51
Jaxson
Savannah collapsed into my arms, and for a long time, I just held her: my mate, my love, the woman who had saved my pack.
I combed my fingers through her hair as she quaked from exhaustion. How much time had passed I couldn’t say, but finally she stirred.
“It’s okay… I’m okay,” she stepped back to prove her point, but was unsteady on her feet, and I held onto her arm. “Do you think it worked?”
I smiled. “Listen.”
She paused.
Wolf howls echoed in the distance in every direction—a sound we all knew by instinct: the cry one makes when a lost pup had been found. Our pack members, no longer possessed or bound, and been reunited with their wolves. They were crying out with joy and calling to each other.
A broad grin stretched across Savannah’s face. Fatigue ringed her eyes, but they shimmered with delight and triumph.
My heart leapt at the sight. She was radiant. Beautiful. Everything I had never known I needed.
Like a whirlpool, sudden need pulled my lips to hers, and we were kissing. Bruised, battered, and exhausted, but alive and churning with emotion.
Her mouth moved across mine, searching, needing, desiring. Every motion was a song of relief. I lost myself in her taste and tongue and the completeness I felt when I was with her.
I could barely contain the lightness in my heart. When Savannah was in my arms, it was like a part of me that I hadn’t known I was missing had been found. Somehow, this woman made me whole, in a way I’d never thought was possible.
Finally, needing breathe, I broke away. Chest heaving, Savy leaned into my embrace as I dipped my head to her ear. “It’s over. We’re free. You did it.”
“We did it,” she muttered.
With a growl of admiration, I shook my head. “No. This, this was you. It was your idea to bind the wolves to weaken the Dark God, and your power that set them free. No one else would have been able, or even dared, to do that. You saved our pack. Our city.”
Savannah reddened and I could smell the scent of her embarrassment at the praise. She turned her head to gaze out over the ruins of Dockside.
“The city doesn’t look like it’s been saved,” she said. “If we hadn’t lost so much time…”
Rebuilding would take time. The hallmarks of devastation stretched for blocks—broken glass, crumbled walls, burning buildings.
I gently pulled her chin back to me. “I know it looks bad, but this is a fraction of what could have been. You saw the visions. If we hadn’t stopped the Dark God, this city would be ash and rubble, with half of its inhabitants dead and the other half homeless and running for their lives.”
She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. “I know. I just wish we could have done more.”
“We did everything we could. Now, we pick up the pieces of Dockside. There is plenty we can do to heal the wound he left us.”
Savannah tensed. “Sam. She was hurt.”
“She’s okay. She looks a little worse for wear, but she’s already off helping the others.”
A familiar truck pulled up, and Regina bailed out. She ran over and—uncharacteristically—gave me a hug, “Thank fates, you survived.”
“I’m hard to kill.”
She pushed back. “Not for lack of trying—you look like you’ve been through hell.”
Regina gave Savy a hug as well. “Thank you for everything, Savannah.”
Savy nodded and I crossed my arms. “Give me a rundown of the damage. I’m guessing it’s bad since you’re here in person.”
“I had to see you. And yes, it’s bad. A good portion of Dockside is burning. Firefighters are working to contain the flames. But we have a bigger problem on our hands. The people who were bit by the possessed wolves have some sort of lycanthropy, and it’s not gone away. Some are managing to control it, but others are going feral.”
Regina’s words ran through me like ice water, and Savannah sucked in a sharp breath. “You mean, they’re still turning into werewolves? We chained the Dark God and closed off the portal—”
“Doesn’t seem to have stopped it. Some keep partially shifting, others are fighting severe fevers.”
Savannah stiffened and went pale. “Casey?”