Chapter 30 #2
I press a hand to his chest. “Yes, tonight.”
His hardened stare, the one that just wants to protect me, holds for several seconds, but I don’t relent. There are people inside that place still. At least there were, and I need to know that they’re okay before I can rest.
Finally, he nods. “Okay. Let’s go.” He glances back and I see Elias there.
The beta holds my stare, his thanks coming through the pack link.
You’re the luna we’ve been waiting for, he says, and I try not to flinch at the sound of another man’s voice in my head.
Cade begins speaking before I can respond, though.
“Tell the others we’ll be back,” my mate tells Elias. “They don’t need to wait, but there’s something more we have to do.”
Well, I didn’t expect us to go right now, but I’m also not going to argue with that plan.
Together, with my family flanking us, we make our way across the scarred ground toward the place that almost swallowed me whole.
As we do, there’s one more voice I need to hear.
Wolf.
I’m here, she offers quietly with a pause. I’m sorry I underestimated you. You did…spectacularly.
Thank you, I reply sincerely. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Even though I didn’t shift, I knew she was there with me the whole time, offering her strength and keeping me connected to the pack. Without her, I’d never have that connection, and I’d be dead. End of story.
Yes, you could have, she says with a certainty I don’t buy. But I’m glad you didn’t have to find out otherwise.
You and me both.
With Cade’s arm wrapped around my waist, practically holding me up, I lean into our bond, drawing his strength, but then stop.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask him with a frown deepening between my eyes.
“I was wondering if you’d notice that,” he says, almost too lightly. “We gave to you willingly. Me as your mate, them for their Alpha Queen. Don’t worry about us. We’ll all be good as new by morning.”
Another realization hits me then.
If I hadn’t stopped Malrik when I did, if I’d had to keep drawing on the packs to stay in the fight…
I might have killed us all.
“Stop,” Cade commands, his voice full of power. “It all worked out the way it was supposed to.”
When I look back at him, I know he’s right. I can’t regret my choices or think of the things that could have happened because it’s done.
The fight is over.
We’re walking away.
We’re almost to The Keep now, and it’s no less imposing than before.
It still rises from the land with all the old sharpness of shadow and stone, but the air around it no longer presses down like a hand around my throat.
The closer we get, the more the magic changes.
The cold, metallic wrongness that once stained everything has thinned, replaced by something quieter.
The great doors open before we reach them.
I pause only briefly, taking in the changes, before stepping across the threshold.
The entry hall is lit now, not by the eerie silver veins in the walls and fire sconces I remember but by warm light that emanates from the ceiling as we pass.
The walls still carry their history, dark stone veined with age and power, but the sentience in the place no longer feels cornered or strained. If anything, it feels relieved.
As if the house has been waiting for permission to exhale.
“You’re different,” I whisper to it before I can stop myself.
The lights flare softly in response.
“That’s unsettling,” Liz mutters.
“It’s house manners,” Iris counters. “Try having some.”
We move deeper in and start finding some of them almost immediately.
The people. Everyone Malrik stole.
Some emerge cautiously from side corridors, blinking like they haven’t seen proper light in too long.
Others sit where they are, too stunned or exhausted to move without help.
A pair of witches hurry forward from one hall, guiding an older vampire woman between them.
A wolf shifter with hollow eyes leans heavily against the wall until Brynn, who I didn’t know was with us, rushes ahead like she recognizes him.
And then I see her.
The woman with the books.
She stands at the end of a long corridor, one hand braced against the doorway like she isn’t fully convinced she’s allowed to step through it.
Her dress is plain, her face thinner than I remember, but her eyes are the same—watchful, intelligent, and far too old with things she never should have had to witness.
Recognition flickers over her face the second she sees me.
“You did it,” she says softly.
I stop in front of her, a strange ache blooming in my chest. “And now you’re free.”
She gives a small nod. “In one way or another.”
There’s no accusation in her tone. No bitterness. Just fact.
“I’m sorry,” I say before I can think better of it.
Her mouth trembles into the ghost of a smile. “You came back. That’s what counts.”
I don’t know what to do with that, so I do the only thing I can. I take her hand and squeeze gently.
Behind me, the sound of movement grows as more people are found, guided out, comforted, and counted.
More of those who followed us here—a few alphas and some of the witches—are already checking rooms, clearing upper floors, and scenting the halls for anyone hidden away and unable to move on their own.
Brynn joins us again a few moments later, bruised and furious and somehow still managing to look like an alpha. Her silver eyes take in the transformed Keep, the freed people, and then settle on me with a steadiness that makes everyone nearby go quiet.
“This place can’t be abandoned,” she says, her voice carrying cleanly through the hall. “Not after what was done here, and with how many will need time before they’re ready to return to whatever life they had before. Some might never be.”
I nod slowly. “I agree.”
She glances toward the others, then back to me. “Glacier Crest will place wolves here. Sentinels, if you’ll allow it. We’ll keep watch over the grounds, given it’s within our territory. Anyone affected by Malrik who doesn’t know where to go next can remain here in sanctuary until they decide.”
For a second, I can’t find words, because what she’s offering isn’t just practical.
It’s a future. Not only for The Keep, but for these people, who have probably long forgotten what that might be.
“That’s more than fair,” I say at last. “It’s the right thing.”
Brynn inclines her head once. “Then it’s settled.”
There’s no ceremony to it. No formal declaration. Just action. Which somehow makes it matter more.
The woman with the books watches the exchange, then looks back at me. “So, we stay.”
“If you want,” I say, glancing around the hall as light continues to spread into corners that once felt unreachable. “But not for him. Not any longer.”
For the first time, her smile reaches her eyes.
“Good.”
And just like that, I know we’re done here.
The grief isn’t gone, and the damage still exists, but the future has already begun to take shape. The Keep will stand. Not as Malrik’s monument, but as a haven.
As proof that not everything touched by darkness has to be destroyed in order to be remade.
Wolf stirs inside me again. The fates knew what they were doing when they made you Alpha Queen.
I close my eyes for one brief second and let myself lean into that.
I look back up and glance at Cade, who’s watching me with that same impossible calmness he’s given me since he realized there was no other choice.
He takes my hand again and, when we finally step back outside, night has deepened around us. The arena is quieter now, the chaos replaced by organization, by movement with purpose. Supernaturals are healing and working together, maybe for the first time ever.
Cade’s hold on me tightens as he says, “Katerina is ready with a portal to take us home whenever you are.”
Home.
The word doesn’t ache the way it once did.
I squeeze his fingers and look back one last time at The Keep glowing softly under the moon, no longer oppressive, no longer ruled by a madman desperate to be worshipped.
Just standing and waiting to become something else.
Then I look at the people around me—my mate, my family, my friends, my pack—and let the truth settle fully, deeply, without resistance.
“Yeah,” I say, and this time the smile comes easy. “Let’s go home.”