Page 65 of Brutal Alpha Bully

“To Seraphina, my mate and fiancée, and Nora, my daughter, the two of you have changed my life for the better. You’ve shown me what real strength looks like. You’ve taught me that courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the decision to act in spite of it. And you remind me every day to be kind to everyone I meet, no matter who they are, or how they differ from me.”

It’s over—the part in which he claims us, and nobody in the building has shouted in outrage. In fact, most of the people here look too tired to care about who Xeran chooses as his luna.

Something inside me finally,finallyrelaxes as he finishes his speech.

“This pack has been through fire—literally and figuratively. We’ve lost buildings, businesses, and people we cared about. But we’ve also discovered strengths we didn’t know we had, forged bonds that can’t be broken, and proven we’re stronger together than any challenge we might face apart. Thank you, all of you, for giving me the honor of being your next alpha supreme.”

The moment it’s clear that he’s finished with his speech, the applause is thunderous.

And when Nora and I join him, his arms wrapping around us and pulling us in close, his warmth surrounding me, that applause somehow only seems to grow louder.

Epilogue - Xeran

Despite all of Nora’s assurances to me that she didn’t invitethatmany kids, my backyard is alive with voices and laughter with the chaos that comes from a yard full of kids, all hopped up on sugar and cake.

It’s early spring but unseasonably warm, so we decided to move the party outside, where the air is bursting with the scents of Phina’s garden, all those fresh flowers she and Nora planted. Seeing it like this reminds me of my mom, of all the time she used to spend back here growing fruits and veggies and cutting fresh flowers to bring inside.

At first, I was worried that living in my dead parents’ house might be too morbid, but being here with Nora and Phina is different. They bring the entire place to life.

Nora kept the room she and Phina had shared, painting it blue and picking out her own furniture. The first thing she brought in was the pink and purple chessboard from Denver.

Phina redecorated what’s become our bedroom, filling it with lighter colors and swapping out the dark wood for light. Now it looks like a completely different place.

And even the backyard has had another facelift. With fairy lights twinkling overhead and a hot tub in the far corner, it actually feels like the kind of place where you’d have a party. Phina even went so far as to build a picnic table, painting it a soft purple and situating it under our tree, which is currently strung with balloons.

Phina is bustling around, refilling punch and fetching snacks and cleaning up messes before they even happen. Occasionally, I catch her using a tiny bit of magic, and when we lock eyes, I shake my head at her. She just laughs.

The rulewasonly in the house. I just never knew my house was going to host all of Silverville’s sixth grade.

Apparently, after years of struggling to make friends, Nora didn’t take long to amass a queue of potential party-goers once news spread that she was a Sorel. And not just any Sorel. The alpha supreme’s daughter.

I lean against the porch railing and watch Nora command her party, just another sign of the alpha she’s destined to become. Even the other alpha kids are listening to her, and I get the feeling that it’s not just because it’s her birthday.

Or maybe that’s what every parent thinks about their kid.

“Dad!” she calls, surprising me by turning and meeting my eyes like she knew I was thinking about her. “Be on my team for the relay race!”

I shake my head and laugh. “Not sure that would be fair, kid.”

She rolls her eyes good-naturedly, then turns back to the race, which Felix has been laying out for the last ten minutes. When Phina gave him a task for the party, I didn’t actually think he would do it. And I certainly didn’t think he’d do such a good job.

Lachlan, Felix, and Soren are in the corner of the porch, working the grill. They’d tried to convince me that cooking the meat was part of my job as alpha supreme, but I managed to convince them that there was no way I’d be standing over a hot grill all day.

“Hey,” Phina says, opening the sliding door and appearing next to me. I turn to find her offering me a glass of lemonade, and I accept it, unable to tear my eyes from her. She’sbeautiful today, dressed in a simple sun dress, her blond hair loose around her shoulders.

In this light, she’s practically glowing.

“Hey,” I reply, pulling her in and kissing her cheek quickly, as though someone might catch us being affectionate in our own home and kick us out.

Well, more specifically, Nora might gag all the way from across the yard.

The party proceeds exactly according to Phina’s schedule. First, we sing to Nora. It’s controlled chaos as we gather around the picnic table. Eleven candles flicker on top of a chocolate cake decorated with sharks and seaweed. Nora laughs and sings along while everyone sings “Happy Birthday” with varying degrees of enthusiasm and key accuracy.

Felix’s voice cracks on the high notes while Lachlan harmonizes perfectly, because of course he does. Knowing him, his parents insisted that he take singing lessons as a kid to go with his violin and piano lessons. But it’s Phina’s voice I focus on, soft and sweet beside me, her gaze locked on our daughter.

When we’re done singing, Nora takes a deep breath and blows out all eleven candles in one go, earning cheers from the assembled crowd.

After the cake, it’s time to swing at the piñata. A squid, which Nora informs us is different than an octopus. It’s been provided by Lachlan and strung up by Soren.

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