Epilogue

My return home wasn't immediate. First there was finding a new home for my adoptive parents. Mom and Dad still had jobs in West Virginia, so it wasn't like they could just leave. With my full inheritance at my disposal, I found them a new home with enough rooms for all three of us kids to return if we desired. I had used my abilities to heal and alter their memories to help them find love with each other again and then, with as great an effort as it took to bind them to me in the first place, I released them both from my bonds. There was nothing truly difficult about it other than my reluctance. Doing so also proved to me that I could let any of my girls go at any time. However, considering my emotions for my girls were greater than my desire to keep my parents, I was fairly convinced letting my girls go would be the most difficult thing I would ever attempt. For my parents though, it was the best thing I could have done. They decided to take a second honeymoon and I helped finance it for them. They're free of my biological father's geas now, so they treat me like the son they always loved rather than the dirty little dog who had torn the living room apart.

The next issue to deal with was Monique and Ryan. Healing Ryan's wounds and altering his memories had been easy. Dr. Holzer helped me find a moment when I could be alone with him for the process. Monique, on the other hand, proved difficult. She still wanted me as per my Charm and our bond. I sat her down and talked to her but she was determined to get what Mom had enjoyed and what she had been denied. Unlike all the previous encounters with Monique, I chose to give into her advances, but on the condition that she would be released and sent home with Ryan. She agreed.

Letting Monique go after that was only difficult because she had gone all out to impress upon me her bedroom prowess. I knew I could have sex as many times as I wanted when home, so she wasn't giving me anything I hadn't wanted to experience already. However, lying in bed together, both of us catching our breaths after an hour of serious bed bouncing, I reached over, kissed her forehead and released her. To my surprise and relief, she smiled, got cleaned up and dressed and went back to Ryan. Before the couple left for California, I made one more change to Ryan that I was certain both would enjoy.

Mandy needed my attention as well, but in such a different way from the rest of my family. What she had done to Ryan had scared her, but not in the way I originally thought. She had been able to recall the incident in detail and the look in her eyes as she recounted events didn't show fear, but joy. She had enjoyed the smell of fear on him, the fact that she could knock him around as if his efforts were meaningless and the idea of just eating him even appealed to her. What scared her was that she had enjoyed the feel of those primal urges. I asked if she wanted me to remove the cat part of her persona. She wasn't sure. She still enjoyed being a cat for me, but she feared going too far again. I tried to assure her of her safety, since it had been Randal that had amplified that side of her, but she wasn't worried about her safety and through our link I knew she enjoyed the idea of being a bit dangerous somewhere deep down.

Even after the few days I had spent in West Virginia after everything calmed down, I still didn't go straight home. I offered to go with Savannah to North Carolina to see her boys again for Christmas. She accepted and we stayed only for a few hours. I could see the warmth between her and her sons, but her ex gave off a feeling of abject disgust. At one point, I confronted him about his attitude but before he answered, his new wife, Sandy, strode in the kitchen to fend me off. It turned out she was a Mind Mage with a green mark that made her part of House Nickelson. She believed that Savannah was unworthy of the boys. So she had convinced Nathan of it and was going to try to convince me. However, when my shields blocked her attempts and I told her about my status as a new House Lord, she paled and begged forgiveness. I wasn't sure what would cause such terror in the Magi regarding House Lords and Ladies, but it was obvious that something needed to be changed. Savannah didn't know about the exchange and I wasn't going to tell her. I made sure Sandy and Nathan agreed to allow the boys to fly to Texas for the occasional holiday. They tried to refuse on the basis that they wouldn't be able to afford airfare that often. I cinched the deal by guaranteeing the cost would not be theirs to worry about. That brightened Savannah like nothing else. Well, until we had left for home and she told me she wanted to have more children. The condition on that was like her sisters, I was to be the father.

Our return home was about as uneventful as was possible. We stopped at Savannah's house first and Alexandria and her girls were more than delighted to meet Anna. Alexandria wasn't surprised that her sister was now one of mine, and I was certain her initial request for me to be there for Savannah was in the hopes of such. I left the everyone there so I could go see to the store and make sure our home was free of any unwanted guests.