The walk through the woods between the pack house and ho seed like the longest walk ever. August smiled faintly as she thought of Samhain when Grae had chased her and carried her in his arms. It was a little embarrassing how he would insist on carrying her all the ti like she couldn’t walk herself, but now she would give anything to be in his arms.
The flashback of Grae stuck in the fiery wall Violet had erected, trying to reach her but being unable to and being too stubborn to turn back was playing in her mind. It was haunting. He would have remained there, persistent to get to her even as flas were charring his flesh. She shuddered at the mory.
Thank the Goddess Violet was gone. How could she have done that to Grae when she supposedly cared about him?
August pressed her eyelids together, tears escaping despite the fact that she knew he was okay. The image of him stuck in those flas was permanently etched into her mory. She didn’t want them to have to keep doing this—enduring so much. It wasn’t right.
Why couldn’t they just live normally... whatever normal was? Why couldn’t they just appreciate being by each other’s side without all of these threats and complications?
Greta wrapped an arm around August’s shoulders, feeling the emotional weight that her sister was enduring. Hopefully peace would co to this pack now. So much had happened. So much had changed. But it felt like a sunlit clearing was ahead after so much ti trekking through the darkness.
The Goddess had not brought August and Grae to lead this pack for nothing. There was much to fix, and it clearly was not ant to be an easy, painless process. But they were almost through the worst of it. She could feel it—a rest up ahead. Just like the ho that was waiting for them on the other side of this path, promising a welco relief.
"I think you are turning more fae," Greta said, changing the subject that was on both of their minds.
"Because of my arm?"
"Well that," Greta chuckled, "and the fact that you sohow just led us to bring two deceased pack mbers back to life."
"Oh, that," August chuckled too, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "It wasn’t just . You know that."
"Yeah, but it was also kind of just you. It would not have happened without you, that’s for sure."
August sighed heavily. "Maybe."
"Maybe?" Greta looked at her with a crooked smile. "We had never even heard of La Loba here until Charlotte decided to share the story with you. And now we are seeing miracles like this in our very own pack. Our alyko are back and more powerful than they ever were. August, it’s not a maybe. Not at all."
"I understand what you an. I just... does it have to co with so much cost?" Her heart was still heavy.
Miracles had happened, and she was overjoyed about that. Finn was back, and she couldn’t wait to celebrate that wonderful gift of life with the rest of the pack and thank him for the blessing of his loyalty. And Lucas and Neoma were together—both of them deserving a second chance at life that they could find with one another. It was perfect.
But it seed like she and Grae kept having to endure these steep trials, and she didn’t want to watch him continue to suffer. She couldn’t. It tore her apart inside. Did he truly have to endure so much? Was he still paying for the mistakes in his past despite the fact that he had atoned for them?
She imagined walking into the house, into the bedroom that they shared together that she had missed so much, and seeing his unconscious, injured body needing to finish healing once again. All she wanted was for him to be safe, and who knows what else was waiting for them?
Zagan was no longer a threat, but what would they face next? How many tis would he have to walk into an impenetrable wall of fire to try to get to her? To try to save her from the next villain that sought to keep them apart?
"August!"
She sucked in a surprised breath at the unmistakable sound of her mate’s deep, sonorous voice and froze when she saw his muscular fra running out the door toward where she and Greta had erged from the woods. His hair had gotten long enough since she was gone to pull back into a bun, and pieces of it were loose, falling into his eyes—those dark, rich eyes that sought her and made her stomach flip with the intensity of their love.
"Grae?" She breathed his na, confused by what she was seeing.
He seed fine! How was he already fine? He still needed to finish resting... to finish healing. It could not have been done by now, could it?
But before she could make out the answers to these questions, she was suddenly in his arms, cradled like a new bride against his chest and his warmth like she had just been longing for. He was truly alright.
"Goddess, I missed you," he groaned, nuzzling into her neck and relishing in the scent of her as her arms curled around his shoulders and he carried her the rest of the way to their ho. She was truly here—she was truly back with him.
The tears she had been holding back and the heaviness in her heart finally gave way, and she began to cry against him, holding herself as close as she could to his chest and his scent and his warmth and his love, pressing herself into him, wishing to believe this miraculous truth. He was okay. He had walked into fire for her, but sohow... he was already okay.
"I missed you, too," she whimpered. "I missed you so much. I was so worried about you."
"Don’t cry, my love," he whispered into her hair, kissing her there on the head as she clung to him while he carried her the rest of the way into their room and kicked the door shut behind them. Everyone else would just have to deal with being shut out for now. He had his precious mate back with him, and it had been entirely too long.
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