by Jayne Hawke
No more goddess. No more great weight around my neck. I’d really done it. Getting her back to her own plane would have been my last choice, but it got her off of ours. It would be centuries before her cult got to its feet, even with her back to being a full goddess, and the infighting that no doubt awaited her on the god plane would mean I wouldn’t even cross her mind for an incredibly long time. For all intents and purposes, we had taken the Goddess of Shadows off the board. How many packs could make that claim?
I laughed, a cold manic sound as the emotions were torn out of my throat. The great relief at it all being over. The heavy grief over all that I'd lost. And the sheer relentless joy at all that I'd found and gained through it all.
Twenty-Three
As promised, Ryn's man had arrived at our door at dawn. Elijah had greeted him with a single word, "Yes."
We were taking the position. If we were going to be shackled to someone, then it made sense it was someone who could offer us freedom, travel, and immunity. If the time came when Ryn proved to be an asshole who was bringing harm to the world, then we'd take him on, too. We'd demonstrated we could do it once, what was to stop us from doing it again?
As I wandered into the kitchen to begin the breakfast madness with my pack, I couldn't keep the smile off my face. Everything was perfect. Jess was perched on a countertop eating a cold waffle with a scone on top while she dared Rex to try and stuff all the scones in his mouth at once. Liam was doing something on his laptop with a deep frown on his face. And my dear Elijah was laughing at all of it as he handed me the best damn coffee available in Brighton.
They were my family. They brought me hope, happiness, and made me a far better person than I could ever have hoped to be. We weren't perfect, but we were never meant to be perfect. There were always going to be problems, fights, but there was going to be laughter, and tears of joy too.
"Remember, cat, this is not an opportunity to grow your tea pot collection. And for the love of everything if you must steal teapots or stamps make sure they're worth something," Elijah said.
Jess sighed heavily.
"But that takes so much effort."
"You really are a shit cat burglar," Rex said.
I laughed. Not so much as the comment, but at the sheer ridiculous familiarity of it.
"I'm an amazing cat burglar," Jess huffed.
"Good burglars only steal shit which is worth stealing," Rex said, having ignored my laugh.
"Oh! There's something going on down in Chile. Rumours have it that someone tried to steal a god-touched ruby," Liam said.
"Chile could be fun," I said with a smile at Elijah.
He gave a non-committal shrug.
"We'll go where Ryn sends us."
"I want to go to Ohio!" Jess said.
We all looked at her.
"What's in Ohio?" I asked.
"I have no idea, but it sounds cool. I want to go."
And that right there was the most Jess response we could have asked for.
Thank you for joining Lily and her pack on their journey. The next series in this world will follow Piper, a phoenix witch.
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OTHER BOOKS BY JAYNE HAWKE
Urban Fantasy in this world (the God Touched world).
Shadow Magic – A badass bounty hunter who must work with a deadly fae assassin to track down the person fool enough to steal god magic.
Urban Fantasy in the Wolf Ridge world.
Wolf Ridge – Baker turned werewolf.
Paranormal romance in the God Touched world.
Dragon Knight – She’s the only one that can break his curse.