forth in my gaze, softening only for me. I don’t know what he’s looking for or what he ends up finding, but he nods, leaning down to kiss me briefly before pulling me to his side and setting his arm around my shoulders. As one, we turn away from the remnants of Twin Rivers, done with the battle and the threats for now.
We move to join the rest of our pack, and Tyran presses his nose to my hair and pulls in a deep breath. “Best idea ever, my mate. Home it is.”
And just like that, my past is left behind, and the future is bright, with my mate by my side and a new pack to belong to.
Home it is.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
The edge of the lake is littered with she-wolves. The water glitters in the afternoon light, and the sun pours down its blessing, warming us despite autumn’s languid approach. The sound of happy squeals tickles my ears as wolves play. Some of them are wrestling, their mouths and feet kicking up water and splashing anyone who gets too close, some of them race to swim across the large expanse, and some wolves are lying next to me on the bank, like Harlan, Presley, Trinity, and Daisy.
Discreetly, I watch the two former members of the Twin Rivers pack as they relax and unwind, two things that haven’t been easy for either of them since they arrived here. I look to see where they’re touching. They always are, a hand, a foot, an arm pressed against another arm. No matter what’s happening around them, or what they’re doing, the two of them are always connected physically. It’s as though they need it so they can remember they’re not down in those cells anymore, they’re here now, and they’re safe.
We took in all the females that we found shattered and abused that night. It was weird at first to have familiar faces around, faces I grew up with and didn’t have the best opinion of, but the reality of it is that none of those girls are the same, not after what was done to them. Slowly, with a lot of help from the pack, they’re starting to open up again, starting to believe that the worst just might be behind them.
“Are you going to shift back anytime soon?”
The sound of Tyran’s voice has my wolf perking up, tail thudding against the ground where she’s lazing on her side. The four females next to me do nothing more than cast Tyran an impassive glance. Even Trinity and Daisy, who used to go as still as statues and bare their necks in fear every time Tyran came near. It’s nice to see them realize that while my mate is a savage beast, he’s also a good male and nothing like Burke.
Tyran snorts at the sight of us. “Look at you, spending most of your day on paws instead of feet. Ruin Falls rubbed off on you.”
My wolf looks up at him with bright violet eyes, tongue lolling, gray fur warmed, with an expression like, yeah, and?
“Oh, don’t give your luna such a hard time,” Healer Vorria calls from where she’s sitting in a wooden porch swing against the back of the house behind us. “She was busy working with me all morning, flexing that spark of hers. She managed to help Ash during labor. Fucking brilliant, that. Your mate is getting stronger.”
I laugh at the old woman’s foul mouth, while a flash of pride crosses Tyran’s face. “Is that right?” He kneels down beside my wolf, his hand coming up to stroke her gray fur. She instantly rolls over onto her back so he can scratch her belly, and a deep chuckle comes out of him. “Belly rubs and sunning herself. Just look at our rabid luna now,” he teases.
My wolf halfheartedly attempts to nip at his fingers, and he shakes his head at her. “Attacking your alpha? That’s not very nice.”
He stands up again, and when he blocks the sun’s rays for too long, she kicks out her back leg at his ankle in a playful reprimand. He knows these lazy sunning moments are quickly tapering off as the cold threatens to set in.
Tyran dodges her kick. “Shift, you vicious thing.”
It’s not a command, but I’m eager to talk to him for myself, so I give my wolf a little nudge. She huffs at me but lets herself fold in as my body takes over. In a few seconds, the fur