GODS AND MONSTERS ↝ P. LAHOTE

EPILOGUE

Lark flipped through the weathered pages of her book as the wind whipped through her hair from the open car window, the sun shining in on the twenty-one year olds as Paul drove through the winding streets of the seaside, moving closer and closer to their destination. As he drove, the golden wedding band glinted in the sunlight, casting a small glow around it that matched the one radiating from the ring on his wife's left hand.

"So fun fact," Lark said without looking up from her book as he drove over the hill, the temple of Poseidon and the Aegean Sea beyond it coming into view in the distance. "Back in mythological times, sailors used to gather at the temple to make sacrificial offerings to Poseidon before embarking on what could be a dangerous journey. They would pray for safe passage, free of storms and the dangers of the creatures of the deep."

When the time came to begin wedding planning for Paul and Lark after Paul had finally popped the question when they were nineteen and had finally moved into a place of their own, there was little doubt in Lark's mind over where she wanted to go for a honeymoon once the celebrations were finished. After her first conversation with Paul over the tale of Hades and Persephone on the beach in La Push, spending a few weeks researching the Greek myths at their precise locations seemed like the only correct option for the couple, and she jumped at the idea.

"Nerd," Paul chuckled as he drove. "According to that travel website you made me read," he continued, "it's also where you can catch some of the best sunsets in the world."

Lark finally looked up from her book, setting the myth of Poseidon, Medusa, and Athena aside as her eyes lit up at the sight of the ancient temple. "Wow," she breathed. "It's so beautiful."

A lifetime of reading about the locations found between the pages of mythology could never have prepared Lark to actually see the real thing, or the beauty of the sunlight starting to stream through the gaps in the columns of the temple. After so many years of reading enough about the location to know it like the back of her hand, here it was, right in front of her eyes.

She pulled her camera from her bag, beginning to take photos from the car window even from the distance they still had between them and their destination, knowing Alicia, Leonora, and the others were waiting patiently for them to find an Internet cafe later to be able to send over a few of their pictures. Although the Pack had eventually split following the boys' graduations from high school, when everyone had gone their separate ways, the friends still managed to make time for one another, even traveling from where Lark and Paul had chosen to settle down back in Salem, far from their past in Forks, all the way to where Alicia and Embry had landed in Seattle after the birth of their daughter, Ivy, six months before, or Leonora and Jared in Portland. 

Paul hadn't shifted in almost two years, long after he'd left La Push behind, although their imprint bond remained as strong as ever. The feeling of being able to shift resurfaced whenever they travelled back to the area to visit their families, and made pit stops to visit the Cullen clan, but, along with his supernatural anger, Paul had finally managed to leave all of that in his past, and focus on his future.

He knew that, with Lark's love of lore and storytelling, he wouldn't make it far out of the land of gods and monsters, but he was willing to try, for his own sake. All he wanted was the chance to one day settle down with the girl he loved, and try to live as normal of a life as possible, and now he had that chance. 

He had her.

Whether their future children would carry on the werewolf gene was yet to be seen, but, if the time came, Paul was prepared. He knew that, one day, he may see the signs that something was different, and he'd reassure them that they weren't in trouble after all, but were about to be let in on what might be the world's biggest family secret.

But whatever happened, Paul and Lark would face it head-on together, just as they always had.

"Here we are," she said excitedly as Paul parked the rental car near the temple, where a small crowd of tourists had already begun to gather to watch the sunset. "Ready?"

Paul smiled. "Anything for you, Mrs. Lahote."

THE END

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

thank you all so much for reading 'GODS AND MONSTERS!'

this is the first twilight fanfic i've ever written to completion and it means the world to have you follow along with paul and lark's story. i hope you've loved them as much as i do!

-xoxo liv