Omega Hunter

Now, she felt like she had been given all the love in the world, with all the gifts that could be bestowed on a woman. Clara and Rowanne still lived beside them in their old house, eventually getting married and adopting two sons. Like their mothers, they were exceptional, the first two tiger shifters to join the pack in a very long time.

In the end, it was only Autumn and Malcolm again, with occasional visits from their family. They were still in love after all the years. Autumn couldn’t imagine life any other way, and on the day of their fiftieth wedding anniversary, Malcolm surprised her by asking her to marry him all over again, which is exactly what they did.

This time, there was no backyard ceremony or caterers, but just a simple little gazebo on a beach in Hawaii, surrounded by their kids, who some now had kids of their own.

“This wedding is almost bigger than the first one, with all these kids as guests,” Malcolm laughed.

“There are a lot of them,” Autumn laughed.

“If you had to do it all over again, would you still marry a man like me?” Malcolm asked her.

“I think I just did, didn’t I?” she replied. “I mean, I know we’ve gotten older, but I’m not senile just yet.”

“How are your hips, though?”

“My hips?” she asked as they danced, whispering quietly to one another as the kids all smiled at them from nearby.

“Yes.”

“They are fine, I suppose. I’m dancing, aren’t I?”

“Just checking. We’re in Hawaii, and this is our wedding day. I can’t have you breaking a hip during the honeymoon festivities later on tonight.”

“You dirty old man!” she laughed.

“You love it.”

“I do. I love every bit of it and have for the past half-century.”

“Here’s to the next half-century then,” he told her, twirling her around as the kids all applauded.

Later, sitting on the patio outside their room, Autumn looked out over the bay just beyond them. In their fifty years, they had raised eight children, had twenty-four grandchildren, and made countless friends, some of which they considered family. They traveled to every state in the union and over a dozen countries, with some left on their bucket list, but anytime Autumn thought about their adventures, it was always the same one that stood out in her mind.

It was always that first trip together with her on the run and him on the hunt, except she learned she was running to something more than she was running away, and he learned that he had been hunting the wrong thing all along. The moment she accepted that the thing she had once thought was such a horrible prospect, being a shifter mom and wife, could be the most beautiful experience on the planet with the right man, everything had changed for her.

Malcolm had told her many times over the years that he was glad he had made the decision to go on that hunt for an Omega and that he was especially grateful that he had found the wrong one. Everything that had happened to them had led them to this moment in time, and everything that happened now would lead them to the next moment until all the moments ended and they were put to rest.

Autumn didn’t know when her time would come, nor his, but she knew that when it did, she would leave this world behind knowing that she’d had a good life. She’s had everything any woman could hope for. Someone had seen fit to give her the moon, the stars, and the peace that goes with them, and for that, she was grateful.

“Hey, Granny. You going to sit out there all night or come in here and make sweet, sweet music with an old man?”

“Well, calling me Granny inclines me toward the former, but the latter just sounds far too enticing to let your poor choice of nicknames get in my way.”

“That’s my girl, always up for a good time,” he teased.

“Now and forever,” she told him, stepping inside the French doors to find he had set out glasses, wine, and lit a candle to give the room a bit of ambiance.

“You looked so beautiful today. I don’t think there has been a day that has gone by in the last fifty years when I didn’t look at you and think you were beautiful.”

“You’re quite the charmer,” she laughed.

“You think so? I’ll tell you a secret. I’m married, but if you promise not to tell my wife, I can still show a girl a good time.”

“Is that so? This wife of yours, is she a big woman? I mean, can I take her?”

“I don’t know. She’s an omega but damned feisty. I’m mean, I’m the Alpha of my pack, and I wouldn’t go up against her.”

“Hmmm. I don’t know if I want to cross a woman like that, but I tell you what: if you promise to be discreet and not tell my husband either, I think you and I can have a torrid love affair that would make even a young couple blush.”