For a moment, the hills all around us are silent. Hundreds of wolves hushed, quiet, in this moment that’s changed everything.
Then, all around, the howling begins.
It goes on and on. It’s a song, a very old song we all know well, but it’s not usually sung in unison like this. Not by so many wolves from all over North America. Not on the night of the solstice with the packs drawn near.
“The king is dead, long live the king.”
Then slowly, even that shifts and becomes the same chant as before.
“One pack, one king.”
By the time Ty climbs back up to his rock, everyone is cheering.
My heart is beating so hard I think it would knock people off this hilltop if they could hear it. I don’t lie to myself. I don’t pretend that everything is magically solved or that old tensions aren’t still bubbling along. There will be those who never forgive Ty for this, but from the sounds of things, they’ll be outnumbered. That’s what matters.
Anyway, that’s what diplomacy is for. And failing that, the fact that Ty’s just proved that he really can fight anyone without much effort.
The critical part—the amazing part—is that Ty has changed the world.
Right here, right now.
Everything that wolves have taken for granted for as long as anyone can remember is different now, and when that sun comes up in the morning, it truly will be a new day.
There’s a wild, sobbing thing inside of me that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before.
It takes me a lot longer than it should to realize that I’m happy.
I’m justhappy, full stop. So happy and so filled with hope that I can see, with a kind of upsetting clarity, how very muchnothappy I’ve been. For a long, long time.
The contrast makes my head feel like it’s spinning, so I keep my gaze trained on Ty until I feel solid again. Until I feel like me.
He shifts into his human form and stretches so we can all see that the gashes McCaffrey left behind are already mostly healed.
No need to announce that he’s better than the old guard he literally just trounced. We can all see it. We all have the same rapid healing powers, mostly available in the magic that lets us change forms.
But the moon favors Ty. That much is clear.
It’s always been clear to me.
“I am honored,” Ty belts out, and everyone cheers. There are a few more verses of the song, in both its old and new versions. “On this longest night of the year, we get to celebrate the dawn of a new age. The age of wolves.”
Everyone goes wild. Even I find myself howling like abittengirl. That’s how this feels. Like the moon ismine.
Better still, the king is.
Ty quiets us, then continues. “We are wolves, and wolves do not hide. Wolves do not cower in the face of old fears. Wolves do not let our history dictate our future.”
The howling seems to echo back from the dark sky, it’s so loud, but Ty is looking down at me. His mouth curves, and he beckons for me to come to him.
I don’t think twice. I leap up and go to stand with him.
He takes my hand, lacing my fingers with his, making it clear that I belongbesidehim. A subtlety I know will not be lost on anyone. Especially the females.
“My pledge to you is that I’m yours,” he tells the crowd, and I can hear the cheering from the farthest hills. “I belong to the pack, and as long as I draw breath, I will fight for all of us. There will be no success in one quarter unless it is shared in all.”
There is even more wild, jubilant cheering at that.
“None of what I’m going to do is possible without my fated mate,” he tells them when the cheering subsides a little.
