All Chapters of When we are one : Chapter 51 - Chapter 57

The wind howls through the trees before they arrive—mourning, warning, whispering secrets I already know.I felt it before the first footfall touched the edge of my wards.Something sacred has been broken.A thread in the tapestry of fate has been torn, and the rip bleeds.The forest holds its breath as the Alpha comes.I step out of my cabin and into the clearing, my bones aching with the weight of what’s coming. The fire in my hearth hisses low, sensing death at its door.Then I see him.Corbin.Alpha.Mate.Warrior.Broken.His eyes are wild with grief, red-rimmed and hollow, as if the stars had left the sky behind them. He stumbles forward, his body trembling but refusing to fall. In his arms—cradled like the most precious thing the world ever created—is Anika.My heart clenches.Her aura is dim… flickering… fading.“By the Goddess…” I whisper, stepping toward them.He drops to his knees before me, not with reverence, but with sheer exhaustion. His arms tighten around Anika’s body

My eyes flutter open, slow and heavy like I’ve returned from another lifetime. A soft light filters through the cracks in Gretel’s hut, and for a moment, I can’t remember where I am. Not until the scent hits me—earth, rain, pine, and something that is only Corbin.His scent wraps around me like a blanket I didn’t know I needed. I shift my head slightly, and there he is. His head is resting gently against my chest, his arms protectively curled around my belly. He’s holding us—all of us—as if he can anchor our lives with the weight of his love alone.His body feels tense, strained, and when I reach for him with my mind, it happens before I can stop it.“I’m so sorry, Corbin,” I mindlink, and immediately everything comes crashing in—memories of Elias, Silvara, the pain, the blood. The in-between.My head pounds as emotion surges through me like a rising tide, fast and merciless. I can’t contain it. Tears spill from the corners of my eyes, soft sobs catching in my throat.Corbin lifts his

We return home hand in hand—well, I carry her.And that’s how it’s going to be. No more running off. No more silent plans or last-minute escapes. My Luna, my mate, the mother of my pups—she is never walking into hell alone again. Not if I can help it. Not if I have to chain her to me.I carry her through the doorway of our home, and for the first time since this war began, there’s stillness. There’s home. The scent of her still lingers here—honeysuckle and dusk—and though I’m exhausted, broken, emotionally gutted, I’m also… breathing again.I place her gently on one of the kitchen stools and grab a bottle of water. She watches me like she’s expecting me to lash out, to yell, to demand why the hell she left me behind. Maybe a part of her knows I’m still burning with fury… but it’s buried beneath the overwhelming relief that she’s alive.She’s alive.I hand her the bottle and lean down, brushing a kiss against her forehead. The weight of war still hangs in the air, thick and silent. The

The forest is still. Not the kind of stillness that unsettles — no, this is something else. Reverent. Quiet, like the land is holding its breath.The battlefield stretches before us, blanketed in early morning mist and silence. The very earth carries the memory of what was lost and what was gained. Trees once scorched and broken now stand tall with new buds. The wind hums through the branches, brushing past us as if recognizing who we are — or maybe who we’ve become.Corbin walks beside me, his hand wrapped around mine. Our fingers interlocked like roots, like a promise — one we made beneath the blood moon, sealed in the battlefield of fate and fire. He hasn’t spoken since we left the pack house. He didn’t have to. I can feel everything in the way his thumb moves gently across my knuckle. The loss. The pride. The ache of remembering.I breathe in deeply, letting the scent of damp earth and blooming wildflowers wrap around me. The place is no longer haunted. Not by pain, at least. Only