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“Every day, but I love it.” I smiled a little. The Salem of three years past couldn’t imagine bringing children into a world where they would be doomed from birth.
Anything I chose was open to me now. We were all free to pick our own paths.
Some of the women had chosen not to remain in the Arbor and had moved on. The Beasts had guided them safely to where they wanted to go. But my sisters, the first women to run from Vostok and join our coven, had remained. And here and there, newcomers who wandered into the Wood occasionally joined us.
The fear was not truly gone yet. Some nights I awoke with memories of the smell of the church basement still thick in my nose, pain that wasn’t truly there aching in my back.
My Beasts would soothe me until I could tuck those memories away in the past where they belonged.
They gave me freedom and love. They helped me as I studied to become the Arbor’s herbwife, bringing me medicines from all over the Wood.
Even Gran had some knowledge to give me on medicines, even as she trained Freya to take over as the village weaver. I had a feeling I would be passing on the lore to one of the pups I carried now.
In the distance, three dark, hulking shadows slipped between the trees. Freya and I left the borders of the old memory, walking deeper into the Wood.
I passed a tree covered with small red, white-speckled mushrooms, and ignored it. The Beasts trailed us as we foraged, never straying far from their pregnant mates.
And when it was time to return home, they were there.
I took Torr’s hand, and felt Ash and Draven surround me.
“Ready to come home, love?” he asked, and I smiled up into my werewolf’s face, kissing his long snout.
“Always,” I said.
