She turned her head to look at me, eyes reflecting starlight and warmth. “Me too.”
We stood like that for a while, the boat carrying us forward, the past and future held at bay by the present.
“There’s something I’ve never told anyone,” I said finally.
Her brow furrowed slightly, but she didn’t rush me. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”
“I know,” I replied. “But I do want to.”
The words came slowly at first, like I was testing whether they’d hold. I told her about Daniel. About the shed and him accidentally shifting in front of me. About the way his family had disappeared after that, and I had never seen him again.
“I think that’s when I first realized the laws didn’t match the reality,” I said. “I just didn’t have the courage to act on it yet.”
She listened without interruption, her hand slipping into mine, fingers warm and steady. When I finished, she didn’t offer platitudes or outrage.
She just nodded.
“That makes sense,” she said quietly.
“And then I met you,” I said.
A faint smile touched her lips. “Careful. You make me sound dangerous when you talk like that.”
I returned it, small and sincere. “You are.”
She leaned her head against my shoulder then, the weight of her easy and grounding. I rested my cheek on her hair, just enjoying the moment for what it was.
I didn’t know what waited for us off in the distance. I knew only that it wouldn’t be easy, and that some part of me wouldalways grieve the life I might have had if I hadn’t become a wolf.
But I didn’t regret the life I was living now.
In fact, I wouldn’t change a thing.
CHAPTER 16
Eamon
I stepped out onto the deck and let the wind catch my coat, the scent of salt strong enough to wake my foggy brain. The sun was already beginning its ascent into the sky and the sound of water splashing against the boat’s hull was constant.
Bishop stood at the rail, forearms resting against the metal, his posture composed like it always was. Tamsin stood beside him, close but not clinging, her shoulder leaned into his arm as if it belonged there. She’d tilted her head slightly, listening to something he was saying, and the look on her face stopped me mid-step.
She was smiling.
Not the fierce, determined smile she wore when she was planning or fighting. Not the grim one she’d carried through triage and burial.
This one was soft.
Unburdened.
For a moment, I stayed right where I was and just let myself watch.
A quiet, unexpected warmth spread through my chest at the sight of her just being…happy. Truly happy. The kind that didn’t need to be defended or explained.
She deserved that.
All of it.
I didn’t rush them. I knew better than to interrupt a moment like that. Instead, I leaned against the bulkhead and waited, listening to the water and the faint murmur of Bishop’s voice carried away by the wind.
