"Drop us off at my M.C.," Wanderer said. The past few days had been a wakeup call. The saying you never knew what you had until it was gone rang true. He'd spent years pissing away his opportunity to spend time with his girls. He shifted in his seat, ignoring the twinge of pain in his back. That had been one hell of a beating he'd taken from the pack for keeping secrets. But it was worth it. Shit had come out in the open and he was free to do as he pleased.

"Wanderer," Shooter called. "Listen, I know you want the piece of shit alive, but I'm owed my pound of flesh and you can pick him up when I'm finished."

"Fair enough," Moose replied. The man held Joey tightly, as if he'd never let her out of his sight again.

It reminded Wanderer of the way he felt about Ellen. After all these years, no one had ever measured up. So he had lived for the stolen moments they managed and tried to convince himself they were enough. They weren't.

He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and dialed the number he knew by heart. "Ellen, I got our girl."

"Thank God," she sobbed. "How is she?"

"Exhausted and a little bruised but okay."

"Thank you for bringing our little girl home."

"Hey, I told you I'd always take care of you two, and I meant that." Wanderer closed his eyes.

"I know."

"What are we doing, Ellen? Why even play this game anymore? It's not necessary. I want you back. I want to be a family."

Epilogue.

Joey opened the door and smiled up at Moose. It had been a few weeks since the botched kidnapping attempt, and they'd remained a bit out of sync. When he asked to meet her at the house she had felt excited. Finally they'd get the thing sorted and get back on track. The tension going around was intense, and they always had an escort, whether they saw him or not. Neither M.C. was willing to take a chance.

"Hey, you," Joey greeted.

"Hey."

The distant tone made her stomach lurch. So much for getting back to normal. Is this our new normal until shit gets put to rights?

"We really need to talk."

"Yes." She sighed. "I'm so glad you brought this up." She locked the door behind him and walked into the living room with him trailing behind her.

"Look, I'm going to be straight to the point. I think we should end this."

Joey spun around so quick, she almost got whiplash.

Moose stopped in his tracks.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Joey threw her arms up in the air. "You want to break up?"

"Seeing you like that and knowing it was my fault damn near killed me." Moose shook his head.

"It had nothing to do with you! It's because I'm Juliette's friend. I have a giant red target on my back already."

"No, Levi and his friends want Mayhem blood, even more so now, and they'll do anything to get it."

"This is not happening."

"It's for your own good, Jo-Jo."

"Fuck you! It's for your good. You're a fucking coward. What's between us is rare, real and deep-and you don't want any part of it."

"Don't say that," he hissed.

"Why? Does the truth hurt?"

"It's not the truth."

"Oh, bullshit!" she huffed.

"I'm trying to do right by you."

"No, you really aren't." She shook her head, fighting back tears. I won't give him the pleasure! "I thought we were past this bullshit, but I guess that was wishful thinking."

"We were."

"No." She held up her hand. "Or you wouldn't be doing this. Why stick around all this time? You could've just left when I first got back. It would've made things easier." He'd lived at her home, helping her get back on her feet, easing her through nightmares. How can he just walk away like this?

"Because you needed me."

"Oh, and now magically, I don't?" Joey crossed her arms over her stomach.

"No. I mean...you're better."

"Save it. Just get out. I'm not about to beg a man to stay with me. If you want leave, there's the door. We did this once before. I won't be making a habit of it."

He stepped back.

"What? You thought I'd try to persuade you? I love you like hell, but if someone shows you who they truly are, you have to believe them."

Moose just stood there and stared at her.

An unnatural stillness fell. Blood rushed in her ears.

Suddenly he stalked forward. Buried his hand in her hair and seared her with a soul-wrenching kiss that tasted of goodbye. He then pulled his warm lips away. "I fucking love you Josephine. That's the problem. If I didn't, it wouldn't keep me up at night thinking about how wrong shit with Levi could have gone."

Her jaw dropped and her lower lip trembled.

"I didn't want things to end this way." His eyes were full of love and longing-and an acute tenderness that stole her breath.

"So don't let it." Joey shook her head.

Moose glanced up at the ceiling and took a deep breath and then spoke, "Jo-Jo, it's hard enough to try to do this now. I couldn't a second time."

"Who said you had to, or I wanted you to?"

"You're so scared all the time. This shit has you puking your guts up on a daily basis. It was fucked up as hell. But these situations are practically commonplace in my life. Sure, not to that extreme, but the stress, the potential lockdowns? I can't let it tear you up."

The puzzle pieces aligned and clicked, forming a bigger picture. "You're letting me go to save me?" she whispered. "You amazing, stupid, man!" She laughed.

"I don't see how this is funny at all."

"Tell me what you want to do right now, not what you think you should."

"Jo-"

"Shh." She placed a finger on his lips. "Humor me. It's the least you can do before you rip my heart from my chest and toss it in the garbage."

He winced. "Low blow."

"All's fair in love and war."

His blue eyes softened at the words. "I'd ask you to be my old lady and move my shit into your place. I want this to be permanent."

Tears welled in her eyes obscuring her vision and she gave a strangled laugh.

"Jo..."

"I'm so fucking glad to hear you say that."

"Why?"

"Because in about seven months, we'll have the most permanent connection you could form. I got worried about the constant upchuck and saw a doctor. Apparently, you have super sperm, and I have a one-in-a-thousand misplaced IUD because I'm pregnant as hell."

His jaw dropped.

"That's why I've been overwrought, emotional and not myself."

"You-we...?" He gestured back and forth between them.

At his stunned expression, Joey laughed. "Yes. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't find the right time."

"Jesus Christ." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'll be damned if any kid of mine is going to be called a bastard. We're getting married."

"Don't you think we should wait until after Jul and Shooter's wedding? Don't want to steal their thunder."

"No." Moose shook his head. "I want this now if we're all in. We're all in. I don't need anything fancy, just you, a ring and a justice of the peace."

"Okay..." Her voice shook.

"Okay?" His eyes were as round and blue as a Kewpie doll's.

She chuckled again, at his shock. "You seem stunned."

"I thought for sure you'd throw me out on my ass."

"Only if you ever try to leave me again."

"Oh, you're stuck with me now for good, Jo-Jo." He covered her belly with his hand. "A baby-that's going to take a minute to get used to."

"You're telling me. It won't be renting a room in your body." She rolled her eyes.

Moose laughed and nodded. "True. Thank God!" He shook his head. "You've given me everything I never thought I wanted but desperately needed. How do I ever repay you for that?"

"Oh, just worship me like the goddess I am." She batted her eyelashes at him.

Moose tilted his head back and laughed, then returned his smoldering gaze to hers. "How about I make love to my fiancee, instead?"

The words turned her into a pile of goo. "Oh, Dylan."

He grinned. "First time you've ever called me that."

"It seemed appropriate. You did call me Josephine."

"Mm- hmm." He stepped back and lifted her into his arms, holding her close. Their lips met, and this time there was no sense of urgency or overflowing fire. Just a sultry slow burn as they explored one another with new eyes and the knowledge that they had the rest of their lives to be together. He nipped her bottom lip, and she moaned, opening to allow his questing tongue entrance. Placing her on the bed, he stripped her down like a present, removed her clothing one layer at a time with careful movements that made her heart swell and provided a balm for the nearly avoided disaster he'd almost caused. The man loved her enough to let her go if it meant her happiness and he would keep her forever when given the choice. They'd come so far.

"I knew these looked bigger." Moose cupped her sensitive breasts, and she moaned. "Oh, I'm going to have so much fun." Gently, he rolled a bud between the calloused pads of his fingers.

Her body arched. "Aren't you overdressed?"

"Not for long." He winked and stripped down.

She'd never seen him so open or playful. It was as if he'd removed the final curtain that hid him. "Who are you and what have you done with Moose?" she said, giggling as he climbed on the bed.

"Don't you see, I get to keep you? The one thing I've truly wanted in years. I came here ready to let go, regardless of what it might cost me, yet here we are." He ran his fingers down her thighs. "I'm not good with words or emotional expression. But if I believed in soul mates, you'd be mine. What we have is good. I want to keep it always." He cupped her heated core. "I want to wake up and push inside you, fill you full of my cum and mark your body over and over. You're an elusive mystery I don't think I'll ever fully figure out."

Not good with words? The man is practically writing me a sonnet right now. "Oh, Moose."

A bashful look appeared on his face. "You bring back that the boy who shattered under the weight of his mother's illness."

"And you healed the jaded part of me that didn't think I would ever love or meet a man who stayed." Mentally bared, she opened her legs. "Make me yours?"

This was a new beginning, the start of their final chapter. Unorthodox and a bit mad, they'd skipped the normal song and dance, but it was theirs and oh so right.

He pushed inside, stretching her walls, and she whimpered. "Who do you belong to, Joey?"