Everything I had gone through would disappear, and everyone I’d met along the way would as well, even Adam. I wouldn’t be the same anymore—I’d be feral. What we go through in life shapes the person we become, even the worst of it. I’d wanted nothing more in life than to be stronger so I wouldn’t need a family.
What was I thinking?
Here in our cozy little home, I had a real family. This was all I ever wanted. I’d spent most of my life on the edge of death, but there was always something inside that pushed me a little further. A gut feeling that told me there was a better life waiting. Keep going. Don’t give up. Maybe it was hope or instinct—it didn’t matter what it was called. It saved me.
I stared out the window while sitting on the bed I shared with Adam—my once kuu mate. Would he leave now? I didn’t want him to go. There were times I could’ve surfaced from the spell he put me under, but if I’d done that, there wouldn’t have been a reason for him to stay.
Now, I would let him decide. There wasn’t a kuu or weird magic. Just us, and everything we’d seen.
The door to the bedroom creaked open, and I turned toward Adam, who held something behind his back.
“Hey,” I said. Smiling like this was strange, but I did it involuntarily when I saw him now. When we were together in that beautiful place, I could see who he really was for the first time. “What’cha got there?”
“Don’t laugh. Just humor me, okay?”
“Okay,” I said, catching a glimpse of a reddish-pink petal sticking out from behind his back.
“Close your eyes.”
The room darkened as I waited, then I felt something drape over the top of my head, leafy protrusions falling to the side.
“Okay,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me off the bed. We walked over to the dresser mirror, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. He had picked azaleas from the bushes outside, which shouldn’t have even been in bloom, braiding them together in a floral crown. I looked like a contradiction, but as I examined closer, my face seemed softer.
“Heh. This is pretty.”
“I got up early to make it. I was thinking about what I want to do here in Norwich, and since I’ve been tending to the plants outside in private to take my mind off things for a while, I actually started to like it. Willa gave me some stuff to grow plants in the off-season, but they’ll die when the snow comes. People like pretty floral arrangements, and they always make me happy.”
I looked back at the mirror, adjusting the laurel of flowers on my head.
“I like it. It’s soft and pretty meets big and ugly.”
“More like big and handsome,” Adam corrected. “Listen, I wanted to say I’m sorry for everything. No one should have had to go through what you did.”
“Don’t apologize, especially since I was the one that treated you like crap. I can’t go back and fix that, and I don’t wanna be feral and forget who I am and who I loved. I also don’t wanna forget you.”
“We can start over, you know? We can get to know each other better now that there’s not this wall of animosity keeping us apart. We never talked about anything, and we should have done that. I’m just as much to blame because I saw you suffering, but I ignored it.”
I grabbed both of his hands, holding them to my lips. “You really wanna stay with me? After everything I did?”
“I never really wanted to leave to begin with,” he replied. “I like it here, and I really want to dominate your ass in bed now.”
With a sniff, I wiped away a fake tear. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
“You should have told me what gets you off.”
I shook my head. “You were a half-turn, and I needed to be a werewolf. But I won’t object to you telling me what to do—” The look on Adam’s face went from flirtatious to worry. “In the bedroom, stupid.”
He put his hand over his furry chest and sighed with relief. “Yeah,thatI can do.” He looked around and held out his arms. “Well, we’re in the bedroom. How about we start with a hug?”
I held out my arms, and he fell into my chest, wrapping himself around me, resting his head under my chin. With my eyes closed, I took in his comforting scent as we stayed like that for… I don’t know how long. It was easy to lose myself in this moment as I remembered him singing that song, only now I didn’t feel like crying.
The difference between my new pack and all the families from the past was—I actually felt safe now. Whatever happened in the future was out of my hands, but I’d hold onto what I had in the present with all my new strength.
Roscoe
Eggs and bacon sizzled in the skillet as I hummed to the music blasting through Cody’s phone. I didn’t have an account of my own, so I used his. He never said anything about all my different playlists taking over his account because I knew his little secret—he actually liked my music. He’d deny it up and down if I confronted him, so I left it alone.
Cody wandered into the kitchen with a yawn as he fumbled his way through the cabinet.
