“Thank you,” I manage to say. “I’ve never... I’ve never had a family before. I don’t know how to...”
“You don’t have to know how,” Ronan says. “You just have to be here. The rest will come.”
He releases my hand and steps back, turning to face the ceremonial tree.
“Now,” he calls out. “Let us light the tree and welcome the solstice!”
Torches are passed forward, flames dancing in the darkness. Ronan takes one and touches it to the kindling at the base. Flames catch, race up the trunk, ignite the lanterns hanging from the branches.
The tree blazes to life.
Warm light spreads through the crowd. Ornaments catch and reflect it across the snow. Music starts, drums and strings, and people begin to dance.
Tolin pulls me into his arms.
“Thank you,” he says against my hair. “For making me do this. For pushing me. For not letting me stay on that mountain alone.”
“You’re welcome.” I pull back to look at his face. “You’re really happy?”
“I’m...” He shakes his head like he can’t find the words. “I didn’t think they’d want me back. I thought I’d burned too many bridges. Stayed away too long.”
“They were waiting for you. Your mother said so.”
“I know that now.” He touches my face, his thumb tracing my cheekbone. “I was so focused on what I’d lost that I couldn’t see what I still had. You showed me.”
“I just told you to stop being an idiot.”
He laughs, the sound bright and free. “Same thing.”
The music swells around us, and someone presses cups of warm spiced wine into our hands. We drink and dance and eat until I’m dizzy with happiness, until my feet ache and my cheeks hurt from smiling.
Mother Lenora drags Tolin away at some point to introduce him to a new family that joined the clan while he was gone. I stand near the tree, watching the celebration.
Ronan appears beside me.
“You’ve changed him,” he says without preamble.
I glance up at the Alpha. “He changed himself. I just gave him a reason.”
“That’s more than anyone else managed in five years.” He’s quiet for a moment, watching his brother across the clearing. “He was always meant to be Beta. I knew it even when we were cubs. He has the heart for it. The loyalty. The strength. But he wanted to be Alpha so badly that he couldn’t see it.”
“And now?”
“Now he has you. Something to protect. Someone tofight for.” Ronan looks at me. “That’s what a Beta needs. A purpose beyond himself.”
“You sound like you’ve thought about this a lot.”
“I’ve had five years to think about it.” A muscle ticks in his jaw. “Five years of wondering if I should have handled it differently. If there was something I could have said to make him stay.”
“You can’t force someone to accept something they’re not ready to accept.”
“No. You can’t.” He sighs. “But you can be there when they finally are.”
Tolin returns before I can respond, sliding his arm around my waist, pulling me against his side.
“Stealing my mate?” he asks Ronan.
“Just borrowing her.” Ronan’s lips twitch. “She’s interesting.”
