*Gemma*I hadn't had the mindset to consider what was next for either Raisa or myself. All we had been focused on was escaping Connor and not whatever was beyond that. I didn't know about her, but I did not excel at planning ahead in anything I did, and now I realized the hard way that would be my downfall.As I lay in bed, all I could come up with were two options: leave or stay. Leave to get on a boat and a train back to Lyrehaven and somehow get a ride back to Opal Springs where my family would be waiting. I could go back to Lynn and hug her until my arms hurt. I could hug my parents and weep as I told them I was sorry, and all I wanted to do was make things better for the Brooks family. I could take that teaching job and hope everything returned to normal and put my journey to the West behind me and never look back.Or… I could stay. I could talk to Jerah and Jaci and wonder if they wanted me to join Moonwake just as they wanted Raisa to. Did they even want an Easterner, a

*Gemma*Kael roared my name, and I didn't give a single shit if the rest of the Moonwake pack heard. All that mattered was that the ribbon united our souls and hearts accepting it with our entire selves. All that mattered was my unyielding joy in knowing he was mine and I was his forever. From that first day of meeting, both of us drenched in blood and fueled by terror, my immediate disdain for his flippancy about our life and death situation slowly evolving to find it endearing. Looking at the progression in hindsight, it was a fast change over the course of only a few days. But what did days mean compared to the minutes and hours of each other's company? What did minutes and hours mean when it was the words said and the actions performed that brought us together like the Goddess's invisible hands pushing us closer, even if it felt like it was against our wills?After pulling out lingeringly, Kael wrapped his arms around me and rolled onto his back, drawing me with him. I re

*Gemma*Bryn flung open the car door and landed right as Raisa threw herself at him in an embrace. He spun her around, both of them weeping. "Oh, my Raisa.""I thought you were dead," she sobbed. "I thought—""Lovely reunion," Diana shouted, "but we're a little busy!"The Sun Mountain males wavered at the sight of the Hazel Coast Alpha's machinery, but once they realized a very non-threatening wolf jumped out and started hugging a helpless female, three of them shifted into their wolf forms and lunged forward.Bryn hoisted his mate into the passenger seat of the car, wrenching open the back door so Diana could dive into the backseat. I was one step behind but then paused. "Kael—"Bryn shoved me inside and slammed the door. "He'll be fine!" he yelled. "Just drive!"Diana had already climbed into the driver's seat. "Where?!""West!""West?! There's nothing for miles!""Trust me!" With that, Bryn shifted into his wolf form and launched himself at the Sun guards.

*Gemma*The atmosphere of the car ride was desolate. Two mates found, and before long, two mates lost. An almost-mate turned villainous. Moonwake was forced to flee once again. I could only imagine their morale plunging further into despair. How many more times, how many more hideouts, would they burrow and be chased from until they could return to their homeland? How many more sacrifices were they going to have to make?"He is our last hope. Do not let him go."I failed in my promise to Jaci. All this was my fault."Do you still feel it?" I whispered to Raisa."Yes," she whispered back. "I thought it was gone. When we were running down that damn tunnel under Hazelstone, I felt it just… disappear. I searched until I thought I would lose my mind." Raisa looked over her shoulder at me. "I accepted his death. I didn't feel it tug back. But he lived and saved us and now I feel it, stronger than ever because now we have both escaped death." She looked out the window at the infi

*Kael*"So," Gemma said lightly as she wrapped clean gauze around my shoulder. "Your cousin."More truths she deserved. "My mother's cousin, so technically, he is my second cousin. Really, I had no idea they escaped the raid, much less survived." It was a grim statement, one that I believed to be true for the last twelve years. "I even forgot that he was the Alpha. My mother's side of the family is—or was, I'm not sure—pretty large. The Deva family of the Nightguard pack…""You're double royalty," Gemma mused, giving the gauze a final tug. I flinched. "Oh—sorry. Here." She bent to gently press a kiss to my lips. After coming down from the high of completion, we actually bathed, scrubbing away all the sand and blood that we could manage, full-well knowing that it wouldn't be long before the grains would find their way back sooner or later, which was one of the hazards of fleeing from enemies in a desert.Now, we were in the bedroom that Raisa led us to. She said that