He let out a little laugh, taking her hand in his and kissing her fingers. “Okay. What?”
“Will you marry me?” Sophie asked. “I mean… I wanted to ask you before, but everything was crazy and—”
The rest of her speech was cut off when his lips claimed hers. All the answer she needed was in his kiss, in the way he held her, the way his lips made love to hers.
“Yes. Hell, yes, Sophie. I’ve wanted to ask you that since the moment you walked back into my life. Yes, I want to marry you. I want to live in our house and help feed your asshole battle goats — what the hell was with that, even? — and annoy Esme and Bryce and Jon and everyone else with how we can’t keep our hands off one another. And if you want them, I want to raise little witch bears with you.”
Sophie laughed, and her heart raced.
“Well…” She took Calder’s hand in hers and placed it, slowly and deliberately, on her stomach. She met his eyes, and saw the moment he understood what she was saying. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped, and then…
… He lowered his face to her neck and sniffed her.
“Um…” she said.
“I knew it!”
“What?”
“I knew you smelled more like me. Holy shit.” He met her eyes again. “Holy. Shit!”
Sophie laughed, and she leaned forward and kissed him, and then she whispered, “She’s of the Light. The goats are hers.”
“I’ll try not to kill Merlin, then,” he said, and she laughed, and he kissed her again.
Sophie woke the next morning beside Calder, bright light throwing its golden glow over her mate’s body. She’d stayed awake long enough the night before to sit with Esme and Jon and Calder for a while as they all tried to digest the craziness of the past several hours. Eventually, though, her body had overruled her desire to stay up and enjoy not having the specter of destruction shadowing her and her friends.
But now… now she had the rest of her life, with Calder. Her daughter would survive, despite the dire visions she’d had when she’d first realized she was pregnant. She felt a fresh pang of anguish for what Migisi had gone through. Migisi had been powerful. She had seen Shadow for what it was to most Shadow witches: an instrument of destruction. But it could be more. It could be better. It didn’t mean a death sentence for any children she and Calder made together.
And, to be totally honest, Sophie had one big thing Migisi hadn’t: the miracle of twenty-first century medicine.
She rested beside Calder for a while longer. She could hear Esme snoring in the living room, and Jon along with her. Both had ended up staying the night. Sophie guessed they were all a little freaked out over what had happened against Marshall. It almost felt too good to be true.
Silently, she slipped out of bed and pulled on a long skirt and a tank top, then padded past her snoring house guests and out the back door. As she stepped off the porch, she caught a small movement under the lilac. She bent down, and a closer look revealed an orange and white cat peering out at her.
Sophie smiled. Her old indoor cat was still with her, the only animal that had stayed through her turning to Shadow. Mostly, she spent her time in the attic.
The cat looked at her calmly, and she half expected it to speak.
She sighed. “This child is going to have more familiars than I’ll know what to do with, won’t she?” The cat continued to stare, then yawned and settled in for a nap.
Making her way through the yard and down to the goat pen, she just kept thinking one thing: we’re free.
Free of Marshall and his insane vow to his lost love.
Free of the curses that had tied her family to Calder’s.
Free of the battles with Bryce’s pack, the fear that she would lose someone else she cared about at any moment. She could do whatever she wanted, for the first time in her life.
Sophie fed the goats and gave them water, all the while giving them lavish and adoring praise about how strong and honorable they were, and then stood in the sunshine, taking in the forest around her home. It felt different than it had before, strengthened by Shadow instead of Light. But it was alive, and it wasn’t corrupting anything else, which had been her primary fear in trying to use it for that purpose. Now, she was glad she’d decided to do it.
“Hey, Sophie.” Sophie turned to see Bryce and Layla walking across the lawn toward her. Layla was using a walker, but she looked pretty steady. Sophie smiled and walked over to them. She hugged Layla hard.
“You got him, girl,” Layla said, hugging her back just as fiercely. “I knew you’d do it.”
As Sophie hugged Layla, she focused her magic on her friend’s body. Just a little.
She’d recover even faster now.
Sophie let her go with a smile and hugged Bryce. “That was… well, that was something,” he said, and she laughed.
“It was,” she agreed.
“I wanted to tell you in person… the entire pack feels it. The forest is strong, despite what that asshole warlock tried to do. And we all feel stronger because of it.”
Sophie nodded.
“You know this anyway, but the pack agreed that you should formally be told. The Falls Pack is eternally in your service. If you ever need us, we’ve got your back. You’ve had ours, even when some of us were acting like dickheads.”
Sophie laughed. “You never did, though.”
“I was a weak leader at first. I let things get out of hand. I was never meant to be alpha.”
“But you are, and you’re a good one,” Layla said, and Sophie nodded in agreement.
Bryce smiled at Layla. “I’m growing into the role, maybe. With my mate at my side.”
Sophie hugged Layla again. “So it’s official now?”
They nodded.
“And I’m doing the big-ass wedding thing, too, as soon as I can walk down the aisle on my own again. Big flowing dress, roses, the whole nine yards. I already told Cara to prepare for bridezilla moments.”
Sophie laughed and congratulated her friends.
Bryce sobered after a few moments. “On a less pleasant note… we figured out who torched Calder’s house.”
“Oh?” Sophie had almost forgotten about all of that, it seemed so natural to have Calder living with her.
“Those two old-timers in the pack… they got drunk and did it, thinking they were some kind of heroes. The pack will reimburse Calder eventually.”
“You know as well as I do that Calder won’t take a single cent from the pack. Besides, he doesn’t need his house.” She shared the fact that they’d agreed to get married, but she kept her baby a secret. She wasn’t ready to share that with anyone other than Calder just yet.
After chatting for a while longer, Sophie walked them to their car and watched from the driveway as they drove away. She stood for a while, taking it all in, feeling the warm summer breeze brush her skin. She heard the front door open, and Calder stepped out. He grinned at her, then stood behind her and wrapped her in his arms.
“This is so weird,” he said.
Sophie laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing. I don’t even know how to be somewhat normal.”
“I bet we can learn.”
“Mmhmm.”
He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. “Remember the first time we talked once you were back? I came over here to ask if that was your goat in my yard?”
Sophie nodded. “I remember. One look, and I knew exactly who you were. You made me just as fluttery as you did when we were kids.”
“I was so determined not to care about you, no matter how much I’d loved you back then. I should have known it would be impossible for me not to love you. In their own convoluted, terrifying way, Migisi and Luc ended up getting us together. I needed you to break the curse, and you were running from Marshall, and we both ended up here.”
Sophie nodded and leaned into him, loving the solid feel of his body behind hers, his arms around her body. “I used to hate them both, so much,” Sophie said quietl
y.
“Me too. I hated them, and I cursed the day they met, for a long time. Everyone in my family did.”
“I can’t hate them anymore. I wish we knew the whole story, but I suspect only Migisi and Luc knew exactly how it ended between them.”
“I’d like to think they found peace somehow. That was all I wanted when I had the curse. Peace.”
“Peace and happiness. Maybe they even found their way back to one another. I like to think they did,” Sophie murmured.
“I hope so, too.” Calder rested his hands on her stomach, and Sophie closed her eyes.
She didn’t need to hope for peace or freedom or happiness anymore. She had it, and in her heart, she believed her ancestor had helped her get it. She’d thought her life over when she’d lost the Light, that she couldn’t be who she’d always believed she was. But what she’d learned, what she’d teach her daughter someday, her daughter of the Light, born to a mother of Shadow, is that there is a bit of Light and a bit of Shadow in every living thing. Light can be darkness and Shadow can be light, and all that matters in the end is what you make of it.
“Our life is going to be amazing,” Sophie said.
“It already is. We’re here, aren’t we?” Calder asked, and she smiled, then turned and kissed him as a warm breeze blew, making the nearby trees sway gracefully. Bright sunlight filtered through their branches, and the shadows of fluttering leaves decorated the front of Sophie and Calder’s little stone house.
And it was beautiful.
Epilogue
“Finally! Give me that baby and go sit over there,” Esme said, holding her hands out. She and Jon were sitting on a large patchwork quilt beneath the shade of the giant oaks near the falls. Sophie rolled her eyes and gently unwrapped her daughter and handed her to Esme. Esme cradled her and started cooing at her.
“Such a sweet little thing. Grace is the perfect name for you, beautiful girl. We’ll just pretend your middle name doesn’t exist.” Jon laughed and leaned toward Esme and Grace, and Sophie and Calder exchanged a glance as they started unpacking the picnic basket. It was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and it made sense for them to try to make the most of it.
Sophie took bread, cheese, fruit, and a few other items out of the basket, and Calder set the bakery box of cupcakes he’d picked up that morning as far away from Jon as he could.
“Oh, come on. I was just going to have one,” Jon complained.
“Everyone knows you can’t be trusted near baked goods,” Calder told him. Sophie laughed, watching her husband joke with his brother. He looked relaxed, at ease. He’d grown more so over the last few months, since Grace had been born healthy and perfect. The gold band on his finger matched the one on hers; they’d been married in this exact spot just before Halloween. He was back to restoring cars, and Sophie had started her soap and lotion business back up again. She’d rebranded it as “Black Magic Apothecary” and had doubled her sales from her old shop, which seemed backwards to her, but since this was Shadow she was dealing with after all, she guessed it was par for the course. When was anything related to Shadow magic ever not somewhat convoluted?
Jon had moved closer to them and off of the land his parents had lived on. He built a small cottage on Calder’s land across the road from Sophie, and he worked with Calder every day. He was in their house so often, Sophie often considered charging him rent. The only ones at their house as often as Jon were Bryce, Layla, Cara and Esme, though of late, Esme seemed to pop up when Jon happened to be around.
They sat and ate for a while, and Grace started to get fussy. Sophie started unbuttoning her top, and Jon asked Esme if she wanted to go for a walk. Esme nodded, and he helped her up and they walked together down to the edge of the stream. Sophie watched as they walked close, as Jon leaned down as if to hear Esme better.
“How long do you figure that’s been going on?” Sophie asked him.
Calder shook his head. “He’s been less of an uptight little shit lately. I guess we know why. He’s mentioned her a few times.”
Sophie looked down at Grace, who was now nursing peacefully.
“Jon’s amazing, but you know she might only want him because he looks like Luc,” she said quietly.
He nodded. “I warned him about that. He said he’s making it very clear he’s not Luc, and to mind my own damn business.”
Sophie laughed.
“Honestly, I just think he’s glad to finally be getting laid.”
“Be nice,” Sophie said with a laugh.
“It’s the truth,” Calder said with a smile. “I’m happy for him, as long as he’s happy. He went through so much crap, taking care of my dad and then taking care of me… he deserves some fun. And from the way he’s acting lately, Esme’s lots of fun.”
Sophie laughed again and shook her head. She watched her daughter for a while and took a deep, relaxed breath. This was her favorite spot in the world, in the place where she and Calder had fallen in love all those years ago, and then fallen in love, over and over again, when they’d finally found one another again. Calder reached over and gently ran his fingertips over Grace’s hair, which was dark and curly like Sophie’s. She had the same faint freckles as her mother, but the dark blue eyes of her father. And she was strong in the Light, just as Sophie had known she’d be.
As of that day, she’d inadvertently collected three goat familiars, four cat familiars, and, most recently, a horned owl who now refused to leave the pine tree near the house and woke them with its screeches at all hours of the night.
“I am so damn lucky,” Calder murmured.
Sophie smiled. “I think we’re both pretty lucky.” He nodded, and leaned over and kissed her, then pressed a kiss to the top of his daughter’s head. He stayed there, close to Sophie, and she leaned against him as Grace fell asleep, sated and comfortable. The only sounds were the falls and the birds in the trees, and Sophie was at peace.
She sighed in contentment, and swore, for a moment, that she could hear the two oaks nearby do the same.
THE END
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Note from Colleen
We’ve reached the end of Sophie and Calder’s story, as well as Luc and Migisi’s. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who has spent time with my favorite witch and shifter.
Of all of the heroines I’ve written, Sophie seems to divide people the most. Some people think she’s not strong enough, while others consider her to be among the strongest heroines in any of my books. It’s funny, seeing the ways different people respond to the characters I create. For my part, Sophie is my favorite of my own heroines. She’s not easy to write. She’s the kind of character that could cause a lot of damage, especially with the amount of power she has by the time we get to Light’s Shadow, but hers is a quiet, subdued strength, and I had a lot of fun writing her.
Thank you for your patience in waiting for this conclusion to the series. I know it was a long wait, but I wanted to get this right. I wanted to give Sophie and Calder the ending they deserved. I feel like I did that. So many times, I wanted to give up on this book, but a week never went by without at least a couple people writing via email or on social media, asking when Light’s Shadow would be out. That interest meant a lot to me, even though sometimes I really just wanted to push it off, another month, another year.
But there are some reader emails you just don’t forget. For me, it was the woman from my home state of Michigan, who wrote to tell me that Sophie saved her life, that she’d been going through terrible things, ready to give up on everything, and happened upon Shadow Witch Rising. Sophie gave her strength. If you’re reading, I hope you know how much that note meant to me, and I hope you’re doing well.
Thank you as always to my amazing family. You are
the best, and I love you.
If you enjoyed this series, and this book, I hope you’ll consider leaving a review on Amazon. Reviews, especially for indie published books, are vitally important in helping a book get discovered by other readers.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for spending this time with Sophie and Calder. I hope you loved them as much as I do.
XO,
Colleen
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Light's Shadow (Copper Falls Book 3) Page 26
