When Emma finally started yawning, Hank took her, leaving Tracy and Enid alone at the table. Everything had been cleared, and those that had stayed at the Pack house were mostly in the kitchen, preparing a breakfast feast for when the Pack came back. Some were curled up in wolf form, asleep around the perimeter of the room, and most would take a short nap during the darkest hours of the night before the Pack returned. Hank took Emma off to the room the family was using, and Enid sensed Tracy wanted to talk.
“You were in the crash…” Tracy began hesitantly. “With my mother?”
“I was,” Enid said quietly, and proceeded to recount everything she could remember about the brave woman she had only recently learned had been Tess. Enid realized, as she went through it again, that she now understood the moment when Tess had interceded with the Mother of All on Enid’s behalf. “I felt my soul beginning to pull away from my body, but then, something happened,” Enid said quietly. “I think that was the moment your mother changed things. Or, perhaps, it had meant always to be that way. Only the Mother of All could know for certain. Whatever it was, your mother let me stay here, and I think I realize, now, why.”
“For my dad,” Tracy said, her tone filled with both awe at the Lady’s power and love for her father.
“And for you,” Enid amended. “For the whole Pack. For the fight to come and the struggles of everyday life. I became a full priestess after I healed from the crash, and I’ve been following that path ever since. This is why.” She looked around the Pack house and realized she’d finally found her home. “This is my place. I understand that, now.”
And behind her, the remaining candles of the solstice celebration, that would burn out in their own time, blazed a little brighter for a moment. Enid saw them reflected in Tracy’s eyes and knew in her heart, she was right.
Tracy leaned over and hugged Enid, surprising her. “I’m glad you’re here,” Tracy said, her voice rough with tears, and Enid knew she had been accepted. “Welcome to the family,” Tracy continued as she pulled back, her smile a bit teary.
Joe couldn’t wait to get back to the Pack house, but he also wanted to run and feel the joy of his wolf at leading a Pack any Alpha could be proud of. With his sons by his side, he ran in wolf form, howling at the moon and enjoying his life as he hadn’t in so very long. If he imagined a silvery shadow of a lithe female wolf running alongside, just out of the corner of his eye—as he had many times before, ever since Tess left this realm—he could feel joy in her spirit and not the debilitating sorrow of before.
Joy at having known a love so fierce that she’d sent him another love to anchor him to this world and this Pack. He knew there were tough times ahead for all those who served the Light, but Tess had given him renewed purpose to stand and fight when necessary, and spend all his energies preparing his people so they would be as strong as possible to face whatever came next.
Joe saw the spirit wolf run at the heels of each of their sons before she peeled off into the sky, and he had the feeling he might never see that spirit form of his first mate ever again. She was free now, to serve the Lady, as she had freed him to serve the Pack. A final gift from a loving heart that he would never forget.
A new spring in his step that hadn’t been there in years led him back to the Pack house just as dawn kissed the sky. Those who had managed to keep up with him and his sons followed. Others had drifted back to the Pack house earlier in the night, to catch a few hours of sleep in one of the guest rooms or rest their weary bones in wolf form.
Enid was standing on the porch with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand. He saw her before she saw him, but when he trotted out of the tree line and padded up the steps, he had no doubt that she recognized his wolf form. She sat on the porch swing and he walked right up to her in his fur, snugging his head against her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“You’re handsome in both forms,” she whispered against his fur. “I would know you anywhere, Joe. You are my heart.”
He transformed to sit beside her. The shower of magic that surrounded him momentarily, made her open her arms. He was buck naked, but she didn’t mind and neither did he. Joe didn’t feel the cold like humans did.
He pulled Enid in for a quick kiss, but her shivers made him retreat before too long. She had to be freezing. She was only wearing a thin sweater.
“You go on in,” he told her gently. “Warm up. I’ll be right behind you.”
Enid did as he asked and when Joe followed her in a moment later, dressed again in the clothes he’d left behind on the porch, everybody was awake and ready for breakfast. Kevin and Ken had caught up with him and walked beside him as he entered.
Joe’s heart swelled with delight to see Enid there, waiting for him. She sat at the table near the tree, a bright-eyed Emma on her lap, eating cereal while Tracy and Hank got trays of bacon, eggs and all the fixings from the kitchen. By the time Joe took his seat, kissing both Emma and Enid as he took his place next to them, the whole family was gathered and plenty of food was being passed around.
All around the great hall, everyone else joined in the celebration breakfast. Those who had taken a few hours to sleep joined the younger set that had been up all night as the noise level rose to a happy hum. All was right with Joe’s world. Finally. For the first time in years, he didn’t have that hollow feeling of something missing. All was as it needed to be, and he was ready to lead this Pack into a much brighter future…with Enid at his side.
“Hank and I were talking about my Cessna,” Enid told Joe at one point during the noisy breakfast. “I need to go back to Louisiana for a bit at some point in the next couple of days.”
“I’ll go with you,” Joe immediately volunteered. “I want to talk to Henri a bit more and set up his Pack’s move to the new territory.”
“You’re very sure of yourself, aren’t you?” Enid said, turning to give him a measuring look, a teasing smile lighting her eyes.
“That’s my job as Alpha,” Joe replied, enjoying the banter. It had been too long since he’d felt this way. Young and happy and full of hope for the future.
“So you’re really going to do it, eh, Joe?” Hank asked, grinning. “You’re going to bring in other Alphas and their Packs under your banner?”
“That’s the plan,” Joe replied, finally ready to share the news with everyone else. He knew once he said this in the room full of Pack members, the news would fly through town like wildfire. “Henri is a young Alpha, but from what I saw, he’s got a good, strong basis for his Pack. They are all fine craftsmen. Carpenters who build homes any of us would be proud of. His mate is in a tough spot right now, but with the Goddess’s help, Enid will fix her up, and Henri and his Pack can become the first of many affiliated Packs under the Big Wolf umbrella.”
“You’re thinking a structure more like the Redstones in Nevada rather than my folk, is that right?” Hank asked as Joe nodded.
“I’ve long admired what the Redstone brothers have pulled together. Of course, there are five of them. All strong Alphas who have agreed to work together, which is remarkable in itself. I think that was the key to their fast rise into a Clan that encompasses so many members of different species. I’m but one man,” Joe said, winking as he grinned. “I plan to start here, with wolves. And, of course, our bond with the jaguar people is already established, but that’s more of a partnership than a merger. As new groups decide to join Big Wolf, we’ll establish a clear hierarchy, like that of the Redstone Clan. I know it can work, and it’ll make us all stronger together than we ever were apart.”