by Leia Stone
I had to bite my lip to keep from crying. Showing her and everyone here my rape would be one of the most horrific things I’d ever had to relive, but if it would save Sawyer, I would do it.
Her brows drew together. “You know of my abilities and you would consent to have me see that you masterminded a jailbreak?”
I nodded. “If you would also see that Vicon Drake raped me when I was fifteen.”
Every council member inside of the bubble gasped.
“Lies!” the vampire councilmen roared. “What a convenient little falsehood to save her beloved. Cry rape. How original,” he seethed.
I could see the veins in the witch’s neck twitch. She didn’t like him.
“Is she crying rape if she’s willing to allow my power to see the truth?” the witch spat at him, looking up at the vampire with a cold gaze.
He just puckered his lips, like he’d sucked on something sour.
“I will grant your request. Consider his case reopened.” The witch stepped closer to me, extending her hand, and I froze.
I had only flashes of memory from that night. I didn’t want to see the whole thing, to remember more. Sensing my anxiety, my wolf bucked against the collar and the chain went taut in the witch’s hand.
‘I have the memories. Let me do it,’ she said.
It dawned on me then, she was right. She was the one who’d saved me and locked everything away to protect me.
‘Are you sure?’ I asked.
She nodded.
“Let my wolf join me, and then I’ll show you. She has the memories of that night. The night my soul split in two,” I added, and glared at the male vampire.
At my request, compassion crossed the faces of the witch, troll, and light fey.
“I’ll allow that, but if you try anything, I’ll kill him instantly.” The witch pointed to Sawyer and the dark fey broke out of formation to stand behind my mate.
Sawyer peeled his lips back, growling, but didn’t move.
The young witch councilwoman walked over to my wolf and unlatched the cuff at her neck. The second it fell to the ground, I dropped to my knees and opened my arms. Tears lined my eyes as she leapt into the air, going spectral, and slammed into my chest. I burst into sobs as she filled me up, making me feel whole and normal and sane for the first time since I’d left her.
‘Never again. I’m so sorry,’ I told her, hugging my chest.
‘It’s okay,’ she promised. ‘We can get through anything.’
I looked up into the surprised faces of the council, wiping the tears from my cheeks. Why did everyone look so shocked? It’s like they hadn’t really expected her to join me. Maybe they thought my split shifting was a rumor and she was a decoy pack wolf or something. Shaking herself from her stupor, the witch held out her hand again.
“Do I, Callie Heartstone, have your permission to enter your mind and see all there is to see pertaining to the truth?” she asked.
Enter my mind? I wanted to cry out, Hell no, but I knew the truth was the only way out of this mess. “I do,” I told her, and then turned to Sawyer. “Promise me you won’t look.” My lower lip shook and his entire face fell. It was like I’d just stabbed him. You could see the pain play across his features.
‘Promise me,’ I pushed through our imprint, relieved to find that the collar didn’t keep me from mentally speaking to my mate. I couldn’t live the rest of my life with this man if I knew that he’d seen the darkest night of my soul play out like a movie.
I just couldn’t. Some things needed to stay private in a marriage, and this was a deal breaker for me.
He swallowed hard, his eyes flashing yellow. “I promise.” His voice broke.
“Okay, very cute,” the vampire councilman sneered at Sawyer and I. “Let’s get this over with so we can lock them up.”
The witch’s nostrils flared in irritation, and then she looked at me, softening her gaze. “Show me your memory of the night of the alleged incident with Prince Vicon Drake.”
Alleged. That was such a hurtful word to someone telling the truth.
I reached out to touch her hand, at the same time that I turned and faced Sawyer.
The left wall of the dome we were in lit up like a movie screen and there was fifteen-year-old me and Raven getting out of a car and laughing as we walked up to Vicon’s house, where music could be heard inside.
Wow.
Her abilities were … incredible. She’d pulled my memory from my brain and then projected it on the wall with sound and color and everything.
“Hello, beautiful ladies.” Vicon opened the door with a bottle of beer and a handsome smile. This was my memory, and I felt that my wolf was about to take over and show hers. Flicking my eyes from the screen, I looked into the deep blue eyes of my mate. He was staring at my face and not making an effort to look at the screen beside him.
‘I love you,’ I said as Vicon’s pick-up lines played out in the background.
‘I love you so much more.’ Sawyer reached up, shielding my peripheral vision with his hands. ‘Everything about you. Even this.’
I whimpered at his words, and then my fifteen-year-old scream cut through the space.
Fifteen-year-old me said no. I said no four fucking times, but Vicon kept going, his friend’s voices joining him, egging him on. There were grunts, moans, shrieks, but I blocked them all out and just looked into my future, letting my past go up in flames. I didn’t live there anymore. I refused to.
‘Each day gazing into her blue eyes is like looking into the ocean. You come to learn there is endless depth,’ Sawyer said.
I couldn’t help but give him a weak smile as we blocked out the growling and the noise of fists smacking bone. The witch gasped and so did some of the Paladins behind the bubble, but I just focused on my mate. The one who believed me when I’d said what Vicon did and demanded justice for it.
‘Who wrote it?’ I asked. He was always spouting poetry to me. It was one of the ways he wooed me at our time in Sterling Hill.
Sawyer stroked my cheek. ‘I did.’
My fifteen-year-old wolf’s howl cut into the bubble from the screen and the witch clapped her hands. “I think we’ve seen enough.” Her voice shook with emotion.
I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself, keeping my eyes on Sawyer and just feeling the sorrow from my wolf before I could pull away and finally face the council.
Each and every one of them stared at their feet, all except the witch. She boldly met my gaze.
“She was telling the truth.” Her voice held pride and I had to swallow hard to keep from crying.
“Doesn’t change the fact that she broke out five high-value prisoners,” the vampire mumbled, head still down.
The witch looked absolutely stricken. “Of course it does! She’s the mate and wife of the alpha! When Vicon Drake stole her virginity, he soiled her for the future alpha, violating Section 5A of the Magical Creature Code. Sawyer Hudson was well within his right to kill him and seek redemption for his future mate’s purity. Which means Sawyer was wrongly imprisoned. And also means Demi was within her right to free her mate when justice failed them both.”
Holy shit. I mean, I didn’t love the word soiled or purity, but she was kind of a badass with all that section 5A stuff. This woman should be a lawyer.
“I vote to absolve both of them of their crimes and get back to our day!” the witch called out. “All in favor, say—”
“Hang on a minute,” the dark fey sneered. “I agree she was well within her right to free her mate, but what of the other four felons? They were not to be freed, and she should be held accountable for that!”
My eyes flicked to the outside bubble, where Walsh and Sage stood anxiously, peering in at us. ‘Tell Walsh to run,’ I told Sage calmly. The dark fey had a point, and I wasn’t sure what was going to go down now. Sage nodded slowly, grabbing Walsh by the arm and yanking him into the crowd.
The dark fey followed my gaze, but they’d gotten away in time. I glar
ed at him, about to speak in my defense, when the witch opened her mouth. “You saw the security footage. They all jumped on the dragon and escaped themselves, she didn’t force them. As far as I am concerned, they are still fugitives, and when we find them we will prosecute them to the full extent of the law. Demi and Sawyer Hudson are innocent. All in favor, say aye!”
Sawyer reached out and took my hand.
‘If this goes badly, I’ll charge them, and you break out of the bubble and run. Go to Dark Woods and take Creek. You will be safe there.’
‘No,’ I told him.
‘Goddammit, Demi! Can’t you just do what I say for once in your life?’
Nope.
‘Fine,’ I lied.
“Aye,” the dark fey said. “If we hunt down the other fugitives.”
The witch rolled her eyes at the dark fey’s comment. “Aye.” She looked to the troll councilwoman.
“Aye.” The troll tipped her head in my direction and then stared at the light fey.
“Aye.” Then the light fey glanced at the vampire.
“Nay,” he seethed, eyeing both Sawyer and I.
The witch shook her head at the vampire. “Majority rules. They are now freed of all crimes against them.”
Cheers erupted outside the bubble, and Sawyer relaxed beside me. The witch snapped her fingers and both collars fell from our necks.
We … we were free. The protection bubble popped around us and the witch councilwoman stepped forward, bowing slightly. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
Hah. That was the fucking understatement of the year. But if I hadn’t gone to the Dark Woods for so long, and I’d been able to testify at Sawyer’s hearing, we probably could have avoided all of this.
I gave her a nod and she made her way out of the crowd, the rest of the council following her as the pack parted with glares and growls.
Turning to face me, Sawyer pulled my face to his and pressed a firm kiss on my lips.
“Marry me,” he breathed.
I laughed. “I already did!”
He pulled back and gazed at me. “A real wedding, with our son and every fucking person alive watching. We’ll televise it for all to see. I want big. Huge. Celebrity worthy.”
I grinned. “Our venue got blown up, and most of Wolf City is in ruins. I’m pretty sure fancy is out of the question.”
He looked around Paladin Village, out at the cornfield and the giant weeping willow that was nestled in the meadow. “We’ll get married here.”
My throat tightened with emotion and the rightness of that statement, and I nodded as a single tear ran down my cheek. This man right before me was the best life partner I could have ever dreamed of.
I couldn’t wait to grow old with him. Together, we would lead my people, his people—our people. This pack would grow into one pack, and become the most powerful werewolf pack the world had ever seen, and we would never fall prey to a takeover again. Mark my words.
Epilogue
“No, put them in the center!” Willow called to a pack member who was setting a centerpiece at one of the hundreds of tables that sat in the meadow beyond the cornfield. I’d just married Sawyer in the little Paladin church. People had packed the space and then spilled out into the town. I’d walked down the aisle holding Creek, before handing him off to my mom. And it was perfect.
It had been two weeks since we’d won the war. Walsh had to escape into Spokane and stay with Luka for a bit to lay low, but they all said they would risk it and come for the wedding. I looked now at Sawyer standing by the outdoor open bar we’d set up. He leaned against it, handing out shots from the bartender to his boys. Walsh, Luka, Bennett, and Talon, they all made it.
The sun set deeper into the skyline as the white Christmas lights flicked on and lit up the meadow. The boys pounded their shots and then asked for another, getting louder by the moment. I grinned, pretty sure I was the only one sober right now.
“You know my favorite part of this amazing wedding?” Sage said.
I turned to face my redheaded bestie. She pointed and I followed her gaze with a mischievous grin on my face. Meredith sat at one of the dining tables, two wolf security guards standing behind her to make sure she didn’t run. She scowled at the cornfields and sipped on her glass of water as the silver cuffs on her wrists glinted in the moonlight. I’d invited her mother too, but she couldn’t come on account of the fact that Sawyer had found her alive and well and living in hiding with the vampires and then had her imprisoned.
“I can’t fucking believe you put her in the front row at church. I thought Meredith was going to leap forward and strangle you to death.”
My grin grew wider. “Front row too petty?”
Sage tipped her head back and laughed. “Not at all.”
Did I care? No. Meredith was forced to watch me marry Sawyer in front of everyone, and after she and her mother tried to ruin our relationship, she deserved a lot worse.
I glanced to Marmal, who was chatting up Talon and totally flirting. It was so nice to see that she was happy here. I’d put her in charge of the stables, and we were building Pearl her own giant barn. Not many people could say they had a dragon in their pack, but I did. Pearl and Marmal were bonded in a way, and a package deal. My gaze then bounced to Astra. She’d fully healed and was now dancing with a younger teenage Paladin male named Steel. He was a good guy, though I suddenly felt protective over Astra as his hands went lower on her hips.
“Let her have fun. Party kill,” Sage snapped.
I scoffed. “I am not.”
Sage just shook her head. “Astra is your favorite. Everyone knows.”
I shrugged. “That’s true.”
Sage’s mouth opened in shock and she smacked me in the shoulder. “How dare you? I’m supposed to be your favorite.”
I burst into laughter, about to say more, when Sage’s face lit up with surprise as she looked at someone behind me. So many people had been coming through to send their congratulations on their way to their table that I expected a wedding guest. When I spun to see who had made her so stunned, I saw a troll-fey Ithaki walking toward me. He wore a black top hat and a dingy old tuxedo with dust on the pantlegs and patches on the elbows, but he looked handsome.
“Seam?” I was shocked he’d come. I hadn’t invited him—not that I was mad he was here. I had mailed him the queen’s ashes, just as promised, so he’d probably gotten it by now. Maybe he was here to thank me, which was really sweet, especially since he’d attempted to dress up.
I felt Sawyer bristle over at the bar and step toward me, but I put my hand out.
‘Who’s that Ithaki?’ Sawyer growled.
‘It’s Seam. The guy who helped me get you out.’
Sawyer relaxed, probably staring at the dude with awe. Seam was a big deal in Magic City Prison.
Seam tipped his hat to me, his pointed ears sticking out of the side. “I don’t want to interrupt your big night, but I got your package.” He grinned and it caused me to beam. “When I heard in town that you were having a wedding, I just had to come give you a present.”
He held out his hand to me, something in his fist, and my heart beat frantically in my chest.
Seam got me a present.
I offered him my flat palm and my engagement ring plopped into it.
“I couldn’t sell it. Varilla wouldn’t want me to. You keep it and be happy, okay?”
My throat tightened as I nodded, blinking back tears. “I’ll send you the money for it. I’ll buy it from you—”
He waved me off. “You’ve given me more than money could ever buy,” he said, and then tapped his chest. “You’ve given me peace. Knowing that monster is dead and not hurting anyone else.”
He tipped his hat again and bowed. “I must get back to my roses,” he said before walking away back into the crowd.
“You can stay!” I shouted after him but he merely lifted his hand and waved me off before disappearing into the forest.
My head slowly spun
to Sage, to see she was wiping away tears.
“We totally underestimated that dude,” Sage said.
I nodded, blotting my eyes. “Damn.” I blew air through my teeth and watched him fully disappear into the trees as I slipped the ring back on my finger. I looked over at Sawyer, who was watching me keenly.
‘Did he just give you the ring back?’ He sounded confused.
I nodded, still overcome with emotion and then smiled at Sawyer from across the garden. My little felon looked sexy in a tuxedo.
Luka pounded his tenth shot and slammed the empty glass onto the bar top. Then he grabbed Sawyer’s hand and thrust it into the air. “One pussy for life!” Luka screamed, causing me and Sage to shake our heads, laughing. Sawyer punched Luka so hard in the shoulder that he went flying into the bar. Prison had changed these boys, they were wild and rowdy and unpredictable, and I liked it.
Sage continued to shake her head. “He’s a wild card, that one.”
I giggled, enjoying the little bro-fest Sawyer was having. He’d missed his friends while they were hiding out in Spokane. They had such a close bond.
“So’s that one.” I pointed to Walsh, who had the shot glass poised to his lips as he stared at Sage over the top, his eyes burning yellow. “Have you guys talked?” I pressed her.
She sighed. “Yep. He told me he wanted to date, he’s finally ready.”
“That’s great!” I said. “But why don’t you sound excited and why is he glaring at us?” I asked her, unnerved by Walsh’s gaze.
She looked at me, chewing on her bottom lip. “He’s a wanted felon, jumping around with Luka and hiding with the humans in Spokane. I’m your second-in-command. I can’t follow him around the country—”
I put a hand up to her face. “Wait, he asked you to go live with him and you said no because of duty? Are you crazy?” I shook a finger in my bestie’s face. “That’s as bad as what he used to do when he wouldn’t give your relationship a try because of his responsibilities to Sawyer.”