Silence stretches like a rubber band that will snap back and scatter the broken pieces of my heart all around the meadow. Hopeless, I lift my head, wiping my tears with the back of my hand when I see it.
The movement is slight, but her fingers twitch as a gasp rips through her throat, small and sharp, like the world exhaling.
I freeze, my heart stuttering.
Her eyelids flutter open, her lips parting on a shuddering breath. She blinks up at me, dazed, golden flecks glowing faintly in her irises. “What…what did you just say?”
Relief crashes into me like a wave. I let out a broken laugh, tears spilling down my cheeks. “I said I love you, Willow Barker. I’ve always loved you. Since the greenhouse. Since before I was brave enough to say it.”
A weak smile curves her lips. “Took you long enough,” she chuckles lightly.
I choke out a laugh, leaning down to press my forehead against hers as my arms wind around her. I pull her up onto my lap, and her hand rises slowly, trembling, to touch my cheek.
“I love you, Willow,” I say as I turn my face into her hand and press a kiss on her palm. “I really love you.”
“I love you too, Thane.”
The kiss that follows isn’t born of desperation, but it’s a solemn oath filled with relief. Slow and sacred, her warmth seeps back into me, pulling me out of the nightmare, reminding me that somehow, impossibly, she’s still here.
When we finally pull apart, the others have gathered in a loose circle, Aurora clutching Emile, Elias’s head bowed in silent gratitude, Rissa and Yvonne wiping tears from their cheeks as they cling to their mates. The forest around us is quiet again, blanketed in pale gold light that drifts down like dust particles from the heavens.
For the first time in months, there's unmistakable peace in Girdwood.
I tighten my arms around Willow, brushing the hair from her face as her breathing steadies against my chest. “It’s over,” I whisper, mostly to myself. “It’s really over.”
As the snow begins to fall again, soft and silent, a tremor runs through the earth beneath us, so faint that it could almost be imagined, and our surroundings sigh in relief.
Willow's lips curl into a tired smile as she looks up at me, and I cradle her face.
“You did it, my angel.”
She shakes her head slowly. “No.Wedid it.”
“Together,” I return her smile, the pad of my thumb tracing her cheek where her scar used to be. Leaning in for another chaste kiss filled with promise, Willow and I look up at the sky, the moon winking at us as we bask in the glory of our victory.
Epilogue - Willow
One Month Later
Laughter and chatter fill the mountain air, the witches giggling over something Aurora said, while Elder Charles and Elder Silas chase the kids around the snowman they'd just built.
The smile on my face feels everlasting as I watch the two older werewolves on the council of Snehvolk let loose and enjoy the children’s company. Seeing this side of them reminds me that they're not as scary or imposing as they appear when we're in Girdwood.
“ForgetafterI've given birth,” Rissa begins in response to Aurora's joke about Brooks not being able to keep his hands off his mate. “If it were possible, I'd be pregnant twice in one cycle. That man won't leave me alone.”
Rissa giggles as she cradles her growing belly, and Yvonne wiggles her brows. “You shouldn't be complaining, Riss. Anyone with as much healing energy has the sex drive to match it. He's just keeping up with you, that's all.”
“Hm…sounds like you speak from experience, Yvie,” I tease, and Yvonne blushes as she takes a sip of her drink through the straw.
“Obviously….”
We're giggling again, even as Emile comes waddling over, carefully testing out his new ability to walk to his mom.
“Mama,” his hazel eyes twinkle as he raises his arms, asking to be lifted.
Aurora sniffs out that he must be hungry, so she takes her son to give him some milk she'd prepared earlier that morning.
Turns out Gio is also hungry, so Yvonne takes him around the buffet table when there isn't more than the salads and side dishes to offer for now.
