Whatever had been possessing the wolf melted away into the darkness. Aleksei swore he heard the feathers of a large bird, as big as a great owl, swoop, rustle, then fly away.
The wolf lay on top of him, as if dead. Its fur sparkled like polished steel in the moonlight. Slowly its form faded and the magic of its being sank back into Aleksei, joining together with him once again.
Without even realizing he was doing it, Aleksei shifted, welcoming the warmth and healing power of his wolf back home. He lay bathing in the pure beautiful light of the moon which seemed to dance all over him.
“Aleksei? Aleksei! Oh my god. There he is, help me get to him. Hurry.” Helena's voice filtered through the haze of his recovering mind and soul. It was like a balm that nothing else could have ever provided.
He tried to get to his feet, but he simply didn't have any strength left. His wolf begged him to be still and let it heal them both a little longer. It was smart enough to know that she would come to his side.
In another breath, she was there. “Oh Aleksei, tell me you're okay. When I saw that horrible witch looking lady doing her impression of the galactic emperor on you, we sent all of the light straight for her. Tell me we did enough. Oh, my Aleksei.”
My Aleksei. He liked the sound of that. I'm here, love. I'm not entirely okay, but I will be now that you've found me. Let's never be apart again.
She dropped to the ground beside him, laugh cried, and gently set his head in her lap. She stroked the fur on his cheek, and then ran a finger along the soft spot from his snout to between his eyes. He could stay like that forever.
The beam of the light they were in grew more intense so that he had to open his eyes to see what was going on. Helena?
“It's not me doing it. I thought it might be you. Also...where did everyone go?”
Aleksei sat up, his bones healed, his mind clear, his soul intact. Even his wolf couldn't heal him that fast. Was it the power of love?
He looked up at his mate and saw a rainbow over her head.
Then a woman in white appeared behind her. “My mate and I can't thank you enough for your service to our children's future.”
Helena looked over at the woman and shook her head. “We didn't do anything but love each other. Well, and kick some creepy old lady's butt. What's that got to do with your kids?”
The woman smiled. “I wasn't finished.”
“Oh. Sorry.” She motioned for the strange woman to continue.
“Love has conquered all, and it will do it again, but Chaos may follow behind,” she said in a weird witchy way. The rainbow above their heads shimmered and a great multi-colored dragon landed next to the woman in white.
Oh shit. Aleksei had heard plenty about the troubles with dragons. He shifted and pulled Helena into his arms. He didn't want these beings anywhere near his mate.
“Why are you telling us this and being all cryptic to boot? We aren't a part of your war.” Aleksei was starting to understand why Niko had such a mad on for the dragons. They were a giant pain in the ass.
Aleksei's tone didn't faze the white witch in the least, although her dragon gave him the stink eye. “Because I'd like to give you a gift in thanks for what you did here today.”
Helena gave the stink eye right back. For being a human who knew very little about the supernatural world a week ago, she was handling seeing her first dragon pretty well. She should write a book for humans on how to deal with their kind or something.
“We don't need your treasure hoard or whatever. I've got all I need already.” Helena squeezed his hand and his heart soared like the moon in the sky knowing she meant him. She too was all he ever needed in life to be happy.
“No.” The witch gave little nod, acknowledging Helena's wishes. “I have something more precious than gold or jewels. I give you the gift of time.”
Helena snorted. “Hmm. That sounds about as real as one of those gift certificates for a free backrub.”
Aleksei kept his laugh in. He knew exactly what he was getting his mate for Christmas.
The woman placed a finger on both Aleksei and Helena's forehead. “When the war comes to Rogue, you will not see it, smell it, touch it, or hear it. Instead you will spend time loving each other.”
The dragon shifted, and the man he became grinned like a loon and cleared his throat. “I've heard the humans have a thing called a kissymoon or something. Since she's a human and he's a wolf, that seems an appropriate thing for them to do while we're knocking things around with Ereshkigal and Kur-Jara in Rogue.”
Helena, cross-eyed from staring at the witch's finger on her forehead, blinked. “You mean a honeymoon.”
The dragon man thought for a minute. “That's the thing where you give each other lots of orgasms on a beach vacation, right? Then yes. Kissymoon makes more sense, unless you're into food porn. But I'm not kink shaming. You do you.”
“Fine,” the white witch said. “You'll go on a honeymoon so as to avoid fighting in our war. My sister and her revenge plans have already done too much damage to wolfkind, and if we can save even one life, then I'm happy to sacrifice two of their greatest warriors to a month in—”
“Oh, oh.” The dragon got all excited. “Send them to that place in Thailand, what's it called, Fuck It.”
The witch shook her head. “I think it's pronounced Phfoo Ket, not fuck it.”
Aleksei looked deep into his lover's eyes and begged her to understand. “While I'd love to spend a month doing nothing but making love to my mate, I cannot in good conscience leave my pack to fight a war against the underworld.”
Helena gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Same. Us girls can help too.”
“Oh, the daughters will be the ones to turn the tide, should we be able to defeat Ereshkigal.” The witch had way too many plans. “With this gift, I'm simply planning ahead. I'll need you two rested and ready. Even if we win this war, the battle between good and evil is never over. There will be more to fight for, I promise.”
Helena sighed. “That doesn't sound ominous or anything.”
“I'm afraid because your soul has been touched by the God of Chaos, he may try to use you again to come back and wreak his havoc on this realm. If my sons and daughters can defeat the Black Witch once and for all, Nergal will be weakened, but they're playing a long game here because she knows she cannot hold my eldest son's soul hostage forever.” The witch looked over at the dragon. They both looked more worried than Aleksei thought beings with their powers should be.
This whole war was about a mother's love. It was hard for Aleksei to fault her for that. “So about that honeymoon. I'd like to start that sooner rather than later. I owe my mate a mating ceremony and tonight is a full moon, after all.”
“I'll get the honey.” The man winked and his body shimmered until he was nothing but a dusting of rainbow-colored flakes.
Weird.
“If that is your wish then you shall have it, brave warrior, and badass warrioress.”
The next moment, Aleksei and Helena were standing in the center of the sacred circle under the light of the full moon. All their friends and family were there, smiling, talking, dancing, and making merry.
Helena wore a beautiful white gown and had flowers in her hair. She looked at Aleksei, and he wasn't wearing anything but a smile. “Hey, uh, weren't we...like a minute ago…umm.”