I snicker at the echo from the past and watch my alpha slink out from behind a tree, out of the corner of my eye. He’s still as handsome as the day I first saw him, maybe more so. He has aged well, like a fine wine, but his smile is still just as captivating.
“Alpha,” I purr.
“Are you finished telling stories?”
My other alphas appear, one with red eyes, and one with icy blue eyes.
I might be nearing sixty now, but these alphas still love me just the same as the day we met, and I love them more.
“I’m finished,” I murmur.
Mordecai holds out his hand; I take it without hesitation. “Animals do not run from me,” he mutters.
I laugh, but he pulls me in and glares at me before kissing me until I get butterflies in my stomach.
“And Jarek wishes he had flames in his fur.”
“I do so have flames. I’m cool,” Jarek laughs and kisses my temple. “I missed you, sweetheart.”
Cadel snorts a laugh and blows me a kiss before turning to Jarek, teasing him. “I’ll freeze you with my winter blast.”
I roll my eyes. “Are you three going to do this every time I tell the story?”
“Yup!” they say together.
A lifetime to live, to heal, to love. Every moment cherished. A brilliant, wonderful, ordinary life.
My face softens as I watch my three alphas joke and tease each other as they escort me home. Mordecai has hold of my hand, bringing me home, where our son and his daughter are waiting.
No one knows those gods that gave up their godhoods, that sacrificed their worlds lives right here in this village. I tell these stories about lives long gone, but they aren’t stories; they are my memories. I live among them, watching over them, waiting, protecting, and listening with no one the wiser.
But that’s as it should be.
We are the fallen gods, the Anarchy Wolves.
And we live.
Chapter 74
A love letter to Legion
BONUS SCENE
WALKER
Two Years before Cadel is freed
The dreams have been relentless. There’s so much darkness in them, so much pain. Horrible, awful things that I did and things done to me. I press one hand to my chest as I kneel on the wooden floor, staring at my other hand, clawing the wood, hoping it can hold me here, ground me to this life, this reality.
“I’m not like that. That’s not me!” I whisper, but the screams and accusations say otherwise. “I don’t know who the Warden is,” I protest, but that, too, is a lie.
The weight of these dreams is poisoning me, night after night. Staying awake doesn’t help, and I can’t bear the thought of talking to anyone about this. I can’t remember how to smile. When I look at my family, I feel like I’m tainting them with my foul aura, seeping corruption into our family home.
I thought getting away would make it easier, but it hasn’t. This market we’re selling the produce at is far enough away that it could easily be called running. The hotel looks nothing like anywhere I’ve been, and yet; I feel like I know this place.
I hear my sister moving, drawn to my unease. She has her alphas, and she’s happy, but she’s always watching over me, and I hate it. We’re twins. She’s older, and sometimes I think I see something in her eyes, some darkness that I recognise, but she never speaks of it.
We’re a novelty, twin shifters with white hair. They like to joke that we are moon-touched. Kaida plays into it; I hate the attention. I just want to get on with my work and get away from all these people I don’t know who are staring at me like they know something.
