EPILOGUE

SIX MONTHS LATER

G E O R G I E

✿

It was evening. The sun had already set and the moonlight lit up the darkness of the night. I sat on the pavilion's ivy-covered stone parapet and looked out over the empty training field.

"Are you just staring into space, or are you just practicing the concentration of Zisara?"

I closed my eyes and smiled at Arya's taunt. "Of course, like every free minute of my life."

"What are you doing here? Tonight is your day off and you're spending it here?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm thinking."

Arya patted my head. "Thinking too much isn't good." Then she swung onto the stone railing beside me and flexed her legs. she sighed. "We'll get Hades."

I nodded, even though I wasn't convinced. Hades wasn't easy to get rid of and I didn't want to imagine what he was up to next. "What are we going to do with our people?"

Some of our pack members have still disappeared since the pirates attacked us. Now if they were sold as slaves... Oh God, I couldn't bear the thought.

"We will take her back." A determined expression spread across her fine face. “Besides, I doubt they'll leave us alone now that they know there are more werewolves to enslave here. We'll have to be careful and guard our shores."

I made a face. 'How can you be so barbaric? Treating people as commodities and selling them?”

“Humans are a people we don't understand, Georgie. Besides…” Arya narrowed her eyes and looked sullen. “Xenos says I don't know enough about werewolves. Now tell me, did you notice Arrow and June are mates?”

I laughed. "Supposed in Minkaujin."

She looked at me genuinely confused. "But how?!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you really know your family?"

Arya rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest in anger. "Haha how funny! Believe me, you all wouldn't survive a single day with a Gi tribe."

Grinning widely, I leaned into her and rested my head on her shoulder. "Sorry."

"Yeah, okay," she grumbled. Then a little later she said seriously, "Now tell me, what's on your mind?"

I pulled away from her and stared out again at the empty training field. "I lifted the curse I put on myself."

I had found my talent. It wasn't just curses that I could dissolve, but all the shadows that someone has taken upon themselves. It was the deep pain, trauma, even forced suffering, that haunted you and reached into your soul. I was able to slowly heal them with the willingness of the affected person.

But it had taken a long time for me to resolve my own trauma and punishment. Endless sleepless nights with Beau carrying me through the woods on his back, panic attacks that hit me without warning if the space was too cramped or too small.

"That's great, Georgie."

"Yeah, right?" I replied, but then sighed. "I'm afraid. What if I still can't shift? What if she's mad at me?” I'd locked my wolf up for so long, punished us myself. How could she not be mad at me?

“You are both connected. If you felt guilt, she probably felt it too. She'll catch you." Arya put her hand on my shoulder, then said softly, "I'm here if you want to try it."

Even though I shared everything with Beau, I was still glad that Arya was here now. I didn't want him to worry about me any more than he already did.

Arya stared up at the moon, her wispy little braids framing her dark face. "Do you know the story of the boy and the two wolves?"

"Of course." It was every werewolf's bedtime story. I cleared my throat and told the legend as my father used to tell me. “Once upon a time, a wise old man sat down by the campfire with his grandson to tell him something about life.

"There's a battle going on inside me," he tells the boy. "It's a terrible battle between two wolves. One is evil - he's full of anger, jealousy, arrogance, greed, worry, heartache, lies, Laziness and self-pity." And he continues: "The other is good - he is filled with love, joy, peace, generosity, truth, sensitivity, courage, humility and faith. Such a struggle takes place in the heart of all people, also in yours".

The grandson thinks about it for a few minutes and then asks his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?

The old man simply replies: "The one you feed".”

Arya smiles and the moonlight sparkles in her eyes. “Aee, that's your version of werewolves. With us Gis the story ends differently. Both wolves will win if you feed them right.”

"Why should both win?"

"If you starve the one wolf, the balance of power becomes imbalanced," Arya said. "If you choose to only feed the bright wolf, the direwolf will become starved and resentful." She ducked and pretended to be the wolf. She bared her teeth. "He'll hide, wait for the other's defenses to drop, and then," Arya started to leap, "attack."

I cried out as she yanked us both to the ground and I fell to the grass. "Arya!"

She laughed out loud, rolled off me and lay down next to me.

I groaned. 'Very nice illustration of your legend. You didn't have to surround me for that."

She was still laughing. “One learns better from demonstrations.”

I rolled my eyes and turned my head towards her so that the grass tickled my nose. Then I automatically joined her laughter.

Slightly breathless, she stared up at the sky. 'If you feed both wolves in the proper way and at the right time, they will live side by side in harmony. There will be no more inner struggle within you. Instead, you will have inner peace.” Now she turned her head to the side and looked at me. “Life isn't always sunshine and rainbows. The darkness will never go away completely, for without it there is no light. Sometimes life is hard and heavy and it feels like you're drowning. But we always get up, find our way back into our balance of peace. That's what life means. Only when you put an end to the struggle within are you truly free.”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "You're a good Luna, you know."

Arya shook her head. "No. I'm a good Misahvi."

She had called me that before. "What does that mean?"

"A good sister." She smiled at me, and the green speckles in her eyes shone. Then she sat up abruptly. “Now transform. I'm here, nothing can happen.”

I swallowed. "Okay." Then I pushed myself off the ground and crouched on the grass, closing my eyes with one last look at Arya.

Everything will be fine. She won't be mad at me. I can do it.

I remembered the feel of my claws. How they pressed against my fingertips, how my fur felt against my skin, how soft the earth was under my paws, how quickly my legs carried me through the thicket.

And then it happened. Everything about me tingled, shifting into a new shape that felt alien yet very familiar at the same time.

Arya screamed. "Hey, come on!" She clapped her hands and cheered.

My pulse was racing as I looked down and saw tan paws. I looked up at Arya and back down at my legs.

"Come on, what are you waiting for! Run to him! You are free now Georgie, no one will ever lock you up again.”

Then I let go.

My wolf took control, sprinting across the meadow, following our mate's familiar scent.

How do you describe having arrived? That you'd found something you'd forgotten how much you'd missed? How big was the part of one's self that had been repressed and buried?

I spotted Beau from afar. He was on patrol, walking his route. I was about to sneak up when he spun around and stared straight into my eyes.

His features slipped briefly, then he beamed all over his face. "Come here!" He crouched down and spread his arms.

I ran towards him in high anticipation and nearly knocked him over.

"Hey little one. How pretty you are.” He stroked my fur, scratched my ears. "You did it," he whispered, then stood up and called, "Hey Hawkings, can Joy take over for me?"

"Clear!"

Beau transforms and I jumped at the brown wolf. I padded my paws over his face, then jumped away again before he could catch me and ran away.

Beau chased after me until I felt his paws on my back and he tripped me in the clearing. We trolled on the grass, he being very gentle with me. Of course he could have taken control at any time, but this wasn't about dominance, this was about having fun.

We teased, nibbled and wrestled. He then pinned me to the ground and gently rubbed his nose on me. A few seconds later he changed and I imitated him.

I rolled us over and sat on him. "Did you see how fast I was?!"

He smiled and his green eyes sparkled. "Do I have."

I grabbed his hands and pushed them to the grass. "Can we do that again tomorrow?"

He clasped our hands together. "Whenever you want."

I tilted my head and looked at him while the mate ribbon throbbed with love. "We're for eternity, aren't we, Beau?"

"Yeah, that's us baby. For eternity.”

He was about to pull me towards him when I said, "Just one more thing."

His brows shot up. "Tell me."

"If June is right, and the Deathbringer in the North isn't a lie, but Hades can't be... Who is it then?"

****

THE DEATH BRINGER

ON THE NIGHT GEORGIE OPENED THE PORTAL

✿

Normally, the Deathbringer did not expect the arrival of the pirates with their slave loot, nor did they ever see him, but that evening things didn't go as planned.

He was far up in the north, in the Land of the Unknown, and went down to the lowest floor of his palace. He knew something had happened, felt the change in the air.

"Show me the gate in Minkaujin."

The round sphere in front of him obeyed his command. A black-haired girl was shown sitting in front of the round floor mirror and holding her hands above the glass surface. What happened next froze the deathbringer.

His jaw clicked and his fists trembled as a gasp of astonishment drew his attention. He had turned around in a flash and caught the pirate on the doorstep.

Startled, the pirate raised his hands and automatically backed away. "I have not seen anything!"

One moment the Deathbringer was at the other end of the room and the next he was already standing in front of the pirate. He grabbed him and lifted him off the ground. "Are you lost?" he purred.

"Don't hurt me, I beg you! I won't tell anyone else, I swear to you!"

The Deathbringer regarded him with a smile. “No, you won't, you're right about that. What should I do? Cut off your tongue, or would you rather just cut your throat?”

The pirate paled and shook his head in panic. 'Oh please, please don't! I'll bring you double my usual slave shipments for free!"

The Deathbringer pursed his lips thoughtfully and nodded. 'A good offer indeed. Let me see… No.” He chuckled, and there was a flash of a knife in his hand.

"No! Please spare me, Deathbringer!'

He clicked his tongue in disapproval. “Always those names. Deathbringer, Beast of the Underworld, Demon of Hell, Hound of Hell.” He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Just call me... Daemon."

Then he made the first cut and the pirate's screams echoed through his palace.