He looks down at me, and there’s nothing but pride on his face. In his dark eyes. And he’s not showing this only to me. He’s letting every wolf here see it—here and now, while his new throne is brand-new.
My throat hurts so much I think I might actually cry. I don’t know how I hold it back, but I do, because the queen to a king like this has to be as strong as he is. She has to complement him. This is what I always said I wanted.
I refuse to let him down now that he’s giving it to me.
“While I was busy building what I have every intention of making our werewolf empire, shared among us equally, Maddox was studying the things we need to know to move nimbly through anything this world throws at us. She’s the one who planted the seed.We should live like wolves,she told me once.But we should dream like humans.”
This time when they roar, they’re roaring for me.
Ty doesn’t let go of my hand as he waits for that clamor to die down. “That means we treat obstacles as opportunities. We think big and worry about it later. We do not molder away in our caves, dreaming of full moons. We rise. We fight. Webuild.”
He lifts my hand and presses his mouth to our linked fingers. “We dream, my brothers and sisters. And we dream best together.”
There are so many kings who have always made their women crawl and scrape, stand behind them, present themselves as little more than available possessions at all times. This is an odd, courtly sort of gesture as a counterpoint, and I know Ty is aware of it. That this is one more strike against the old ways.
To me, it feels like healing.
“We could have officially mated at any point,” he tells the crowd. “Instead we created a partnership and, together, we will usher this pack—this one, glorious pack—into its bright new future. By the end of this year, she will accept my claim. But the new age of wolves has already begun.”
He lifts his other hand high in the air. “It’s the solstice. Tomorrow isn’t just a new day, it’sourday. I invite you to celebrate with me.”
Then he shifts in such a rush that I shift with him, helpless to resist in the blast of all that energy. When he throws his head back to howl out the glory of this, of us, ofpackinto the night, I join in.
So does everyone else.
I do spare a thought for Winter and the other humans no doubt shuddering in their homes at all this howling, but all I can think about is this bright new kingdom we’ve made here tonight.
And better yet, what we’ll do with it.
16.
The longest night of the year is still ahead of us, but first, there are practicalities to consider. Like the burning of McCaffrey’s body—werewolves never leave bodies behind for anyone to study, and a new dawn isn’t likely to change that—and the application of first aid for those who need it.
There are also new pack dynamics. Ty and I sit there on that high rock as, one by one, each of the packs come before him and pledge themselves to him. Some with more enthusiasm than others. Some through the wounds they’ve sustained. Some with huge grins.
This is how we create the first unified kingdom of North American werewolves in memory.
“You were right,” Ty tells me in a low voice at one point. “It’s more powerful that I haven’t claimed you yet. A queen will always follow her king. Even an independent female like you was expected to fall in line eventually. Everyone expected the claiming would sort you out. But you made it clear you follow no one unless you want to, and yet here you are at my side.”
There was a time he would not have said these things with all that admiration in his voice. I remember all of those times, so I bask in it now. I bask pretty hard.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have given me such a hard time,” I suggest. When he swivels his head to look at me, all that arrogant astonishment andhigh kingenergy, I shrug. “I’m just saying, in the future, maybe react less and listen more.”
He laughs at that, and I feel that same connection of ours sizzle between us, powerful enough to supercharge the dark. “I’ll remember you said that, babe,” he assures me.
Though really, it’s a threat. One I can’t wait for him to make good on.
Except first there are all of these conversations to get through. These negotiations, because that’s really what they are. The remaining pack leaders acknowledge Ty as their king, but they also give him all of their problems.
Problems that, in some cases, he’s already solved.
Like when he announces that he’s sending my brothers to the various packs their mates came from for a season or two, in defiance of tradition, just to make sure that things run smoothly. Not to mention handle whatever sore feelings might remain.
During a lull, I eye him. “It almost seems like you were planning this all along.”
“I might not have taken the jump to declaring myself king.” He runs a hand through his hair, and I wonder if I’m the only one who can tell he’s tired. Not that he’ll show it. Not for hours and hours, and not until he’s in private. “But I was real clear on the fact that I needed my men in other packs. Just to help steer the ship in our direction.”
“Did you really think McCaffrey would accept it? That doesn’t sound like the asshole I knew.”
