I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “I don’t know.”
“We can’t beat him. Not like we are now.”
“I know.”
He turned his head toward me. “Gavin didn’t want to go.”
I sighed. “You saw that too?”
He nodded and looked back at his mother and brother. “He sacrificed himself. To save us.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“We have to. For all of us. But for Gordo and Carter most of all. They deserve to know the truth. And he’s part of this. Gavin is part of this. Of us.”
“He’s pack,” I said quietly.
“Yes. And we don’t leave pack behind. Ever.”
“Ever,” I said, hugging him closer.
He put his face in my neck, breathing in deeply. “You don’t remember.”
I closed my eyes. “No.”
“It’s o
kay.”
“I don’t—”
“Grass. Lake water. Sunshine.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
“That’s what I smell like to you. Isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I said hoarsely. “It is.”
“I never told you what it was like for me. How I knew that day. When we came back. How I knew you were my mate.”
“It’s—”
“Home,” he whispered. “You smell like home. You always have. And that’s the only thing that matters. You don’t need to remember because I remember for the both of us.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Are you sure?”
He nodded.
I kissed the side of his head. “Then we won’t worry about it. We won’t—”
“I tink we can help with dat,” a voice said from behind us.
We turned to see Aileen and Patrice standing there, looking dirty and worn but otherwise unharmed.
They were both smiling.
There were questions. So many questions. The residents of Caswell were scared. They demanded answers, wanting to know what had happened and what was going to happen next. They didn’t have an Alpha, they cried. They didn’t have anyone to lead them.