EPILOGUE - CYRUS

Standing in the courtyard, I can feel my heart racing.

It’s a strange feeling to know you’re going to die in a few minutes.

I made my vow to Mireille all those years ago. I’ve been an Alpha of the North, overseen peace, and brought up our beautiful children, but this is the vow that matters. Because this promise was the one that eased my angel’s mind. Knowing we would have this final offering to the Moon Goddess and pray it is enough to free our children.

/I love you/ I whisper to her, noticing her hands shake. I take her hand in mine and squeeze it.

/You don’t have to do this/ she links back, her voice still as soft and light as the day I met her. Age has barely touched her. I am most definitely grizzled and rough around the edges. She is ethereal. Her pale green eyes shimmering with love and sadness, her white hair plaited tightly.

She’s wearing a simple white dress. I insisted on wearing my huge winter fur. It seemed the right thing for me.

/Wait, I want something/ I urge. I have to. I place my fingers underneath her chin and tilt that perfect face up to mine, and for the final time, share a kiss.

“I don’t regret a thing,” she whispered, “I have loved and been grateful for every minute I got to spend with you.”

“My life didn’t start until I met you,” I reply back. “My life is you. My angel. My Mireille..”

“Cyrus…” and a tear trickled slowly down her cheek. I wiped it with my thumb, “I know angel. I know it’s hard.”

“The only thought that makes this okay is that we’ll be together in spirit. You promise you’ll find me?”

I chuckle and plant my forehead to hers, “Immediately. Always. You’ll feel me every second. Every dream. Every day.”

She sniffed and nodded as we felt the force of the full moon. It’s time. My heart wants to burst out, but my wolf is calm. At peace with the decision we have made. I swore to her that I would battle with the Goddess herself to free us.

I meant it.

She starts the chanting, her voice low, hesitant. I look at our children huddled together and wonder how long it will take them not to hate me for this. My beautiful Evangeline is so delicate and sweet. I fear the world’s harshness could make her wilt.

Elijah and Naveen need to see the world beyond this fortress. Naveen is still a talker, forever sharing ideas but Elijah broods. They’ve known nothing but kindness and love. The apple of everyone’s eye.

It’s too late for any more fatherly advice. I have none to give, really. I was lucky to find my angel, and smart enough to never let her go. Being the Alpha was easy when it was never the most important thing in my world.

My eyes flicker over to Elvie and Reu. She has somehow stood up with him for this. Frail and old, she stands with her jaw tight like granite. Holding her arm is Arlen, his dark eyes buried deeply into his face, wrinkled like a mole.

/This is it. I love you. I'll always love you/ Mireille links as she completes the final verse of the blessing I know so well.

Then I grab her. As the beam races down to the ground, I fling her to the floor and pin her. my hands around her wrists. My huge fur does the job. There is not a single inch of her body exposed to the beam as I loom over her.

The beam hits me, though, and I’m burning alive. Fuck me it hurts. It’s a whole new level of pain. Like my skin is tearing off to head upwards into the light.

But I can see Reu, Elvie and Arlen have stepped in as well, already on the floor convulsing.

“I told you Angel,” I hiss through gritted teeth as she fights and screams at me, tears streaming down her face. “Four of us will sacrifice ourselves for your freedom. We’ve always planned this.”

“No, no you can’t.”

“It’s going to work. You, our beautiful children, you can leave. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you.”

She tilted her head back as my lungs started to cave in and arms began to shake. I felt the foam rising up my thoat and fought it back.

Mireille saw the bodies of her parents and the ever loyal, always caring Arlen on the floor and covered her mouth with her hands, her screams still ripping through.

/Every dream, every day. I will always watch over you/

“Cyrus! You can’t, you can’t! I love you stay with me, please please stay with me!” Her hands pawing at my cheeks, as my strength finally waned and I lowered heavily onto her. Her desperate kisses covered my dying face, but there was no turning back now.

Her voice screaming my name was the last thing I heard before the world turned black, and I felt unnervingly light, as if untethered from gravity.

But my wolf was waiting for me.

Ready for our conjoined spirit to leave this earth and join the Goddess. I could see his huge furred form skipping ahead of me, excited, like a puppy. It’s worked.

I found out so long ago in the archives. Four trapped souls, four lives sacrificed to the Goddess in their name. Before Mireille performed the ceremony, the four of us had gone for a walk, lit some incense, and burned small notes containing our offering to the Goddess.

When the paper fluttered up to the sky completely out of sight, as if sucked in, we knew it would work. Together, the four of them will finally cross over the mountains and into the real world.

Some men have a multitude of things to offer. Intelligence, wisdom, money, connections, and reputions. I have none of those. I have only my love.

A force more powerful than anything in nature because I am ready to shatter the sky above in order to keep my vow.

I give my life without hesitation. For my children. For my Angel.

I shall find my place in the heavens and proudly watch over them all.

*** THE END ***

To everyone who has supported this book and enjoyed it, this final chapter has been free to read as a way of saying thanks.

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