Sophie turns toward me, concern flickering across her face as the fire fully fades from her eyes.
“Damian…” she breathes, already moving toward me.
Relief crashes into me so hard it nearly buckles my legs. She didn’t lose herself. She didn’t burn the valley. She chose to save us all, and the world, the valley, and her powers, listened.
As she reaches me, steady hands already lifting toward my injured shoulder, I realize something colder, heavier, and far more dangerous than the demons we just destroyed.
The balance has shifted.
And nothing—no council, no pack, no ancient rule, and no demon—is going to be able to pretend otherwise ever again.
Seeing her in all her majestic glory, my heart skips a few beats as my jaw drops. I see it then—realize it, too, and I know that I am madly in love with her.
My arms tighten around her when she crashes into me, and I stifle the burning pain in my shoulder. But it's gone as I hold her, and it's because she's healing me simply through touch.
I press my lips to the top of her head, a dignified oath to serve her in any way she needs.
And that servitude comes as she pulls away and glances at the battlefield in the aftermath of the war.
“They're hurt…” she murmurs, instantly moving toward a wounded soldier.
“What do you need from me?” I ask her, to which she glances over her shoulder.
“Bring them all to me.”
Chapter 20 - Sophie
A gentle hum pulses through me, but it isn’t frightening the way it used to be. Instead, the gentle pulsing sensations make me feel as if I'm invincible, though the thought of feeling that way is what scares me.
What if it doesn’t happen the way it needs to happen next time? What if I’m not prepared? What if my powers don’t work?
This was only the beginning, and the battle doesn’t end so much as it exhales.
One moment, the southern ruins were a frenzy of heat and motion, and the next, the demons were gone—no shriek of retreat, no scorched residue clinging to stone, no sickly echo lingering in the air. Just heavy, unnatural silence. The kind that presses against the ears and forces everyone present to reckon with what just happened.
Even me.
While I work diligently and focus on the task at hand, healing the wounded soldiers, I still struggle to make sense of what happened here tonight. The demons weren’t just attacking the way they did before, but they wielded fire as if that magic was their own.
I felt it in my bones—the sheer absurdity of the demons syphoning from the valley, from the ruins of the Ashclaw Pack’s territory, stealing power that was never theirs to wield. I felt the anger of my ancestors coursing through my veins, igniting the fire within me with rage from lifetimes ago, and the pain of the massacre that took place in this part of the valley.
The last soldier I heal turns his face to me with a smile of reverence and gratitude. Returning that smile, mine filledwith appreciation that he’d placed his trust in me to heal him, Damian appears and holds out a hand toward me.
“Everyone seems good enough to get back to the north. We should get some rest.”
“They’re not completely healed, Damian,” I protest even as I take his hand and get to my feet. Somehow, we’d worked well as a team, with him handing out instructions to those less wounded to bring the ones needing healing to me. Now that everyone is back on their feet, everyone seems to be making their way back home.
Even the other wolf packs and their alphas.
“I know,” Damian sighs, glancing at the sky. “But everyone’s exhausted, and you must be, too.”
A yawn escapes my lips in response, and Damian lets out a light chuckle. “I told James to let everyone know they can rest for tonight, and visit the clinic tomorrow if they need more treatment.”
“Thank you,” I whisper as I fall into step beside Damian as we head toward the river.
“Why are you thanking me?” he asks with a frown, pausing when we near the bridge and turning to me. “I should be thanking you. We all should. You saved us out there.”
I sigh forlornly as I stare out across the valley’s southern ruin, remembering the battle like a fever dream despite it happening just over an hour ago. Blood, gore, terror. It was all alive out there, until my fire awoke and I turned the demons into nothing…not even ashes.
