Thorn (Werewolf) ✔

Chapter Forty-Nine

THORN

I look towards the darkening sky as I walk the children and their parents back to the mountain. I didn't have time to really appreciate it last night because I was helping Devon with her transition and had a psychotic alpha to kill, but tonight is different. The sun has set and it doesn't feel real yet, I keep looking at my hands and expecting them to change like they have done for over a century. I've waited for this night for so long. To just be human again, to feel human again.

I show the others where to go before I head in a different direction. I check in on Lucias first but all I find is his binds at the bottom of the tree. I'm not entirely surprised to find him gone. He'll be transitioning somewhere, I just hope it's far away. Even he wouldn't risk attacking the mountain with the amount of werewolves up there.

When I arrive back at the mountain, the sight makes me smile. The two packs are sitting around campfires, sharing drinks and stories. The children are infatuated with Pal and Balan as usual and are telling them all about their night in the cave.

Myself and my pack have never been one for allying with other werewolves. Most of our travels consisted of discovering some of the worst evil to walk this Earth. But seeing them turn their backs on Cole yesterday and choosing to be loyal to Crasuel has opened them to trust each other. Even if it's just for one night.

There is laughter all around me. It's a sweet sound. The sound of freedom for all of us. I keep on walking, hearing all different topics of conversation from excited voices. Stories about fighting off bears, competitions to see who can hold their breath underwater the longest, who is unbeatable in races. Crasuel's pack agree on a man called Bone, who is smirking to himself from the achievement.

"You and Thorn should race one day," Kira says. "You'd definitely lose that grin."

Bone takes a sip of his drink nervously as I walk past. Kira smiles at me before dropping her gaze to Shadow's hand that tightens around hers. At the next campfire, the packs are having arm wrestles over a small fold out table. Nadia is taking on a man twice her size and I stop for a moment to witness the outcome.

"Are you made out of metal or something?" the man growls.

"Close."

Nadia smacks the man's hand down and laughs to herself. He stands up angrily and storms off. I walk away smiling, reaching the very end of the long log. I look for her instantly but she's not with her family.

"Where is she?"

Crasuel nods his head over to a bench beside the cabins, wrapped in darkness. "It got overwhelming for her. She wanted to be left alone."

"She'll come back to us when she's ready," Madison says.

I start approaching her. She sits alone on the bench, playing with her fingers sadly in her lap. She won't even look at me. I sit beside her and I place my hand on top of hers, forcing her to stop.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," she whispers. "I sat there and one moment I was smiling and laughing and the next. . . all I could see was his face."

"Lyle?"

She shakes her head and wipes her cheek. "No. My brother."

"You're leaving tomorrow, it's natural to feel like you're abandoning him."

"It's not just that," she says. "I died and he never would have known. I came back and saw all these strangers, and they knew. They were about to bury my body without even knowing me. But not my own brother. The person that was there for me my entire life."

"Devon, I swear to you, I would have told him. I have no idea who he even is but I would have tracked him down and I would have made sure that he got the chance to say goodbye."