Chapter 20
Mariah
After much conversation, the camp had quieted down. Varek and I updated the group of most aspects of our journey, leaving out the parts that made me blush the most, but there was no hiding the fact that I was his mate.
Both Kendra’s and Lia’s gazes met mine.
They already knew.
Now that the night had grown dark, wolves were bedding down or taking watch shifts along the perimeter, and the hum of human conversation had faded to a few quiet murmurs. The smoke climbed straight up into a sky dotted with stars so bright it felt like I could reach up and touch them.
Kendra and Lia kept close to me once Soren and the others had gone to coordinate plans and check maps.
We found a smaller fire at the edge of camp, its coals still glowing a dull red.
The three of us sat there for a long moment, saying nothing, letting the quiet settle around us.
It had been forever since we’d been alone together, and we were savoring each moment.
Lia was the first to speak. “You two remember that night in our old apartment? When we swore that we’d run away and open a bakery somewhere?”
Kendra barked a laugh. “We couldn’t bake a thing that didn’t taste like burnt crackers. We’d have gone out of business in a week.”
I smiled, the memory sliding through me like a ghost. “You were the only ones who made me believe we could still dream about things like that.”
Lia’s grin faltered. “I still dream about it sometimes. But now I think maybe it wasn’t the bakery. Maybe it was just the idea that there could be a place where no one owned us.”
Kendra poked at the embers with a stick until sparks rose. “We’re close to that place now. We take the city, we stop the Council, and no one ever locks us up again.” Her voice was fierce, but there was a tremor under it.
I reached across and took her hand. “You’ve changed,” I said. “Both of you have. You’re… harder, but it seems like you’re both stronger too. And maybe happier?”
Lia smirked. “Look who’s talking. You were the one who could barely climb a fence without tripping. Now you’re out there killing cougars and kicking ass.”
I groaned softly. “Don’t remind me about the cougar. I’m going to have nightmares forever.”
Kendra leaned in, studying my face in the firelight. “You really almost lost it, didn’t you? Because of the rage serum.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I remember flashes—blood, the sound of bones breaking. It almost made me kill Varek, too.” I swallowed hard, the memory still fresh in my mind. “He bit me, marked me, to bring me back. It was the mate bond that saved me.”
Lia’s eyes softened. “You love him, don’t you.”
I hesitated, staring into the flames until they blurred. “I do love him. He’s stuck by me through all of this. He’s a bit of a hard ass sometimes, but also kind, thoughtful. He takes care of me. We take care of each other.”
Kendra nudged me with her shoulder. “Then hold on to him. We all deserve something good after everything we’ve been through.”
The three of us fell quiet again. The fire popped softly, the smell of pine resin sweet in the air.
I studied their faces—Kendra’s knowing grin, Lia’s calm eyes—and a wave of emotion swelled in my chest so powerful it hurt.
We had grown into new versions of ourselves, carved by loss and luck and stubbornness, but we were still us.
The same girls who’d stolen away to watch an ancient movie during the madness of our lives, who’d whispered plans they never thought would come true.
“We’re actually going to do it,” I said, almost to myself. “We’re going to end it.”
Lia nodded, her smile small but confident. “Tomorrow we start.”
Kendra tossed the stick into the coals. “Then let’s make sure to make the most of tonight.”
We sat there until the fire burned low, shoulders touching, watching the stars slip across the sky.
For the first time in years, I wasn’t thinking about cages or serum or war.
I was just thinking about them—my sisters in everything that mattered—and how much I wanted to see all of us on the other side of this alive.
When the fire finally sank into embers, Kendra yawned. “Come on, let’s go to bed before Soren catches us and puts us on watch duty.”
Lia laughed, rising to her feet. I stood last, brushing ash from my hands, and looked back once at the dark trees beyond the camp. Somewhere out there the city waited, the Council waited, and the end of everything we’d known waited.
I turned toward my friends and followed them into the night, the warmth of the dying fire at my back.