My gaze returned to my mother's. "And Rayanne? Do you accept the position?"
"In honor of my father, who would be so proud of what his grandchildren have done here today in this arena, I most certainly do. "
Tears stung my eyes and I had to blink them back. Proud was a word I'd never thought to hear when it came to our grandfather and us.
Rhoan squeezed my hand lightly, and I cleared my throat. "Then I formally step down from the leadership and hand over control to you both. "
A roar erupted, the sound almost deafening. Rhoan tugged me into his arms and hugged me fiercely. "It's done," he said. "We made it. "
I didn't reply immediately, just held on to him as reaction set in and my body shook. After a while, the awareness that someone was near grew and I pulled away, turning to see Evin and Lyndal.
"Come and meet your brother and sisters," he said softly, then spun around and walked away.
&n
bsp; "Brother and sisters," Rhoan said, a silly grin on his face as he glanced at me. "How damn good does it feel to say that?"
"Brilliant," I said, as we followed Evin.
And it was brilliant. This place might not be home anymore, but we had family.
Finally, after all those years in the wilderness, we belonged somewhere.
Epilogue
The wind meandered through the treetops, filling the dusk with the whisper of leaves. The mountain air was cool, fresh with the recent rain and rich with the humus of the forest.
I walked through the trees, my bare feet sinking into the grass and leaving a trail of wet prints behind me.
In a couple of hours, the full moon would rise and I would become a wolf.
But before then, before the sun had fully set, there was the time of promises.
Soon Quinn would become mine, and I would become his.
It was all I could do not race up the remainder of this hill, to where he and Rhoan and Liander waited, to say the words that would bind us as one forever.
The only thing that could have made this night more perfect would have been for Rhoan and Liander to perform the ceremony alongside us. But Rhoan was still refusing, and Liander wouldn't push. He understood Rhoan's reasons. We all did, even if we didn't agree with them.
But I wasn't about to spoil this night by dwelling on such matters.
Not when I was about to commit to the man of my dreams.
My pulse was racing and my heart was light, and every now and again the sheer force of it all had my feet breaking into a happy little dance.
High above the treetops, the sky was a blaze of color, and though the moon had yet to crest the horizon, the heat of her was in the air. Her music sang through my veins - a richness that was sweet and intoxicating. The change would come with darkness, but before it did, our promises would be made.
I walked up the rest of the hill. The last of the day's sunlight broke through the trees as I did, warming the clearing ahead and spotlighting the three men who waited there.
Rhoan and Liander stood to one side, their arms entwined and grins as silly as my own on their faces. Quinn stood in the middle, as naked as I was despite what he'd said earlier. And oh, he was beautiful. Simply beautiful.
He smiled as I stopped in front of him, and briefly reached out to caress my cheek. I pressed into his touch and silently said, Do you know all the words?
They have been very firmly drummed into my brain by your brother and his lover, he replied. They made sure no mistakes would be made.
They'd made sure I would make no mistakes, as well, hammering the words into my still somewhat faulty memory banks. Despite Quinn's best efforts, not all the past had been recovered. Some of it would remain forever gone. But the past no longer mattered. The here, the now, and the future did.
Good, I replied softly. I did threaten to cook for them for the next year if things went awry.