Don T Starve Wilson X Willow Novels & Stories

The air smelled like dew, pine, and the faint lingering sweetness of last night’s lantern wax. I stood on the back steps of our home, watching as Willow chased a butterfly across the clearing, her laughter darting through the air like a spark refusing to be snuffed out. She’d slept deeply after the celebration, curled between Alex and me, her warmth a reminder that the future wasn’t something distant, it was alive, running barefoot across the grass right in front of us. Alex stepped outside behind me, his presence steady before he even spoke. “Twix is waking,” he murmured quietly.

She paused for a moment before adding, “Of course, we get the credit, you get the rewards.” Kayson shrugged. He did not really care about the rewards, though. The hair began to burn, and the smoke was fluttering toward a direction. “Let’s go!” Kayson had just finished speaking, yet he was already standing several feet away from Willow. Willow was shocked. “He’s fast!” She circulated her inner energy and followed after Kayson. She was a level-1 Admiralporium member and would become a laughingstock if she couldn’t catch up to Kayson.

Blake's pockets were bursting with herbs. Lena and Kayla poured over the spice rack snatching bottles and cradling them in their arms as if they were each a precious gem. I went out into the muddled kitchen and raked through the soil, uprooting almost everything we had planted in my haste to find the ginger root Willow needed. Arms and pockets full of ingredients we raced back to the library. "Stop!" Willow called from the staircase. She stood halfway down holding her hand out. "Go back. I need a stove, a pot, I need to be in your kitchen."

I didn’t push her, leaving my eyes glued to Roxi as she played in the multicolored leaves and ran circles around the small yard. I could see Jax comforting her out of my peripheral vision, so I let him take care of his mate while I pondered why on earth she would want to converse with me. The last I recalled from the night before was that she was coming over this morning to spend time with the other she-wolves. After she took several deep breaths, Willow began speaking without a hint of disquiet detectable in her voice as she said, “I was thinking about what you said last night, about not being able to locate any additional bunkers in the area if they exist.”

Crazy, I know. Bradley Lightwood was not hard to find. The first person I had asked about his whereabouts had directed me to the town’s central football field. It was a large clearing near the forest, which made sense. With all the supernatural creatures roaming around, having forest cover nearby seemed a good idea. In case they couldn’t resist shape shifting, they could just go into the forest and do it away from prying eyes. I now understood why most of the town’s natural vegetation had been left untouched. The creatures needed a bit of wilderness.

I sighted a towering sign barely visible through the trees. WILLOW BROOKE The letters stood bold, dripping with warning. A chill crawled down my spine. Willow Brooke. The most feared of the seven packs in the state. No one entered unless they had a death wish. I was between the devil and the deep blue sea, but I didn’t have the luxury to hesitate. I could hear the wolves’ snarls closing in, their hot breath nearly brushing the back of my neck. Without a second thought, I crossed the boundary into Willow Brooke territory, not caring about what was waiting for me in it. Better to die in the hands of strangers, than in the hands of people I consider family.

But every year, at the same time, one of her comrades delivered a pack of shortbread cookies. At 60, I taught my final class. Before the bell rang, I looked out toward the hillside. A flourishing willow tree stood there. My son lay beneath it. "Cyrus, Dad misses you." —The End

Ash rolled his eyes at the dramatic play of his sister. "Rose, I don't question Simon ability. But still, we need to make sure of this information. If your hunch was right that the Black Wolf's Clan Empire is behind of this, this crest you found will be the first step on discovering them. Plus, club is too dark for every one of us to see properly. I just wanted to make sure." Simon nodded in understanding and agreement with Ash while Rose just scoffed and rolled her eyes.