The shiftsilver chains slithered down to the floor, and Iz nudged them away with her foot. Now that Elizabeth’s arms were free, she embraced her daughter back—and then, to Logan’s surprise, held out an arm to him too. He leaned down very tentatively, hoping he wasn’t misreading her, and got caught up in a fierce, shifter-strong hug.
“You two work splendidly together,” Elizabeth said.
Iz beamed as she pulled back. “Yes, we do, don’t we?”
“We do,” Logan agreed. It sounded like a wedding vow—and a good one.
He took Iz’s hand as the three of them walked back down the tunnel, finding their way back to the portal. For the first time, he really felt like they were walking towards a future. He could see himself a couple hours from now, sitting with Iz in some all-night diner. He could imagine waking up beside her, every morning for the rest of his life.
It felt good.
Epilogue
Between tying up theloose ends with Sebastian’s case, putting up with medical exams, and getting Logan’s belongings (or what was left of them) out of his former landlord’s basement, it was a week and a half before they came home.
Theo and Jillian had kept Iz’s apartment completely pristine in her absence, and Jillian, bless her, had even gone on a shopping spree right before Iz and Logan were due home. She’d left Iz’s fridge and cupboards fully stocked, complete with Iz’s favorite super-fizzy Italian grapefruit soda and the same ultra-hot chips from the motel vending machine, since Logan had gotten hooked on them.
For Iz, the place was an oasis of the familiar, a way to instantly plug back into her old life of jewel-toned furniture, silver-framed family photographs, and tucked-away horror paperbacks with glowing skeleton covers.
She was overwhelmingly glad to be home, surrounded by her own choices. After spending so much time trapped in Sebastian’s fantasy zoo, just having this kind of obvious ownership of the space around her made a huge difference to her peace of mind. And once they got Logan settled in too, with his mom’s knit blanket slung over the sofa and his dry-mud-caked hiking boots by the door, she knew he would feel that way too.
She was in the mood to get him settled in and make a few changes. After everything they’d gone through together, her mom probably wouldn’t mind too much if she saw Iz’s trashy horror paperbacks out in plain sight.
Logan unfastened Nathaniel’s leash, and he immediately trotted off to inspect his new home and all its new smells. Cat, who had been entertaining himself by masquerading as a luggage tag, unfurled and darted off to stretch his muscles.
Iz crouched down and opened up the carrier that held the fluffalo.
“You’re home now. Go, be free, shed.”
Strawberry, Lemon, and Pistachio ambled out in their leisurely way. They were less curious than Nathaniel. Lemon headed off in the direction of the bedroom, probably to seek out another pair of Iz’s black pants; Strawberry promptly tucked herself under the coffee table and began to snore squeaky fluffalo snores; and Pistachio waffled between his brother and sister for a moment before choosing to join Strawberry under the coffee table.
There was already a fine coating of fluffalo hair on the floor.
“I think we need a Roomba,” Logan said, looking down. His mouth quirked.
“Possibly several,” Iz agreed.