Claimed by the cruel lycan king
Whatever waited beyond the southern borders, whatever new challenge eventually arrived to test everything we'd built together, I understood, standing there in the warm glow of a hard-won peace, that we'd face it exactly the way we'd faced everything since that very first night.
Chosen. Together. However many times, however many crises, however many old grievances and ancient threats and scattered bloodlines still waited beyond the borders we understood.
I hadn't broken, that first night in the Great Hall. I'd found, instead, exactly the life worth building — one choice, renewed daily, at a time.
END OF BOOK ONE
(The Lycan King's story continues in Book Two: Kingdom of the Southern Fires)