I nod and wait for them to decide. The murmuring grows in volume, but I ignore it, right up until they go silent.
“We’ve agreed, but with one condition.”
I turn and watch them. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cadel turn his head towards us, intently watching, looking far too much like a hunting wolf.
“He has to wear the chains. If she finds him, his power will be stripped. If she doesn’t, he’ll sit where we put him forever.”
It’s the best option.
“Agreed, and I know the perfect spot…”
Four hundred years later.
Taryn walks beside me; she refuses to go by her title. Most of them refuse to now. We are too human to be who we used to be and still too powerful to be human. I’m not sure what we are anymore.
The gods that survived wear shadows of what happened on their souls like inky stains. We feel it in the dark and on lonely nights. We reminisce and talk. They have forgiven me, and I actually feel closer to them than I ever have to anyone besides my human family.
“I miss my children and my alpha,” Taryn whispers. “Still,” she laughs, shaking her head. “I still miss them every minute of every day.”
I consider the offer to look into time to see how it would affect things.
“Would you like to fall?” I ask cautiously.
She wrinkles her nose, but her eyes are sad; the light in them shines less brightly these days.
“I don’t think I am capable of living in the human world without it breaking me. But I didn’t know I could love so deeply. To ache so fiercely. They are dust and gone now. My children, the ones I held in my arms, grew and had children who had children. I am forgotten, but they are not. I will never forget them.”
I turn and pull her into my arms. She has become the family I lost, and I almost think of her as a daughter now. Seeing her hurting like this hurts me just as much.
“I wish there were something I could do to help.”
Perhaps I could get back into that massive room under the Hall of Petitions and put her back into a sleep, sending her back to Earth for another cycle. But as soon as we revealed it, the gods had forbidden its use, locking us all out. That’s where we were all those years. Our bodies cooled while our souls were planted inside humans. Waking up and waiting for the outcome was the hardest part. I didn’t dare open the door. One by one, they returned until, at last, Kendric woke up with a gasp. When they found out we were spiriting, they forbade it and have since pretended it never happened.
We’d waited for years, watching the Resistance fight the remaining Beta’s Path. We’d watched the cities being torn down. Foreen was decimated and restricted. The world changed at the helm of the Resistance, who turned back, embracing the gods and finding and forcing the alphas, betas, and omegas to work together.
And then with a boom, the world repaired itself, and I had known then that it worked. Taryn had held me as we both sobbed for our children, watching as they built little villages, planted crops. As peace and law returned to a world that had been so long without it.
We’d won, but the cost was so high.
Taryn pulls back, forcing a smile that isn’t fooling either of us.
Sorcha jogs up to us, her dress hiked to her knees. Even though she didn’t come with us, the fiery goddess has become another fixture in my life. I think she’s still missing her brother but knows that she belongs here.
“Will it work out? Will he be happy?” she says urgently, gripping my arm.
I usher the two goddesses with me out of the foyer, away from the prying eyes of the Hall of Petitions.
“It’s done. They have been initiated into a cycle; the world is changed. It’s a whole different place. People embrace differences now. It is a time of great peace.” I pause, considering it for a long moment. “They will be so happy together.”
“And the Anarchy Wolf?” Taryn whispers. “What about Cadel?”
“He has been waiting for the last four hundred years. We can only pray that she finds him,” I murmur unhappily.
I lead them through the gardens, feeling an ache in my chest that is bittersweet. I am so proud of her, and I miss her so much. My arms still remember what she felt like. She is the greatest accomplishment of my life.
“My daughter will find her pack. She will find her happiness. I have no doubt in my mind.”
“What if she doesn’t?”
