Word Count: 4267

Harper

"Baby, are you out here?" Harper called, hopping down the stairs to the deck at the spring. "Here fishy, fishy, fishy."

"Here fishy, fishy?" Matt asked laughing as he broke the surface near the edge of the platform.

"It worked, didn't it?" Harper laughed as she stripped out of her clothes on the platform. "Fishy fishy, has a better ring to it than siren siren."

Harper jumped into the water and came up into his arms smiling.

"You can call me fishy fishy if you really want to." Matt said smiling down at her, "when you smile like that, you can call me anything you want, beautiful girl."

"I'll always smile at you, beautiful boy." Harper kissed him slowly. "Come on, let's go inside, I brought some dinner, cheesecake and wine."

"You had me at cheesecake." Matt laughed.

"I know, that's why I brought it." Harper laughed.

They had finished their cheesecake and were relaxing on the patio looking up at the stars and Matt suddenly got up and moved to sit on the end of Harper's lounge chair.

"Let's go walk on the beach, I'm in the mood for some waves." Matt said, holding out his hand.

"Always in the mood for a midnight walk on the beach." Harper smiled, "especially when it's a full moon and a clear sky with a billion stars overhead."

"Harper, you know, I'm not the most romantic guy in the world, and I tried to think of this super ooey gooey way to do this, but I just couldn't come up with anything good. So I'm just going with simple and hopefully, at least a little romantic." Matt smiled at Harper's confused look and gave her a soft kiss before dropping to one knee. "I know I'm not your goddess fated wolf mate, but I love you more than anything in this world. Will you marry me?"

Matt pulled a small box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal a beautiful princess cut diamond that sparkled brilliantly in the moonlight.

Tears immediately flowed from Harper's eyes, her chest felt like it would explode, she couldn't even draw a breath for a second before she dropped to her knees in front of him.

"YES." Harper threw her arms around his neck. "Yes, Mattie, I will joyfully marry you. I love you more than anything too."

Matt let out a whoosh of a breath and hugged her so tight she could barely breathe.

"Thank goddess." Matt said, tears in his own eyes. "I've never been so scared in all my life."

"There's one thing." Harper said pulling back a little, causing him to immediately tense. "I don't know if we'll ever be able to have kids. Though it is technically possible for wolves to mate and have children with people who are not their mates, and sometimes humans, it is very difficult and rare for it to happen. Most wolves assume if they don't end up with their mates, they will have no children. I have no idea if a siren and a wolf would be able to."

"That's ok, I thought about that." Matt said. "I hope we can have kids of our own, but there are kids out there who have no parents and need homes, if we can't have our own, we can at least adopt. If you're ok with that."

Again tears welled in Harper's eyes.

"I'm totally ok with that. As long as we're together." Harper said. "I know what it's like to lose your parents, I'd love to be able to give a happy home to an orphan child."

"I love you Harp."

"I love you too, Mattie."

Later as they lay in bed, basking in their happiness, Matt spoke.

"I want you and Cel to move into the house. I mean, I assume you would, but I want Cel to move in too. There's more than enough room, she can get a room on the other side of the house if she wants more privacy. I just know how close you guys are, and I hate the idea of her being in Miami alone. Get her out here on the island, we have a beautiful place, private beach, land, and we're literally right next to the park where you guys can run in your wolf form without anyone bothering you. Do you think she'd be ok moving out here?"

"Hell yeah she would." Harper laughed. "She loves your house, Key Biscayne is actually closer to her gallery in Coconut Grove, and she would definitely be happier living with us than alone."

"Awesome, then we will move you guys in on Monday." Matt said.

"Wait, Monday?" Harper asked, surprised.

"Any reason to wait longer than that?" Matt asked.

"No, not really, I was just surprised." Harper laughed.

"And we'll get married next Friday." Matt said casually.

"What!?" Harper exclaimed.

"Any reason to wait longer than that?" Matt asked, grinning.

"I'm pretty sure a wedding takes longer to plan that a week." Harper said.

"How many people do you want to attend?" Matt asked.

"Honestly, just Celie, really." Harper said, laughing as she thought about it. "If we planned ahead I'd have to invite the other doctors and nurses and everyone at the clinic, and the charity board, and Celie's clients....geez, what a nightmare. But if we do it on the fly, they can't get mad if no one is invited. I'd really rather not have a huge, expensive, stressful wedding."

"I know you better than you realize." Matt laughed. "I knew that's what you'd say after you thought about it. It's taken me weeks to get up the courage to ask you to marry me, so I thought of everything. I don't want to wait any longer at all, if I thought I could get away with it, I'd carry your ass to a wedding chapel in the morning and we'd get married."

"Why don't we go to the keys and get hitched this weekend?" Harper suggested, shocking him. "I bet we can find a quicky chapel down there."

"Hell YES!" Matt shouted, sitting up and staring at Harper.

**

"YOU'RE WHAT??!!" Celie screamed.

"Getting married day after tomorrow." Harper said casually, flashing her diamond engagement ring. "We're hopping down to the keys and getting married, so let's go buy some dresses, and start packing."

Celie just started screaming and jumping up and down. Then ran over to Harper and grabbing her in the tightest hug she could manage while she cried tears of happiness.

"Oh my goddess, Harp!" Celie said, in a teary voice when she finally eased her grip. "This is so amazing. Mattie is the best guy out there, he is so perfect, and you guys will be so happy. I can't believe it. I can't believe in a few days you will be forever with the man you love."

"Oh and get packing all the rest of your stuff too. We're both moving to Mattie's house out on Key Biscayne." Harper said.

"I'm moving to Key Biscayne with you?" Celie asked, eyes wide. "But you two are newlyweds, you don't need me around getting in the way."

"Of course you're moving in with us." Harper shook her head. "I wouldn't let you stay here alone, and that house is enormous, we can have our privacy and you can have your privacy and still be close. Plus, the beach is half a mile away, and private, and we're right next to the park and we can go run in our wolves at night without worrying about anyone messing with us. We just have to avoid the gators."

"Are you sure?" Celie asked, excited at the prospect, she'd always wanted to live on one of the barrier islands. "Mattie won't mind?"

"It was Mattie's idea." Harper told her. "He insisted, actually."

"Oh my goddess, this is going to be so great!" Celie said happily.

"Thanks Cel." Harper said, hugging her again. "I owe it all to you, if you hadn't promised to do the laundry and make me go rinse my hands, I would still be a virgin who'd never been on a date right now."

"Like me." Celie moped.

"You've been on a million dates, Cel." Harper laughed.

"I'm still a virgin." Cel complained, though she was laughing.

"By choice." Harper reminded her. "Cel, there are no shortage of guys out there who would love to bang you like a drum if you gave them half a glance, then put a ring on your finger to top it off. You know, maybe you can accept the rejection over the phone, or on a video call, as long as you say the words to him, do you have to be there in person? Seriously, we could try it. Then we can maybe visit the Everglades pack more often, your second chance mate could be right around the corner and we just not know it yet."

Celie stared off for a second, she pinched her lower lip thinking.

"Maybe we could do something like that." Cel said, "I'll think about it."

**

Reese

Reese sat at the desk looking over the latest figures from the investment sheets the accountant had put in front of him. The pack's finances were doing well, and they were making good money from their businesses. There had been a few rogue attacks, but it had been relatively quiet lately, which was a relief but also a little worrying, it always made him nervous when the rogues were quiet, it usually meant they were getting more organized, which was rarely a good thing.

It has been over seven years since Harper disappeared, and he'd been alpha for three years now, it had taken him four years of work to convince his father that he was a good enough to be the alpha and lead the pack. Honestly, he hadn't deserved the pack when he was younger, and he realized that. Now that he was doing the job every day, he was glad his father had waited, he'd been too immature to handle all this, he could easily have run the pack into the ground. He'd had the time to go to college and get a degree in finance while he was learning his alpha duties and learning from his father, which had made the job of being alpha that much easier. He wouldn't have wanted to or been able to go to college if he'd been named alpha when he was 18. There were so many reasons his mistakes had turned out to benefit him and the pack, but there weren't any benefits that were worth the price he'd paid, the price she'd paid.

And if he'd gotten the pack back then without any issue, he would have ended up making Charla Luna, and that would have been an unmitigated disaster. After the meetings and the new laws Charlotte had turned into an absolute nightmare and her true colors had come out. She'd become absolutely ruthless in her attempt to win Reese back, deciding that being his chosen mate was still better than being a nobody. He'd had to physically shove her off him and get a sturdy lock for his door to keep her out. She'd tried to sneak in and jump him while he slept, she even tried to drug him once. She didn't outright abuse or bully anyone anymore, she knew the Luna was watching her every move, but it was a very thin line she walked between rude and abuse. She would go between being sweet, pouty, babyish, pushy, sexual, demanding, and even violent with him until he'd finally asked her to leave. He hadn't banished her from the pack and made her a rogue, but he had told her she either had to leave voluntarily or he would. She'd finally gotten the message and moved in with her human boyfriend, who she'd been seeing and cheating on him with all along.

Reese still thought of Harper every day, he still pictured her in his mind, he still opened her journals and read her thoughts, and quotes. He knew them by heart now, every single page had been memorized. They were old and raggedy now; he'd leafed through them so many times they were falling apart. He'd finally just made copies of every page and put them into a binder so that he could still look at them and read them without destroying the originals. No one knew he had them, he'd wondered a few times if he should share them with Callum, who often spoke of Harper and how much he regretted what he'd done. But they were his, and he couldn't bear the thought of sharing them, sharing her, with anyone, even her brother.

He spent his nights wondering what his life would be like right now if he'd not done what he did that day. Would she be lying beside him? Would they have pups? What would she look like? Would she be a doctor? How would she act when no one was bullying her or being mean to her? What kind of Luna would she have been? He'd lost hope of finding her, he'd realized finally, after years of looking, praying, and hoping, that it was hopeless, and he would never find her. He didn't believe she was dead; he couldn't let himself even think it, though he no longer believed he would ever see her again, and the pain of hoping and being disappointed was too much to keep up. Callum still had not stopped trying, he'd ended up going to college and becoming a computer programmer, web designer, and hacker. He'd become a computer expert primarily to ruin Charla's life, he'd spent so much time creating pages, blogs, sites, and posts condemning her that he'd become so skilled he'd turned it into a career. And boy had he succeeded in ruining her life, he'd kept every promise he'd made her that night, she'd definitely become famous, for all the wrong reasons. Every werewolf knew Charla, they knew of what she'd done, and the laws created just because of her. The shame had finally been too much for her, and with Reese asking her to leave, she married her human boyfriend, and moved out to the human world and gave up any hope of ever being a wolf in a pack.

Reese had never dated again, after he'd dumped Charla he'd never had another girlfriend, he couldn't stand the thought that his being with someone else would hurt Harper. Hopefully she'd found her second chance and her pain would have ended, but he couldn't take that chance. Anytime he'd tried to convince himself to get a girlfriend and try to move on, the thought of hurting her surfaced, and he could never do it. Then there was the fact that no woman appealed to him, they weren't her, and Noah would never accept them. He'd thought for a while after the rejection that he would lose his wolf completely, because Noah had retreated within him and rarely came out. Their relationship had gotten better, but it had never fully recovered, much like the relationship with his parents. His dad had finally started to come around, but his mother never looked at him the same again, and even after all this time he could see the hurt and disappointment in her eyes. He'd taken so much from her when he rejected Harper and sent her running away from the pack. It was not just that he'd taken away her chance for a Luna to teach and guide, a daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. He'd also taken away the girl she had raised as her own daughter, the little girl she'd promised her best friend to protect. She'd told him the night they'd found out about the rejection that she would never forgive him; he'd told himself that someday she would, but he was starting to lose hope in that too. He couldn't hold it against her, he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to forgive himself.

Adam had never recovered either, he was still Reese's friend, and his beta, but they were not nearly as close as they had been before the rejection. Adam had never moved on from it, he'd never dated, he'd never even spoken of a girl, or looked at another women with interest. He did his duty as beta but he didn't participate in any social activities or events unless he was forced to. He drifted away from their other friends, and he never got close to anyone except Callum and Zach. He'd never forgiven himself or stopped looking for Celie. Because of that, Adam and Callum were now as close as brothers. Looking for the girls is all they did, they spent their lives devoted to finding some trace of them, and Reese knew that they would never stop. He shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts and get back to work, he reached into the drawer and pulled out a binder, opening to a random page he read:

"I won't let my pain turn my heart into something ugly. I will show you that surviving can be beautiful." Quote by Christy Ann Martine.

Reese smiled sadly reading that, but then laughed when he flipped to a new page that read: "Keep rolling your eyes, you might find your brain back there"

He had just put the binder away when his door flew open so hard it bounced off the wall, Callum ran in holding his laptop with Adam hot on his heels.

"I found them!" Callum shouted. "I finally found them! I found the girls!"

Reese just stared at him for a few moments like he'd lost his mind.

"You did what?" Reese asked.

"I found the girls! They changed their names after they left but I found them." Callum gushed. "They're in Miami."

"Miami, Florida?" Reese asked stunned.

"They weren't kidding when they said they were going as far as they could, that's literally on the other side at the opposite end of the country." Adam said.

"Are you sure?" Reese asked carefully, trying not to get his hopes up.

"Harper Kass Bach, MD, Pediatric Surgeon, graduated summa cum laude from University of Miami school of medicine, partial owner of the South Glades clinic in Miami, FL. Celine Miranda St. James, artist, painter, and photographer, owns an art shop and gallery, Coconut Grove, FL." Callum turned the computer around for him to see the screen and his heart nearly stopped. There were pictures of the girls, but they weren't girls anymore, they were stunningly beautiful women. They were standing together at what appeared to be a very upscale event, holding glasses of champagne and smiling happily into the camera. "They're both very successful and very respected. Harper graduated first in her class nearly two years early; people bring their children from all over the country to see her. Celie started out as a graphic designer and artist, she became so skilled she ended up opening her own gallery a year ago in the wealthiest part of Miami, she hosts expensive auctions, parties, and charity events. They're both very active in the community, and help run charitable organizations, sitting on the board of 4 different charities for abused and bullied children. Celie's bio says they have a place in Key Biscayne, FL, but we haven't nailed down their address yet."

"They're alive." Reese said. "They're really alive."

"Yes!" Callum and Adam shouted together.

Reese immediately picked up his phone and dialed his mother's cell number. His parents were out of the country, they'd decided to do some traveling since Reese had taken over the alpha position and they no longer had responsibilities.

"Mom, Callum found the girls. They're alive." Reese said the second she picked up the phone.

"WHAT?!" Luna Sophia screamed.

"The girls are alive, Mom." Reese said. "They're really alive. Callum and Adam found them, they found pictures of them, they live in Miami, FL."

Reese talked to his parents for a few minutes, assuring them that it was true and that the girls were alive and well, he told them of the girls success and jobs. Luna Sophie wept hearing the news that Harper was still alive, that she'd survived as a runner.

"So what are we doing?" Adam asked the second Reese hung up the phone. "We're going to Miami, right? We're going to get them and bring them home, right?"

"No." Reese said.

"What?" Adam and Callum both screamed at him.

"They left here for a reason, they are happy, they have great lives, we can't go and ruin that." Reese said. "The least we can do is leave them alone. That's obviously what they want, or they would have contacted us or come back on their own. We're not bringing them back here, we're not forcing them back, not only would it be wrong, but it's illegal."