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I look into my father’s eyes, so similar to my own. I don’t think I’ve noticed that before. But I notice it now. With him and Parker right next to me, each of them holding a hand now, I feel my heart start to become truly whole. Maybe not the same heart I might have had if I was never ripped from their lives, but one altered by my experiences that can serve me in a similar way.
“Names can be very important,” Parker says. He lifts up his shirt to show me a tattoo on his chest. Right over his heart is the name ‘Darcy’. “I had to carry you with me all the time,” he explains. “I knew you were out there somewhere; I knew that I’d find you someday. Having your name on my heart was only the physical representation of what I felt inside. I’ve been with you all this time, Darcy. Even if you didn’t know it, you’ve never been alone. You may have been hidden in these woods, taken from everything important to you, but you’ve always had us. You alwayswillhave us.”
They both hug me, all of us crying. I can hear my alphas sniffling too, August wiping a tear away. He kneels in front of me, wiping my own tears away with his hands. They’re rough, but it’s a little bit of reality that I need in this moment. Something with texture to remind me that I am real to these people. I’m not a chosen one, not somebody that neglected duties. I belong with all of them, I fulfill something for them.
“I basically grew up knowing you as Darcy.”August looks at Parker.“How many nights did we stay up way past bedtime, talking about her? How many times did we look for an excuse to say her name, in hopes it would keep her real and draw her back to us?” He scoots closer, crawling in between my legs so he can kiss my forehead.“You were always an Angel to me. This perfect being out in the world somewhere, who I hoped would love me the moment they met me, because I fell in love with you a long time ago. I might have loved you as a brother back then, but that was only because I hadn’t actually seen you, hadn't held you.”
I laugh through my tears, that word making me feel a little bit icky.“You’re not supposed to use the title of brother anymore, remember?”
He smirks at me. A smirk that does nothing but remind me of that first time he took me. He had the same smirk on his face as he slowly peeled off his clothes, as he came toward me, to claim me for his own. He definitely wasn’t my brother then, he never was. I only pretended he was that first time in the woods, because I needed a reason to stay distant. Everything was too overwhelming then, but we were always going to be mates.
“I agree with Phil,”he says.“Calai is the name they gave you, it’stheirclaim on you. A claim they never should have had. Darcy is softer, more… you.”
“Is that your decision then Calai?” Kit asks with nothing but understanding and support reflecting in his eyes.
“I like the idea of leaving here with my true name. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from this visit, but I found something I desperately needed. Let’s leave here, and as we walk out, Calai stays behind. There’s no room for her in my new life. I’m Darcy through and through.”
I try to stand up, but I’m wrapped in arms instead. I think this is the first time I’ve hugged my father, but it doesn’t feel as uncomfortable as I might have thought it would. It took a lot for him to ask that of me, but it only proves that he truly does know me. He knows my soul, even if my personality has changed and grown since the last time we were together.
When we walk out of that compound this time, I know it’ll be the last time. I don’t know if this land will ever be used for anything else, and I don’t really need to know. I’m looking to my future. To my pack. To my family.
