“I did it,” I whisper back. “But not alone. I couldn’t have done it without you.” Kaya cocks her head to the side. “You taught me who I am. Without you, I would still be the lost girl trying to find where she belongs.”
We both watch Trevor, Travis, and Damien bend and pick up the dead shaman. They handle him with care as they carry him away in hopes of finding a final place of rest for him. Jacob tells them to burn him, along with the pendant. It’s probably for the best. At least in death, Wice can have his wolf returned to him.
Tonight could have been worse. Many others could have died – innocent people who dreamed of one day being free to return home to their families and friends.
Exhaling loudly, I let go of Jacob’s grip and rush to my aunt. Our embrace is crushing, warm, and soon, we’re both sobbing in each other’s arms. When we pull apart, I ask, “Why didn’t you break the curse?”
She frowns and glances at Glenda. I hadn’t heard her approach, but she holds out both the book and the pendant for me to take. “I couldn’t,” Kaya reveals. “I tried not to lie to you as much as I could. I had tried for years to break their curse.”
“Then why did you steal the book?”
Kaya swallows. “I thought maybe there might be something in there. Wice promised if I could call upon his father’s spirit and find the money, he would release me and my daughter.”
I remember her saying she was never allowed to touch the book – to practice the shaman magic. She’d have to read the book to do it, but obviously she wasn’t successful, which means his father’s spirit is truly in the Death Realm.
I glance behind me, and Malila and I stare at one another for a split moment before she returns her attention to Marian’s introduction to each member of her coven. Sometime soon, I want to get to know my quiet cousin. My shy cousin. My cousin who looks so much like me but carries herself completely differently. Situations shape people, and it makes me wonder if I were in her shoes – if I’d been a hostage my entire life – would I be any different than she is? Shy? Unsure? Tentative?
“I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“Don’t be. It couldn’t be helped.”
Her bottom lip trembles. “You’ve made many friends along the way, too. Friends who I’ll be grateful to forever.”
“I have,” I say, looking back at my mate.
“And Sara.” Sara’s head snaps up, and Kaya shifts toward her. “I want to apologize to you, too. I was indifferent toward you because of who you are to me.”
“My aunt.”
“Yes.” She nods and blinks hard. “I was not fair to you. But you’re perceptive. You knew too much even without knowing.” She reaches and grasps Sara’s hand. “I hope I can someday be the aunt you deserve. And I thank you for being part of the group who saved my life – my daughter’s life – all our lives.”
A tear spills down Sara’s cheek, travels lazily over her high cheekbones. “You don’t need to thank us. You –”
“I do. And I hope the two of you can answer a question I have yet to piece together.”
Sara and I glance at one another. “About what?” we question together.
“The book.” Kaya nods toward the book in my arms. “The false pendant. How did you do it without the book?”
Taking turns, we tell the group gathering around us how Sara and I tried to hatch a plan that would trick the Bane into believing the fake pendant was the one with their wolves locked inside. Kaya chuckled when we got to the part about Marian having to do the heavy lifting because neither of us could make it resemble the real one. Jacob frowned when I told him I trapped only one spirit – the white wolf – and then paled when I told everyone Eliza Plaats, Fee of the Death Realm, came and retrieved the soul while helping me find the courage to do the impossible.
“So basically,” Damien grumbles, “You didn’t need us at all.”
“Yes, she did,” Jacob barks because he knows my feelings on the matter. I could have – I could have killed every bad shifter in this room. It’s true, I didn’t need them. I could have come in here with the real pendant and destroyed them all. But I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself afterward.
Damien’s face softens, and he pockets his hands, ashamed for thinking I would have considered it.
“I needed the time to find the hostages,” I tell him softly. “That was the plan in the beginning.”
Cinder chuckles, his chin resting on top of Sara’s head while his hands squeeze and knead her shoulders. “The plan went to shit in a hurry.”
I return his smile. “It did. Remind me to thank Chip later.”
“Not before I kick his ass,” Jacob grumbles.
I laugh and then glance at Kaya. I nibble my bottom lip. “You don’t look relieved.”
Glenda snorts. “She was prisoner. Now she not.”
Kaya crosses her arms over her chest, a shield to contain her emotions, and looks at her daughter. “Where will we go?”
Whispering spirits tickle the back of my neck, and the pocket of my mind belonging only to Jacob warms with his empathy. Kaya feels homeless. She and her daughter have no place to go – not really. They could return to her house, but would it feel like a home?
Jacob’s voice rumbles softly. “I imagine the other shaman will want to return home, but as for the skinwalkers,” he pauses, lowering his voice. “You’ll come home with us. All of you. You have a place in my pack if you wish it.”
Liquid gathers in Kaya’s eyes while hope blossoms across her face. She looks at me and asks disbelievingly, “How can you forgive me so easily?”
“Because grudges birth darkness. I’m tired of darkness.”
Jacob Trent
It’s been two weeks since the realm was relieved of Wice Bane. Two weeks, and it hasn’t settled in that the threat is truly gone. And yet, we have skinwalkers in the pack as evidence of this.
As I stare down at Allie’s grave, I find myself relieved that I hadn’t seen Eliza Plaats for myself. The last time I saw her was during the Realms War. I still remember the smell of her lightning magic. I still remember what it looked like when she wielded it, too. The lightning morphed into a crackling whip to be used against the vampires. They’re memories I’d rather not revisit. Not when my life has changed so much since then.
Eliza Plaats had told Jinx that Allie is in the Death Realm. She made it and is no longer here, watching over me. It doesn’t make me feel angry or upset. It makes me feel good, as though I’ve done my job. Whatever job that was, I’ll probably never know.
Rex’s soft footfalls crunch in the fresh layer of snow. It had continued snowing on All Hallows’ Eve and hasn’t melted all the way. The days are cold enough for the snow to stick around.
He closes the distance and stands beside me while pocketing his hands in his coat. “You saw her.”
I snap my gaze to him. “I already told you that.”
Shrugging, he says, “It hadn’t sunk in until I saw you standing here. Amelia’s worried you’ll slip back into your grief.”