The boat docks against a long stretch of abandoned beach. We haven't been intercepted by any soldiers yet but that doesn't mean that they're not on their way. We leave as quickly as we can, we don't even bother with the ramp. We just jump.
I hold Beta in my arms as I wait with the others on the shore. Thorn is the last to leave, he is checking the boat to make sure that we have everything. Now that we're all safely across, I'm very tempted to set the damn thing on fire, but it would raise attention. Plus, we might need it again one day.
My resilience to the cold might have changed but the poor children are shivering. The climate is different here, their parents start wrapping them up in thick blankets. I can just about bear it, it's the first indication that we're very far from everything we've known.
"Hey." Sky comes towards me, she strokes the dog for a few moments. "How are you doing?"
"I'm not sure," I admit. "It's. . . different."
"Different good?"
"I guess."
"What's wrong?"
I look at the others who are starting to walk across the beach, I wait until they're too far away to hear us. "Is it selfish for me to have wanted us to be alone?"
"You and Thorn?"
I nod. Thorn jumps down from the boat and carries the last bag across the shoreline. Luna is waiting for him with her tail wagging excitedly. That dog is obsessed with him. She follows him everywhere.
"The whole pack is going to be living with us."
Sky laughs. "That's how it works. Packs live together. They're your family now."
"Our family now," I remind her. "I know, I guess I had just gotten used to us being alone for so long and building this secret world together. Now there's not two of us, there's forty of us, and I'm not quite sure how to deal with that."
"Change is scary, in any context, but you're together, right? You're alive? Which is more than you both had last week."
I start smiling. "True. I'm just being stupid, ignore me."
Thorn stops in between us and his pack that are almost at the other side of the beach, he looks back to me, squinting his eyes.
"We're free!" Sky says, almost squealing. "Act like it."
I laugh as she skips away, breaking out into a fast run to catch up to the others. I make my way over to Thorn, releasing Beta from my arms so that he can run beside Luna. Thorn catches my body as I pass him, twisting my waist to face him.
"Penny for your thoughts, beautiful?"
I grin as I fold my arms over his shoulders. "I was just thinking about how much I really do love you."
"This mating bond has you all kinds of messed up, huh?"
I laugh for a moment. My eyes look down at his chest sadly. I start squeezing my fingers into his jacket, looking up to find his green eyes observing me with worry.
"Nothing is going to change," he says.
"Everything is going to change, Thorn."
"Not between us. Werewolves can be quite brutal and honest, it's hardwired into them, they can't help it. I know that there's still a part of you that's afraid of them but would it help if I promised you that they can literally never harm you? Alpha's mates are protected, they'll put your life before their own."
"What?" I mutter. "That isn't what I'm. . ." I rub my head. "I'm not afraid of them hurting me. I actually like them, well some of them."
"Then why are you nervous?"
"Because I've only just come to terms with the fact that I'm a werewolf and now I'm suddenly a witch that's going to have powers and I died and now I'm alive and I'm just. . . having a small panic about it."
He starts smiling, caressing my cheek in a slow and calming rhythm. "You're allowed to panic. We had our whole lives to adjust to being a werewolf, you've only had a week. Genetics make us what we are but I fell in love with who you are. You haven't lost that and you never will."
He's right, I haven't lost that. I'm still me. Despite eating raw fish and having the strength to throw grown men across rooms, there's not much personality difference. I still care for things that I cared about; I still dream of a better world for people. I still feel vulnerable in some ways and confused about what my purpose is. I want it to be him, I've wanted it to be him since the moment we met, but it's more complicated than that.
We start walking along the pretty beach, following the pack's scents towards the magnificent cliffs. We're miles from the boat and it's just a dot in the distance now. I had grown to love my time in the woods but that life is over now. I have to accept that. I have to go into this new life willingly or these nerves will never vanish.
Thorn and I climb the hundreds of steps that take us to the top of the cliffs. The ocean is behind us and I can hear the waves thrashing against the shoreline, just like he said I would. It's a beautiful sound.
"Welcome home, Devon."
My lips twist excitedly as I observe the pack running around the frosty grounds. There are miles of woods all around us but that isn't what I'm focused on. My eyes lock on to the enormous country mansion in the distance, made of light grey bricks. It is Thorn's childhood home, the house he described to me.
It's isolated, which is good, it needs to be. It looks worse for wear, it is covered in overgrown plants that create thick vines from the rooftop all the way down the walls. It isn't the most appealing house but it has character, it has. . . something.
Kira is showing Shadow a swing beneath a tree that I imagined used to be hers. She sits in it with a smile of nostalgia as Shadow pushes her. Thorn is watching her too.
"She's finally happy."
"They are all happy," I say. "They're home."
"What?" Thorn stares at the side of my face but I'm in so much of a daydream that I start walking. "Devon, I didn't. . ."
"Hm?"
"Never mind."
The bags are all piled up at the front of the house. No one will go inside until Thorn does. Our hands squeeze together as we approach it. They are all waiting for us. Sky is bouncing, Balan and Pal are embracing each other lovingly. Everywhere around us, couples are staring on with excitement and anticipation. We walk slowly up the small set of steps, reaching the wooden front porch that squeaks from the weight. Some of the wooden boards are rotten and have holes, we step around them carefully.
"You ready?" I say.
Thorn nods, his hand reaching out for the doorknob. He glances up to the wall nervously. "Please don't fall down."
"It won't fall down. We're not that unlucky, surely."
Thorn retracts his hand from the door and stares at me. I have no idea what I've said wrong, there is a shock in his eyes that I can't work out.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Did you see my lips move?" he whispers.
Now I'm even more confused. What an odd thing to say. I don't answer him, I'm unsure what he's talking about.
"Because they didn't," he continues.
He carries on staring, smiling at me with amazement. I look back to the pack that are listening with just as much confusion.
"You didn't. . . talk?"
He shakes his head. "And you didn't even notice."
My eyes widen as I finally realize what he means. I just read his thoughts. I didn't even know they were his thoughts, it sounded like he was just speaking to me. I feel completely normal still, no headaches or dizziness. Nothing remotely witch-like is happening to me.
"You amaze me," he says without moving his lips, keeping that smile wide on his gorgeous face. "I think I'm going to be amazed by you for the rest of my life."
I smile back. If it wasn't for the forty pairs of eyes on us then I'd drag him into the most powerful kiss to exist. This power might not be as bad as Crasuel thinks, it might only exist between myself and Thorn.
I want to share everything with him, I want to stop being afraid of what I cannot control. I don't know what the future holds. I don't know if we'll have years or decades, but it all somehow feels right.
I used to be someone that wasn't even allowed to breathe the wrong way. Running into those woods was the best decision I ever made. Thorn's love made me strong enough to want to live, it made me strong enough to save myself.
I'm still adjusting and I'll keep adjusting to everything this world throws at me, at us. We have an entire family of werewolves to help with that. To help pull us back from the darkness if we become consumed by it.
And no matter what happens, we know.
"When one door closes," he says.
I laugh quietly as he turns on the handle and pushes the door open. I take a deep breath, holding his hand the tightest I ever have, and then we enter.
END OF BOOK ONE.