Epilogue (Part 1)

Hey guys! I'm back with the epilogue. Well part of it, anyways. Even though I said I wasn't sure if I'd make one, but I decided to do it.

Also, 900k views?!

I can't believe how far this story has gone, and I couldn't have done it without you guys. Thank you so much for all of your comments and votes. I hope you all enjoyed my story, even if it is kind of bad. I started it like 5 years ago, so you might be able to see how much it has changed over the years grammar wise...

Anyways, I hope you guys like the epilogue.

***

*Jax's POV*

This was hopeless.

Nothing stood out to me. I was not one to give up, but every ounce of confidence I had when I first came in no longer existed. Everything looked plain or too ordinary. Nothing stood out.

"What do you think about this one?" Theo hollered from the other side of the store, causing a few heads to turn in his direction, including mine.

He pointed to a small display under the glass. I walked over to him to take a look. My eyes widened at how stunning the small circular object was.

"Would you like to take a look at it, Alpha?" the man behind the counter asked as he slid the glass door behind the display open.

I nodded my head, still speechless. How did Theo manage to find this?

The older man picked up the piece of jewelry with two fingers and gently laid it on the palm of my hand. "Everything in this store is uniquely made."

I raised the small object in my hand to scrutinize it. Diamonds lined the rose gold band in a simple, yet beautiful pattern. The top of the ring had a square jewel that glistened under the light, tinier diamonds bordering it at the base.

"This is the one," I announced with a smile.

Theo cheered victoriously, raising his fist in the air. "I found it!" he shouted, looking at everyone else in the room and pointing at the small ring in my hand. "Everyone, I found the ring!"

"Do you have to be so loud?" I questioned, raising my eyebrow.

"I deserve all the credit," he joked. "I'm going to be the reason she says yes."

"Yeah, sure," I laughed. "Keep telling yourself that, Theo."

The man grabbed the white box from the display. I handed him the ring and he situated it inside on the pale pink cushion.

After paying for the engagement ring, he handed me a small bag that had the ring box in it. "Good luck," the cashier said with a large grin. "Can't wait for the announcement."

"We all know she's going to say yes," Theo answered. "It's just a matter of when he'll pop the question."

I rolled my eyes at him and exited the store, Theo following me out the automatic door.

"So," Theo started, shoving his hands in the pockets of his shorts. "How are you going to ask her?"

"I don't know. I thought I'd just ask her tomorrow night..." I mumbled, not really thinking much about it. I wasn't one to go all out.

A gasp left Theo as he stopped in his tracks. "How can you not do something big? You're asking her to be your wife for eternity. If you don't go all out, she'll probably say no!"

I let out a laugh. He was so overdramatic. "Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm not joking. Girls are into that sort of thing."

"So what I'm here is..." I started with a chuckle. "If Kian doesn't do some romantic gesture when he proposes, you're not going to say yes?"

Theo's eyes widened as his cheeks turned a deep shade of red. "D-Don't say shit like that," he stuttered, looking down at his shoes.

After discussing different ideas and a lot of thought, I decided on cooking a nice dinner and proposing to her at home. I believed that doing it somewhere private was the best, because it would be our moment, nobody else's.

We came up with a plan on how to get Autumn out of the house. Kian would be the one distracting her. He claimed he needed her help with something anyway. While she's out of the house, Theo said he would help me prepare everything, even after I told him I could do it myself.

So the following day, when Kian showed up at our doorstep looking distressed as according to the plan, I felt relieved. Especially when Autumn told him she'd get ready and go with him. That would kill a couple hours.

When they left, Theo entered the house from the back door, carrying multiple bags in his hands.

"Daddy's here!" he hollered from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes at him, but grinned nevertheless.

•••

*Autumn's POV*

"So what was it that you needed help with?" I questioned as I started up my car. I heard the sound of the seat belt clicking as Kian situated himself in the passenger seat.

At first Kian didn't respond, so I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He seemed nervous, as his eyes darted around in thought.

"Uh," he started. "Theo and I are going on our first date together, and I honestly don't know what to...wear."

When I stopped at a stoplight, I turned and blinked at him. "That's what you're stressed about? What to wear?"

Kian bit his lip as he shamefully nodded his head.

"Don't you have cousins you could have asked for help?" I asked as the light turned green. I looked ahead and continued driving down the road towards the outlets down by the beach. "Aren't you close with them?"

"Well I kind of wanted your opinion. You know Theo pretty well..."

I smiled. That I did. But to be honest, I haven't known him that much longer than Kian.

"So what are you guys doing for your date?"

"We're going paintballing, and then we're going to a movie afterwards," he responded.

"That sounds like fun," I commented.

I put the car in park and we climbed out, making our way to one of the entrances of an outlet store. We were greeted by a man hanging up a couple shirts on a rack. He waved and asked if we needed any help. After kindly telling him 'no,' Kian and I walked over to one of the displays of shirts.

"So for paintballing, I'm not really sure what you want to wear. Something that is comfortable, I guess," I mumbled to myself as I scanned the different tops. "How come you aren't wearing clothes you already have?"

Kian shrugged his shoulders. "I wasn't happy with what I have," he answered as he pulled out a short-sleeved shirt and inspected it intently. I noticed how he contemplated whether or not to get it, but then he caught my gaze and quickly placed it back.

After what felt like hours of me suggesting various articles of clothing and visiting many different stores, my patience began to grow thin.

"Too ugly!"

"Theo won't like that."

"Too simple."

"Too fancy."

Anger boiled under my skin. "Well pick something, dammit!" I finally shouted in annoyance, throwing my arms up and falling onto one of the couches by the fitting room. People in the room turned their heads in our direction, sending us curious looks.

My eyes narrowed at Kian when I noticed the corners of Kian's mouth twitch as if he held back a laugh.

"If I had known you were so picky with clothes, I would not have agreed to do this," I muttered under my breath, crossing my arms.

"Do you want to take a break and get something to eat?" Kian suggested as he held his hand out. Nodding my head, I gripped his hand as he pulled me up from the seat.

"Do you like bubble tea?" I questioned as we exited the store and walked towards the food court they have outside by the boardwalk. There was a nice asian restaurant that served sushi and noodles along with different beverages. They had really good bubble tea there as well.

"Never had it before," Kian responded as we joined the line in front of the cash register.

"You should try it. I recommend mango milk tea. It almost tastes like a smoothie," I suggested before ordering my meal.

After we received our food, we found a table with an umbrella and sat down. Today felt wonderful, the temperature not too hot with a slight breeze. I inhaled deeply, enjoying the salty air and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.

"So how is it going with Theo?" I asked after taking a sip of my tea.

"I think it's going well. We're both still new to this," he said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm happy that we're trying to make it work."

I flashed him a smile. "Me too. I was getting tired of seeing you two knuckleheads denying the inevitable." He laughed and rolled his eyes. "It was exhausting."

•••

"She's almost here," Theo said as he stared down at the text he received from Kian. He gathered his things before heading towards the back door. "Let me know how it goes, Alpha."

I stood in the kitchen, staring at the different dishes he and I made together after watching tons of cooking videos and reading many recipes. There was steak, pesto linguine, scalloped potatoes in cheese sauce, oven-roasted green beans, chicken breast, and honey-glazed carrots. Maybe I went a little overboard...

For dessert I made a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. Hopefully she would like it.

I walked over to the light switch and dimmed the lights. Then I grabbed a lighter and lit some candles scattered around the room. I nervously picked up the bouquet made up of white, pink, and red roses.

Hopefully this isn't too cheesy.

After looking around the room, regret started to seep in.

I shouldn't have done this!

Before I could turn the lights back on and blew the candles out, the front door opened as Autumn entered the house. She closed the door and sighed loudly. Kian must have done what he had promised.

"Jax, I'm home!" she called out, her voice echoing from the entrance hallway.

"In here," I shouted back, my voice trembling slightly from nervousness.

"Are you cooking?" she asked, her footsteps coming closer. "It sure smells delicious in here."

I swallowed as she entered the room. She looked down at her shirt, rubbing a stain she got on it. "I'm such a messy eater. I spilled some of my teriyaki noodles on-"

She stopped mid-sentence when she noticed me standing in front of her with the bouquet. Then her eyes wandered around the room, taking in the many dishes of food and the lit up candles.

"Jax," she cooed with a large smile. "What's all this for?"

She stepped towards me as I held the flowers out toward her. She accepted it with a toothy grin and brought it up to her nose, inhaling deeply. Then she cupped my burning face with her hand and brought it closer to her, kissing my lips. The one hand that wasn't sitting in my pocket holding a box sat on her hip.

"Why are you so cute," she gushed once she pulled away from me. She poked at my red cheeks. She kissed my cheek before walking over to one of the cabinets and pulling out a vase for her flowers.

As she cut the stems of the roses before placing them in the vase, I began preparing our dinner plates. Then I sat them down on the dining room table.

"So what did you make?" Autumn asked as I pulled a chair out for her to sit on. "This looks so good."

"I made a lot," I responded before listing everything I made, excluding the cheesecake I had in the fridge.

I watched her nervously as she took a bite of a small piece of steak. Her eyes lit up as she chewed. "Wow, this is so good," she commented after swallowing. Relief flooded through me.

We continued eating our meal and talking about random stuff. Autumn told me some stories from her childhood and how she met her best friend Ciara. Then she talked about high school and then asked me about my childhood.

By the time we finished eating the main meal, I felt myself growing even more nervous. "Damn I'm full," Autumn muttered as she blew out some air, leaning back in her chair. "Thank you so much for dinner. Hey, why do you look so nervous? I swear I can see beads of sweat on your forehead."

I shook my head. "I'm alright. Wait here," I answered, stacking our empty dishes. I placed them in the dishwasher and stuck the leftovers in the fridge before grabbing the cheesecake and sitting it on the counter.

I read the red words written on top of the desert. It was very cheesy and cliche, but don't girls like that sort of thing? At least that's what Theo told me...

"What's that you got there?" Autumn questioned curiously as she saw me carrying fabric in my hand.

"Sit still," I said, wrapping the strip of cloth around her head and blocking her vision. "I'll be right back."

When I came back into the dining room, I sat the cake on the table and positioned Autumn in front of it.

"When I take off the blindfold, keep your eyes closed," I commanded, getting ready to untie the knot behind her head. She nodded her head, so I allowed the cloth to fall from her face. Then I pulled out the box from my pocket and knelt down behind her, trying my hardest to ignore the way my legs shook in the process.

"Open," I whispered. I couldn't see her expression, which made me anticipate her reaction.

"Jax, what-" she paused when she read the question written out on the cake. Then she spun around and her eyes immediately zeroed in on the ring I held out towards her. Her mouth hung open as she gasped, her eyes becoming glossy "Jax."

"Now I know we've already completed the mate bond and we'll be together for the rest of our lives. I don't want you to just be my mate and my Luna, but my wife as well," I said, staring up at her with adoration. Then I reached for her hand and pulled her closer to me. "Autumn, please marry me."

A toothy smile made its way onto Autumn's face as she jumped on me, knocking us over onto the floor. I had to make sure I didn't drop the ring box. She wrapped her legs around my waist and threw her arms over my shoulders, embracing me tightly. "Of course I will!" she beamed, pressing a hot, searing kiss on my mouth. I smiled against her lips before pulling away slightly.

She looked down at the small box. "It's so beautiful," she whispered. I plucked the object off the cushion. Then I grabbed Autumn's hand and gently slid the ring on her finger. She stared down at her hand, beaming radiantly.

"I love you so much!" she hugged me tightly, capturing my lips with hers. I kissed her back, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her flush against my body.

"And I love you," I replied in between kisses.