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All of Ren’s books, stolen equipment, and records are at his cabin on Dair’s territory, so he’s just as eager to get home, and Raine is quite excited to offer her assistance in helping him organize the research.

Even though everything seems to be settling, Raine and Dair have been worried about me and how I’m dealing with adjusting to a whole new body. There is no denying that it’s weird, and sometimes really frustrating, but it feels so fucking good to shift. Finally having a release from the weight of my wolf is like taking off a heavy backpack after hiking for hours. All the restrictive control that I’ve used as a life raft all these years is unnecessary, and the relationship between my wolf and me is gradually healing from years of pushing him away.

Maybe one day my relationship with my wolf will be like my mother’s—as easy as breathing.

I am literally always hungry, though, and have spent an exorbitant amount of time hunting with Tore’s wolf, who is always up for a hunt because he will literally eat anything. Dair assures me the hunger is normal, and that allowing my wolf to care for me by hunting is important for building the trust between us, so I just go with it. Even if my wolf has brought Dair and Raine an embarrassingly large number of deer livers.

I think a lot about the gray wolf that I saw the day I escaped my father. Who were they? What was their purpose in killing my father’s allies? I know for certain that it wasn’t my mother, no matter how much I wish it had been. Maybe if we one day manage to unite the western and eastern shifters, I’ll get answers.

It feels important to at least try to accomplish what my mother initially set out to do, but that’s a long way off. I have a pack to settle into first, and right now, Aspen and Koda are working on step one: communication.

My wolf stalks his prey through the thin forest edges. We stay low to the ground, ears pinned back and gait achingly slow. Her ass looks so perfect in her cargo pants that I want to take a bite. My wolf growls his agreement, low and dark, as we carefully track her toward the cabin we’ve been staying in.

How many mate bites are too many? I ask him.

No limit, he purrs.

Her scent trails back toward us on a gentle breeze, full of robust sassafras and the warm, creamy sweetness of her arousal. Is our omega walking through the woods wet? Does she need us to tend her, make her feel better with our tongue? My wolf licks his chops, increasing his stride to get closer.

“I know you’re there,” she calls out. “How are you catching all those deer with such subpar hunting skills?”

The fuck? My wolf crouches lower to the ground, ready to show her how good of a hunter we are. So sneaky, my wolf says. We are the perfect predator. We will keep our mate’s belly thick with meat and pups. I mentally nod my agreement, a little offended that she thinks otherwise.

Closer now, we get ready to pounce, and Raine stops walking to stretch her arms above her head, revealing a strip of bare skin along the waistband of her pants. This would be so much better if she were naked. Maybe I can convince her to let us hunt her as she runs through the woods with the moonlight painting her bare skin. Yes, my wolf agrees.

Silently, we creep forward in the underbrush, blending with the browns of the trees and fallen pine needles. When we’re close enough to taste her pheromones in the air, we shoot out of our hiding place, transforming back into skin midair, so that I can scoop Raine up in my arms and throw her over my shoulder.

“Bad hunter?” I growl. “Yet here I am with my prey slung over my shoulder.”

She laughs, wild and carefree, setting my soul on fire. “I’m sure it works with deer.” She giggles. “But you forget that I can feel you through our bond.”

I stop in my tracks. “Fuck,” I breathe. She laughs harder at my realization that I was at no point sneaking up on her, and I give her a playful swat on her perfect ass.

“Hey!” she yips.

I just laugh and haul her all the way to the Lunar Mother’s cabin.

I place her back on her feet at the base of the porch steps and put on the pants I left there. When I look back at Raine, she’s staring out into the wilderness, a look of total serenity on her face.

She asks, “Did you ever think this is what our lives would be like? Freedom to be together, basking in nature, away from any significant threats, and part of a community that’s founded on connection instead of power? I never in a million years considered that this kind of life was even possible in this world.”

“No,” I admit. “I never thought it was possible either.”

She muses, “Do you ever regret leaving Grand Prairie?”

I think about it for a second. It’s impossible to ignore the immense privilege it was to live in a compound and be afforded safety, food, and shelter. I’ve never known what it’s like to have to survive in a city or make a life in the Wastes. I think for the end of the world, I’ve had it easier than most. But do I regret leaving the toxic situation I was in?

“At first I was scared,” I tell her, walking up the steps to stand behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist. “I worried that I’d left River to fight his enemies alone, because I had felt so alone at Grand Prairie. Now, I know it was the right choice for both me and him. Without the shadow of each other, we can both grow. Maybe there was a moment when we were almost out of water and trapped in the sandy Wastes that I questioned my sanity for taking my mate into the Wilds, but I don’t regret leaving.”

“Me either,” she whispers. “By the way, I spoke to River while you were unconscious. I think he’s doing well. I have a lot of hope that everything will work out for him the way it did for us.”

I think of how I left things with my former best friend, of how Clay was there, promising me that he’d help. I think of Soline and how she’d rather burn her library to ash than let Sutton take over the compound. I think of June and all the other guards that stood at my side every day, ready to protect the people. River isn’t alone. “Yeah.” I kiss the top of her head. “I think he’ll be just fine.”

I ask, “Are you ready to see Dair’s territory?”

“Yes,” she chuckles. “I think he’ll implode if he doesn’t get us squirreled away in his den.”

A low growl rumbles in my chest, and I reach to move her gorgeous hair off her neck to reveal my beautifully healed mate bite. “You know he’s going to set you in your nest and not let you out until you have a matching bite on the other side, yeah?” She moans quietly as I lick at her scar. “You ready for that? Ready for us to formally become a pack?”