through my hair. “He lived as long as he could.”
I close my eyes and let her voice wash over me. He lived as long as he could. Does she even know how wise she is for being so young? That’s all any of us can do. Live as long as we can.
“The illness hadn’t won yet,” I murmur against her neck. “He still had more time left. Losing out on even a day of that hurts. It hurts so deep inside me, in a place that feels like it’ll never heal.”
The grief rolls back into me, and I focus instead on the way Sable’s chest rises and falls with her breaths. I don’t want to go back there, where the pain is unbearable. I want to stay here, in this moment, with the only person who really understands.
After a few more deep breaths, I feel more like myself and more separated from the monster of pain inside me. “Dad’s greatest pride was to serve his people and protect those he loved.”
Sable hums, and I hear the smile in her words as she says, “Yeah, I gathered.”
“So maybe he’d be proud to have died defending his pack.” I pull away from her tear-soaked skin and look up into her beautiful blue eyes. “Defending you. Defending the woman I love.”
Pain fills her eyes, tightening the tiny lines at the edges of her eyelashes, but she stays silent. It occurs to me I haven’t even considered that she might feel guilty that Dad died saving her.
Before I can soothe her own hurt, she takes my face in both her hands and draws me in for a sweet, lingering kiss. When she pulls me away, she doesn’t tell me I’m going to be a great alpha, although I know she believes in me. She doesn’t tell me she’s sorry, or that he’s in a better place, or that he isn’t hurting no more.
Instead, she says, “I’m so glad I knew your dad.”
And that’s exactly what I needed to hear.
3
Sable
I feel wrung out, like someone twisted me all around and hung me out to dry without considering the consequences to my well-being.
Between barricading Cleo from my mind and helping Archer through his deep grief earlier, then spending most of the afternoon scrubbing blood out of the street in front of Malcolm’s house, I’m done. Well-done steak on a too-hot grill done. Too bad for me, life isn’t done asking things of me.
Because now I’m surrounded by the entirety of three shifter packs on the field outside the meeting house, and things aren’t going great.
I should have expected this cacophony of sound and chaos. Clearly, we have a lot to talk about, and some of it isn’t easy. Some of it sucks pretty hard. But I thought, given that several of the most respected elders are leading the meeting alongside my four mates, things would go a little smoother.
That’s probably too much to ask for in a large crowd of people who just lost everything to win a battle they didn’t begin. It’s a miracle the West Pack and North Pack haven’t already gathered up their remaining members and headed back home already.
“Archer, we can’t continue to house the other packs long term,” a small, stooped old woman says over a loud murmur of agreement. “The village is hardly big enough for our own families.”
“I understand that, Mable,” Archer replies soothingly. “That’s why we’re here. If the three packs decide to stay together, we will need to figure out an alternate means of housing everyone. We’ll need to build out and expand the village. Trust me, we’re ready to find answers once a decision is made.”
“I should hope so,” a middle-aged man speaks up from farther back in the crowd. “My family is sleeping in a tent near the edge of the village, and the canvas leaked last night during the rainstorm. We can’t live like this forever.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Ridge speaks up, which makes me think the man must be one of his. “We’ll see if we can find you a few beds in one of the storage buildings that have been repurposed for sleeping space.”
The older man harrumphs but sits back down on his metal folding chair and consults with the woman at his side. His mate, probably.
I totally understand the strife. If the three packs are going to continue living together long term, something else will have to be done. It’s not possible to keep this up indefinitely. Though wolves are