“She must be freezing,” I say quietly.
She turns to the ocean, bends over slightly. When she stands, an orange glow lights up her face, and then I see the lantern. She lifts it high into the air and lets go, and it floats.
A wish, an intention, a hope, or a dream. It doesn’t matter. It’s beautiful, and I squeeze Katsu’s arm as my chest gets tight. I stare at that one lantern as it rises higher and higher, dancing on the wind and drifting out over the ocean.
A moment later, Betty, Sara, and Kylie let their own lanterns go. Then Franco and Milton, Asher and Felix. Sofia and her alphas. Harry and his wife. Yolanda and Grigori.
And then the visitors start to light theirs. The sky lights up with the glowing dreams of this town. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
More and more lanterns fill the sky.
It’s incredible. I light mine, spending a moment to think.
“I want to be strong for my pack, wise for my family, kind to my hometown. I want all our lives to be rich with love and happiness,” I whisper.
I let it go.
“Thank you,” Katsu says simply and lets his go.
Fox smiles and shakes his head, letting his go. “If I tell you what I wish, it won’t come true.”
I turn and watch Sebastian, who is leaning against Gale, turning his lantern round and round.
He reaches into his jeans and pulls out a marker and writes two words on his lantern, and then he lights it and lets it go. I stare at him because I think he will never stop surprising me.
“Why my name?”
“Because you are my hope, my prayers, my wish, and my dream. You are what I’m grateful for and the future I yearn for. You are my love. And as long as we are together, this lantern’s intention will be true.”
I reach for them, and we come together in one group, holding on, watching the lanterns as they drift into the sky, carried further and further over the ocean, carrying the hopes of hundreds of people with it.
“Shall we head off?” Fox murmurs. He’s leaning on Katsu and yawns. “Sorry, I didn’t sleep much last night. I was worried you would change your mind.”
“Me?” I yelp. “No way!”
“Okay, let’s head back.”
The lanterns are distant, and people are starting to leave when it happens. It’s sudden and unexpected.
An explosion of light. Like the world is answering us.
“Oh, my god!” I whisper walking towards the water, trying to take in what I’m seeing.
“What’s that?” Fox shouts, struggling out of Katsu’s arms.
Sebastian, Fox, and Katsu follow me down to the wet sand. Reds and pinks with tinges of green ripple across the sky in a cosmic dance that has me hypnotised.
“Oh, my god!” I whisper-shout again. “Are you seeing this?”
“The Aurora,” Fox whispers in awe.
I let out a disbelieving laugh, but Sebastian grabs me and lifts me up, spinning us round and round. I wrap my legs around him, throwing my head back and laughing.
“See, it’s written in the world's fabric. We’re meant to be,” Sebastian teases. “Are you going to write this in a book?”
I giggle. “Any excuse.” I kiss him. “But I’m going to use that line and this moment in my book, okay?”
“Every excuse,” he whispers, and then he kisses me while the colours of the aurora dance in the sky. “Mmm, we can make our alphas do another audition.”
