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“Mend the breaks bind the cuts,
Emendare metus ligare secat.
Heal this man body and soul,
Sana hic homo corpus et anima.
Take his pain and make it flee,
Tolle dolorem suum et fac eam fugere.
Bring him whole back to me,
Redde illum totum ad me…”
Chase relaxes as soon as they finish, his body rolling through waves of shivers as his eyes roll back in his head and he falls into a deep sleep. I watch in awe as the bruises fade, and look up in adoration as my mother and Rachel move as one without a word, healing everyone they touch and casting them into a deep restful sleep. They’re touched by Raina, both of them, knowing her healing spells as if by heart.
Mother once told me that Raina would come to her in dreams, call her daughter, and teach her the ways. Rachel…she just seems to know those ways instinctively. As if part of her is Raina, as if she’s been born again not knowing who she might be.
Lightning flashes and for a moment Rachel’s body looks like two women standing as one. The shape steps away from Rachel, laying hands on my mother and Rachel's shoulders. She stands naked, an apparition of light with black braids brushing her back as she looks up and summons power from the storm itself. The storm begins to fade, its essence pooling in and around the apparition and flowing through the healers. The ghost looks over her shoulder, her beautiful face smiles, and following her gaze I see another apparition.
A huge, crowned barbarian is crouching beside Ryder and Cole, his hands on both their heads, as if praying. My jaw drops, my heart full of so much love and hope. The two apparitions walk to each other and embrace. They look at me, eyes full of knowing, and then vanish like mist in the rain.
I swallow hard, looking around with wide eyes to see if anyone else saw what I saw, but no one else is looking that way. The healer’s work begins to go faster, even people they aren't touching begin to mend as they hear their words.
“Ruby…” someone calls my name, and I turn, expecting to see Cassius again, but it’s Killian who kneels beside me. His head held low. “Chase had a vision during the battle, he shared it with me…it was your father and some masked man who did this… I beg you, Ruby, forgive me? I didn’t know, I—I…” He trails off, tears falling down his face as his shoulders shudder. His arm is gone from the elbow down, but it is healed to a perfect stump. No scarring, no mark that could have said there was ever a longer part to the limb.
“There’s nothing to forgive, my friend,” I whisper as I move my mate’s arm and curl up next to his side. I rest my one hand on my stomach and the other wraps around his waist. “You were distraught, I understand. Had I been in your shoes…”
“Ruby, I’m yours. Come to me with any concerns about the baby, I’ll do your scans, run all the tests. I’ve already had all my equipment moved here. Let me make amends, let me help you safely bring your child into this world. Please, let me redeem myself…”
I can only nod, closing my eyes as I listen to Chase’s strong heartbeat. Killian gets up silently and moves away. I don't care where he goes. All that matters now is Chase is alive. Memories of my father flood my mind unbidden. I see him holding me in his lap as a small child, reading me a book as his long beard tickles my shoulder. I see myself braiding his long hair a few years later, my mother laughing as she and Cole dress a Christmas tree and snow falls outside.
I watch my father paint my toenails, laughing as I ask him how a big, rugged Alpha knows how to paint toenails. He tells me he had to learn when Mother was pregnant, because she couldn’t do it herself after a while.
Then I imagine him in that cave, my cave, hurting those boys. Cutting them, biting them, hanging them. I recall how he smashed Chase into the ground, as if he knew who he was to me and he was punishing him. How he wouldn’t hurt me, how he stole Mother… Even in all the madness he suffered and committed, he knew who we were and tried to take his mate back. Was he just as much a victim as the boys were?
“Silver Dawn!”
“Dark Moon!”
I open my eyes as the Alphas call, but I don't move. Others rise and gather around them as they stand over Chase and me.
“Our two packs have been enemies for hundreds of years,” Cole speaks, his voice strong and sure. “Today we faced a demon we could not defeat alone, we had no choice but to unite.”
“The man was mutated, tortured and changed by some foul means to become that monster,” Ryder exclaims, throwing his hand back and pointing at the dead body as Rachel and Mother wrap it in a white cloth. “He was the Silver Dawn Alpha, and he became that creature!”
Cole scans the crowd with dark, serious eyes. “Whoever did this has been taking our pups, doing to them what he did to my father. Whoever this man is, he’s creating monsters from wolves. Bastardizing our abilities with madness. None of us are safe.”
Ryder nods soberly. “If we plan to survive this, we must do it together. There’s no telling when and if there will be another attack. Cole and I have come to an agreement, a temporary truce, to protect both packs. No woman or child shall be left unguarded, no man goes anywhere alone. If we work together I know we can defeat this man, whoever he is, and then we can go back to living our lives separately.” Ryder looks down at Chase and me as he finishes. His long hair is plastered to his skin in the rain, his tattoos glistening as the sun starts to poke out of the clouds.
Ryder and Cole are like night and day standing next to each other, darkness and light, each of their strengths complimenting the other. I feel like this is how it should always be, now and forever. No going back to separate lives, we should be united!
“The mating between Chase and my sister will be respected, I give them leave to live their lives with the pack they chose. You have my blessing.” Cole says the last part as almost a whisper, his shoulders sagging. ”I regret how I handled the news of their union. We could have been prepared for this attack had I not been so centered on pack animosity.”
“We'll be prepared now, Cole, as one pack. Until this passes we are one, those of you who can’t help but retain bitterness will be asked to keep it to themselves. For the greater good, we must put aside our differences, or let our bloodlines die to whoever creates these monsters.” Ryder nods to Cole and steps away, his pack gathering around him and preparing to leave.
“Bring the injured to the mansion,” Mother calls out, her voice carrying over the murmuring crowds as they gather to their respective leader. “We will have a funeral pyre for the souls who did not survive.” She turns and walks away, leading them back to her home.
