Mahal rolls the parchment into a tight cylinder with both hands. His penetrating eyes that see straight through bone and bullshit find me in the crowded hall.
I’m still not quite processing any of this yet.
“Truth Seer Ethan.” The title sounds different coming from him. It’s weightier somehow, like his voice is carving it into stone instead of air. “You now carry the privilege and the gravity of serving this pack on behalf of the Moon Goddess. May you honor the calling she has placed upon you with a just mind and a steady heart.” He inclines his head as if checking with the Goddess herself that he covered everything. Then, he pronounces, “So it is declared.”
I open my mouth, then close it again and bow instead, because my voice has apparently packed its bags and left the building.
“Let’s hear it for the Truth Seer!” Conan’s voice explodes from the base of the dais, his fist punching the air with enough force to rip his stitches. He winces and grab his injured side again.
The sound of cheers surges through the hall. “Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!”
The pack roars with glasses lifted high, voices thundering off stone walls, and the gathered Shaman applaud.
Rhiannon crashes into me. Her arms lock around my neck and she pulls me against her so hard my feet nearly leave the floor. There’s no hesitation, no glancing around to see who’s watching.
“Ethan, you can stay.” Her voice brushes against my ear, threatening to crack on the final word.
And it hits me.
I’m not in limbo anymore. No longer paralyzed on borrowed time.
I have a home. A title. A job that isn’t borrowed from someone stronger or faster or more powerful. I have a purpose that is wholly, uniquely mine, borne from the Moon Goddess’s faith in me. And, to top it all off, I’m mated by fate to a formidable warrior.
I lean back just enough to meet Rhiannon’s gaze, her eyes glistening with tears.
I belong here.
Yes, of course you do.
My eyes burn. I bury my face in her hair and hold on.
Thea reaches us first, with Xander two steps behind. She throws her arms around both of us, her pregnant belly pressing against us, tears already streaming down her cheeks.
Her embrace loosens as she steps back to face me.
“I knew it.” Thea laughs through a sob. “Iknewit!”
Xander pulls me into a solid embrace, one arm hooking across my shoulders, the way I’ve seen him greet his most trusted guards.
“Welcome to the pack, Truth Seer.”
“Thank you, Alpha.” A startling thought slips out before I can stop it. “Wait, do Seers have to be celibate?”
Thea and Rhiannon exchange glances before dissolving into laughter together.
“Of course not!” Thea says.
Xander’s laughing. Thea’s crying. I’m crying. Even Rhiannon’s crying. We’re four people who have every reason to be tougher than this, standing in the middle of a packed hall, falling apart together.
I laugh with pure unbounded gratitude — wet and broken and so full it hurts.
Ibelonghere. I’m finally home.
Chapter 49 — Rhiannon
The doors of the Seers Hall are solid oak, ancient and heavy, but the narrow window set into the stone beside them gives me a sliver of the world outside.
Under normal circumstances, my wolf would bristle at a crowd this size, interpreting every unfamiliar face as a potential threat. Instead, she’s at peace, knowing Ethan stands behind me without me having to look. The rest of the world can fuck off. Tonight isournight. The sky above holds a full moon so bright it bleaches the stone courtyard white, surrounded by thousands of stars that glitter like crushed glass flung across the velvet black, their cold light competing with the warmth of the firelight below. Torches line both sides of the center aisle in iron sconces, their flames guttering and snapping in the cool night air, throwing restless orange light across the rows of wooden benches draped in garlands of white wildflowers and trailing ivy. Swaths of pale linen hang between the torch posts, catching the breeze like ghostly sails, and clusters of dried lavender bundles tied withsilver cord mark every third row, their scent strong enough to drift to me even through the glass.
