The media were desperate to interview Nico and me. Sinthy’s blocking spell hadn’t allowed the helicopters overhead to see what happened, and it seemed like every hour, Nico and I were on video with one news channel or another. After a virtual interview onThe Today Show,I stopped keeping track. Next came the government.
Representatives from the FBI, state police, and the NSA had all come to question us about the battle and the number of casualties. Nico and I were truly afraid that we might be brought up on charges. Dozens of people had died here. That didn’t count the nearly five hundred humans and shifters who’d been injured or hurt in some way.
At the end of the week, we’d received the most interesting phone call of our lives. The president of the United States called us to personally extend his apologies and informed us he would be signing a pardon for any and all shifters, humans, or witches who had helped defend the Lorenzo Pack lands. After thanking him profusely, the call ended, and Nico looked at me.
“Am I dreaming? Did that really happen?”
I nodded, my cheeks starting to hurt from smiling so much. “It did. At least we aren’t going to jail.”
The humans that the sheriff and his men had arrested couldn’t say the same thing. They’d all been detained at MacDill Airforce base, and their charges were… heavy. Most of them would probably never see daylight again. The government wanted to send a very clear andverystrong message to anyone else who wanted to follow in Viola’s footsteps. Thattamped down and pretty much eradicated the online anti-shifter community. Even though the military had basically turned their backs on us to fend for ourselves on the day of the battle, they were holding up their end now that it was over.
Once the last of the interviews were over, Nico and I slept for days—literally days. We were so wiped that we only got out of bed to eat, drink, and use the bathroom. Even with all that sleep, I was still a bit tired. Changing into that massive monster of a wolf had taken everything out of me. Even my own wolf was hesitant to ever shift into that form again.
That brought forth the question of whether I actuallycoulddo it again. Would I eventually be able to do that on command? It was a frightening thought.
Nico and I emerged from our bedroom after a few days of rest and rejoined the pack. Sinthy had returned, her work complete—or so she said. The media reported that random factories and office buildings had mysteriously been destroyed practically overnight, and Sinthy had given us some half smiles when the reports came in.
The only way I could describe those initial days was… they were strange. Since the night I’d been attacked in my bar, everything had revolved around the royals, around Viola and her company. We’d been running from, hiding from, researching, planning, and orchestrating against them for so long that it was weird not to have some crisis. To keep us busy, we worked on figuring out how to do the one thing we didn’t want to do.
The shifters had suffered a lot of deaths. Many from our pack as well as the ones who’d come to us, had perished, and Nico was planning a sort of memorial service. Nico’s father liked the idea and offered to make the arrangements.
Donatello had returned, bringing financial aid for the repairs and rebuilding. He seemed upset that he’d missed out on the final battle. Almost like he felt guilty.
“I feel a bit like the one in a group project who did nothing but still got a good grade,” he’d told Nico.
“Don, you’ve done more for us than you can imagine. One more fighter wouldn’t have made any difference. Don’t beat yourself up,” Nico said, patting him on the arm.
Donatello bowed his head. “Be that as it may, I need to atone for my absence at such an inopportune time. Some paperwork will be arriving in the mail.” Donatello gestured at me with a smile. “I’ve set up a college fund for the little wolf cub growing inside Maddy. I know you all are fairly well off, but…” He shrugged. “College is expensive, and I have money. It’s the least I can do for friends.”
After Donatello left to help Nico’s brothers repair the fences that had been torn down by the retreating humans, I walked out and stood on the lawn. It was the exact spot where I’d watched Nico get shot and fall to the ground. I’d been so sure he was dead. So sure that the man I loved was gone that I hadn’t even thought. I’d downed the vial with no heed of the consequences.
The image played in my mind on a loop. The laser dot, the sound of the gun, the spray of blood, and his lifeless body tumbling to the ground. It was all over, but the memory still brought a lump to my throat. I was weeping, and I was so caught up in my emotions, I never heard Nico walking up behind me.
He wrapped his arms around me from behind and shushed me. “It’s okay. It’s all okay now. I’m fine. Everything is fine now. It’s over.”
I turned in his arms and breathed in his scent. “I was so scared when I saw you get shot. I didn’t even think of the consequences when I drank the vial. All I wanted was revenge. I thought she’d killed you.”
Nico, bless him, let me vent my frustrations, worries, and anger. Finally, I got around to my biggest fear.
I looked into his eyes and said, “What if I’m always going to be that massive monster? Is that what I’ll be every time I shift now?”
Nico shrugged. “I guess we could test the theory.”
I winced. “I’m not sure. When I was like that… it was like I wasn’t totally myself. My wolf wasn’t fully in control either. It was almost like there was a third presence there. One that might have been as strong as both of us.”
Nico brushed a strand of hair from my face and said, “No matter what, I’ll always be there to ground you. If you have trouble changing back, I’ll help you. Okay?”
“Okay.” But I wasn’t sure how much I believed it.
That night, after Nico had confirmed with his dad that all arrangements for the memorial services had been made, we went into the woods to test whether or not I was always going to be a monster. He led me to the same creek he’d brought me to months before when I was trying to form a connection with my wolf.
“I’ll go first,” Nico said. “Then you can change.”
My hands were shaking violently. “All right.”
Nico shifted and padded around in a circle, then came to sit on his haunches in front of me. I looked into his wolf eyes as he stared back at me. There was no judgment or expectation in his eyes. He was here to help me and nothing else. Here to support me as I tried to shift.
Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I reached out to my wolf and opened up to her. There was a single tremor of fear as she came forward and took control. The familiar, warm tingle flooded across my limbs as my body morphed. When I opened my eyes, I was relieved to find I was in my regular wolf form. I wasn’t six feet tall, and my vision wasn’t tinged with red. It was how it was supposed to be.
