The Way We Were Book Novels & Stories

"He’s just... okay." "And so are we," I said. The first day of our new life ended with the sound of the crickets and the smell of the damp earth. The world was still out there, screaming about Thorne and Sterling and the billions of dollars that had vanished into thin air, but inside the villa, the air was still. We weren't the "Power Couple of the Year." We weren't the "Secret Pregnancy Scandal." We were just Dominic and Seraphina. And for the first time in thirty-nine chapters, that was more than enough.

It was Jax who let his guard down over books. I smiled. I remembered the lavish life I got to visit when I was younger. But out here, none of us really knew how to read. Not well anyway. We had codes made up. But we couldn’t read books like Aspen had always had. We couldn’t read that version of written language. We had never been taught or had the resources to teach ourselves. “You don’t have books?” S looked horrified. “Then how do you know what side you’re on is the right side?”

The farmhouse around them. He says, without looking up from his coffee: "What we were always building toward." She looks at him. "That's the title," she says. He looks at her. "Yes," he says. What We Were Always Building Toward. Damien Cross and Aria Sterling Cross. The origin story. The inside of the inside. For the grandchildren. For the ones after them. For everyone who finds it on a shelf someday and opens it and reads the first line. Which is his.

The Astropheles, our constant companion through every twist and turn of our epic, hummed softly, as if in approval. I took Jeff's hand, felt Lina's small, sure grip in my other. "Set a course," I said to Jeff, my voice steady and sure. The war for stories was over. The work of storytelling had just begun. And we had finally found our place in the narrative—not as the heroes in the climax, but as the keepers of the first, and most important, chapter. The one titled "How." ***

And that was our story. *** THE END ***

It must be because I had not gotten enough rest the night before. I walked to the locked cabinet in the corner. Inside was everything I had poured myself into for the last seven years, and that included my history with Ruby. I opened the cabinet, and right on top was our company's first server. We had built it by hand with the scholarship money we saved in university. We had searched the electronics marketplace to buy the parts we needed and assembled the server ourselves. Our initials were still carved into the case, with a heart she had drawn around them. She had even said with a laugh, "This is the result of our love and the start of our dream."

For a split second, I wanted nothing more than to return to the good old times, when I had not yet developed feelings for Zach, when he and I were siblings, and nothing more. We were siblings, and nothing more. This was wishful thinking, though, because it had all come to pass. I had already found someone who truly deserved me. [The End.]

As I opened my eyes I saw shock and joy on everyone's face as I turned and saw the cause with the mirror on the door , my eyes were pitch black with flicks of gold and silver dancing around. "EVERYONE KNEEL BEFORE YOUR ALPHA" the elder said as I turned and saw everyone bowing before me, my parents,sister,brother, beta's, people , my pack . "Close your eyes Alpha Lucas, as you open them may your mate eyes capture your heart" the elder spoke softly.

But as long as we had each other, we would always find our way into the light together. THE END

It wasn’t strength. It was the way we stayed the way we lived and co existed with each other . Through the pain. Through the joy. Together. The End 🐺💫