There are no centaur schools.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know,” I said. I stood across the counter from Earl and pulled out a clean sheet from his bin and started folding. My folds weren’t as neat as Earl’s were, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“You’re the void,” it wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway. “With the shifter mate?” Earl continued. 

“And you’re a centaur,” I replied, avoiding the mate question, “And this is a fitted sheet.”

“A fitted sheet you’re folding wrong,” he said, ripping the fabric from my hands with a bit more force than necessary. He effortlessly spun the fabric around tucking and folding the corners until it was a perfectly square folded sheet. 

“Magic,” I muttered, it had to be. Anytime I tried to fold a fitted sheet, I ended up with a ball of cloth and elastic. 

Earl snorted, “I’m not magic, you’re just inept.”

“Well, I have-” I glanced over at the washing machine which was still hissing with water filling the drum, “Quite a while until my laundry’s done, why don’t you teach me your ways, Oh Earl, the Centaur King of Fitted Sheets.”

He raised his eyebrow at me, “Who told you I was the Centaur King?”

Well, shit apparently sarcasm wasn’t something centaurs recognized, “No one had to tell me, it’s obvious,” I lied, “Even a void can see the kingly way you carry yourself.” Earl’s shoulders straightened and his lips twitched like he was trying to hide a smile, “Right, well, let it never be heard that I turn down a subject coming for guidance.”

Maybe I went too far with the flattery. But it worked, for the remainder of the wash cycle and the entire dry cycle, Centaur King Earl taught me how to fold a fitted sheet. 

“If Large Marge could see me now, she’d make me do the Motel California Street’s laundry forever,” I chuckled to myself as I almost-perfectly folded another sheet. 

“Large... Marge?” Earl mused to himself rolling the name over his tongue, “Tell me about this creature.”

“She’s not really a creature... that I know of,” I amended, “She and her husband, Tiny Mikey owned the motel I lived in before it exploded.”

Earl nodded sagely, “When I am released and can once again continue my search for a Centaur Queen, I shall consider it, there are few large enough to handle a true King.”

I didn’t doubt that one bit. Earl was more horse than man by my estimation. His human torso began at the same height as my shoulders. 

“And we have completed my linen duties for the day,” Earl said after he refolded my final sheet. He patted now empty unfolded laundry cart and pointed to the opposite side of the room. Able to read his hints, I wheeled it into the taped off square and the laundry room was back in order. 

“I will have your clean laundry brought to your quarters when it is complete,” Earl told me.

“Oh, thanks, you don’t have to do that, I can-”

“Nonsense,” Earl said with an exaggerated sweep of his arm, “Earl, Centaur King of the Fitted Sheets will grant you, Iris Engels, void mate of the shifter, this favor as a token of my favor.”

“Um, thank you, King Earl,” I said, his expression brokered no argument, and I wasn’t looking forward to hauling the laundry back up the hill anyway, “That is a very generous -erm token. I will uh cherish it forever and tell tales of your generosity across the bleach and softener kingdoms.”

He nodded sagely, “Come, let us dine, I’ve been promised a barrel of fresh-cut oats for the evening meal today. I’ll gladly share some with you.”

“That’s ok, I’m really more of a ramen noodle gal,” I said. 

“Nonsense,” Earl patted me on the shoulder, causing me to stumble forward, “You shall eat at my table.”

“Oh, I’m honored by the invite but-” 

“Iris!” a familiar voice cut across the hallway.

“I had a previous commitment,” I said, “Unless the mimic Tips Townsend is welcome at your honored table.”

Earl looked down the hall where my disheveled friend jumped up and down calling my name, “Another time, Iris void mate of shifter.”

“It’s been an honor, King Earl,” I said, before rushing over to Tips.

“What were you doing talking to the centaur?” Tips asked. His eerie blue eyes widened, “Is he a suspect. You know I always thought he was suspicious. No normal man is that into detergent.”

“I was doing laundry, Earl taught me to fold sheets,” I said, turning back to give the odd centaur another wave, “He’s... interesting.”