Page 72 of Dark Dragon’s Wolf

His mom laughed through her tears. “Is she happy?”

Tristan squeezed her hand. “Yeah, mom. She is.”

“Can we see her? Is that where we’re going?”

Tristan shook his head. “Not right now. We found a safer place, where you can all start over. Have your own territory, if you want. Form a pack. Be free.”

He saw his dad listening now, hope dawning in both their eyes.

“But as soon as we get there, I’ll let Terin know I found you. She’ll be…”

He couldn’t finish, but he didn’t need to. He could feel the emotion running through them all. His family was coming home.

Chapter 35

It was Sunday night, and the Al-Maddeiri clan was hosting a huge outdoor barbecue in Emon’s domain. Besides Emon’s clan and all the rescued wolves, they’d invited the Greystones and their mates, plus guests from the Bad Blood Crew and the Silverlake pack.

Mayah stood with Emon on a little rise overlooking the party. Tristan was with his family, including his sister Terin and her two-year-old daughter Michelangela.

Looking down at the happy chaos, Mayah said to Emon, “Look at your domain. A few months ago, would you ever have believed it would look like this? So full of life, and people?”

At that moment, a wrestling pair of half-grown wolf cubs just missed knocking over one of the grills. Emon said in his usual grumpy way, “I hate people.”

Mayah hugged his arm. She knew he didn’t mean it. Very much. “Mikah likes people,” she said. “He’ll talk to them for you.”

They watched Mikah making the rounds, talking to the wolves, listening respectfully to what they had to say.

“And Cazbek seems to be having a good time.” Cazbek spat a shot of liquor up into the air and ignited it with his own fire, sending blue flames shooting into the sky, to the oohs and aahs of an admiring cluster of wolves.

“Uh huh,” Emon said sourly. “It’s all fun and games…”

Mayah joined in, “…until someone sets the table on fire.”

She glanced over the crowd. “Where’s Zakerek?”

“I think he took Rafe to the man cave.” Rafe was Terin’s mate. Emon added, “He might even have begged him to come, so he could get out of this madhouse. I think I might have to check up on them. Because even with all those infernal pinball machines, it’s still quieter there.”

Mayah giggled. “Uh huh. Remember when I was little and you’d brush my hair when I felt scared and sad, and tell me about how we’d have our own castle one day, with a big clan and lights and parties?”

“Yeah. What was I thinking?”

She hugged him again. “I think it’s nice. And so do you. At least now you have lots of people to be king of.”

“I already had lots of people. They just weren’t, you know. Right here. And anyway, it’s no fun when nobody bows and grovels. They don’t even believe me when I threaten to dismember them for insubordination and disobedience.”

“Maybe if you threatened them while you weren’t snuggling a wolf puppy and letting it lick your face? Just sayin’.”

Emon relented, grinning at her. “True. At least the wolf village is going to be out of earshot, when it’s done. And with fewer people, I can commandeer the man cave and the terrace for Sunday night dinners.”

Later that night, she and Tristan were in their bedroom, lying in bed while he stroked his fingers down the curves of her body, stopping every now and then to kiss her.

“Are you happy?” she asked him drowsily.

He dropped a kiss on her collarbone, then raised his head so he could look down at her. “Yeah, I am.” He kissed her shoulder. “It feels kind of strange,” he admitted.

She stroked his hair back. “I was talking to Tyr,” she ventured. “He said he thinks the white wolves were intended to interbreed with the Draken, like the Lion Guard. But then the Draken left this world, and the wolves only interbred with each other, and that’s how come they had all these problems.”

Tristan ran his fingers down the curve of her breast. “So are you saying that Tyr thinks our alleged cubs might not be killer monsters who can destroy people with the power of their minds?”