END

The sun, illuminating the whole room, tickled my face, waking me from a restful sleep. Damien was no longer with me, but I could hear water running in the bathroom and smell his scent around me, which made me close my eyes again, reassuringly.

I wanted to start crying again as soon as Aleks appeared before my eyes, but I couldn't take myself anymore. My eyes stayed dry and empty as my heart pounded painfully. "You have to let go of him.", Saphir suddenly came out sympathetically, making me jump up in confusion. Actually, I wanted to yell at her for accusing her of abandoning me, but somehow I could understand her. I probably would have retreated from all that madness too if I could, and right now I was just grateful that she was back and I was whole again, albeit riddled with internal wounds that will never heal would.

With tears of joy in my eyes, I got up, wrapped the burgundy bedspread around my naked body and padded over to the window to look lost in thought at the forest, which appeared in a beautiful green due to the sun and elicited amazement from me with its beauty.

I was too overwhelmed to answer her, but I took in her words carefully and she was right. To get my life back on track I had to let go of Aleks, keep him in my memory and still move on without him, but it was hard to think about. How should I be ready after such a short time of mourning.

"Hey," Damien said softly, walking towards me with only a towel around his waist. "Hello," I mumbled awkwardly, turning to face him hesitantly. I still didn't know where to start and I wanted to throw myself into his arms and never let go of him again, but there was still so much between us that needed to be sorted out and he, too, stood helpless in front of me, like he doesn't know how to deal with me.

"Emma stayed at her brother's camp-" he began, avoiding my gaze to look out the window. "Camilla stayed there too, but she should be here today. She just excitedly told me about all the things Aiden had done, then I ran off as a wolf to look for you."

I turned thoughtfully away from his grief-covered face and looked outside again until it occurred to me that Camilla couldn't have known that I had stayed with the meadow. "How did you know where-" "Sapphire was calling me, quietly but clearly." He looked into mine, tears welling in his eyes. I stared at him in disbelief because I thought she didn't exist anymore when she saved my life by doing so.

I found it hard to breathe as I watched the tears trickle down his cheeks, and I immediately put my hand on hers, but he pulled away and took a few steps away from me to turn his back . He wasn't used to showing his hurt, and it hurt me so badly I couldn't help but run up to him and carefully cling to his back.

"Do you know how it hurts me to know your suffering and to endure it. Sapphire transferred all your thoughts, your feelings and memories to my wolf. I felt the pain you felt when you had to say goodbye to the human. I felt for you as you ran through the forest in fear, and I couldn't help but feel the pain you endured as Aiden-"

A painful silence lingered after he interrupted himself, tearing away from me and smashing the mirror in front of us with full force. I stood there helplessly, wanting to calm his anger, to tell him everything would be okay, but I couldn't, because I understood his emotions too well to stop them.

Hatred, Revenge, Pain. Small words that could make you a prisoner of a great abyss from which it was difficult to get out.

"It's not your fault!" I tried to calm him down, putting my hand on his shaking shoulder to turn him towards me. He didn't look at me, his eyes dropped to the ground until I lifted his chin to look at him. "It's not your fault Damien." I whispered to him firmly. "I promised to protect you and failed." He yanked his chin out of my hand and glared at the broken mirror.

"Aiden was my best friend. I can't forgive myself for what he did to you." He ran a trembling hand through his hair and walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge in despair.

I turned to the broken mirror and looked at myself thoughtfully. It would be a long time before all of that would be behind us. It would take him to forgive himself and it would take me to open up again, but eventually we would get over it.

"Aiden will eventually be a faint memory, just like his deeds, but we need to focus on your father now." I turned away from my reflection and carefully sat down next to him. He looked over at me thoughtfully and took my hand in his. "I'll take care of it, please don't worry about it. I want you to take the time you need.", he spoke calmly and empathetically again, but the self-loathing in his eyes couldn't be overlooked.

"I'll get dressed first and take care of a few things. If you need anything, or if you need me, let me know immediately.", he informed me and stood up without taking his eyes off me. He knew what had happened and it tore him up as much as it did me. It was good to know that he didn't want to rush me after all that, on the contrary. He gave me the time to myself that I absolutely needed to be able to process everything.

A kiss on the forehead that made me smile briefly, then he disappeared into the bathroom to get dressed and gave me a sad smile as he walked out. I was alone, and while I didn't want to be alone, I knew I had to be to put this all behind me.

It was almost two weeks before I was ready to eat with Damien and Camilla. Up until now I've been eating alone and wanted my own time too. But that day I finally felt ready, partly because my period came and made me realize I wasn't going to have a baby from a psychopath.

"Melody." Camilla smiled as I entered the dining room, and she quickly found her way to her feet to charge towards me. "I can't breathe." I gasped as she hugged me as tightly as she could and then looked me up and down. "You look just as good as ever. Not as pretty as me, but at least a little bit." She giggled, tousling her short brown hair.

"Thanks," I replied, rolling my eyes, and sat down in my usual chair, which Damien obligingly adjusted and then sat down next to me.

My eyes fell on the headboard, which Damien noticed. "He's here and I'm sure he'll be coming soon.", he turned to me attentively, but I just stared at him confused and didn't understand anything anymore. "How? Where...." I stammered, waiting for an explanation. "He was kidnapped by the prison guards who were in cahoots with Aiden. But-"

"But when I offered them gold, they forgot their loyalty and brought me back. Now they can guard the dungeons from the inside." Nero interrupted his son and came towards me beaming. "I'm so sorry for everything you had to endure, my love Melody. I hope you'll be able to put the pain behind you." Poor.

"I'm glad you're back," I whispered to him. It was weird saying something like that to him, especially since I had misjudged him for so long, but I was really glad he was there. It gave me back a bit of normality.

In complete silence we gave ourselves over to the food. Every now and then everyone exchanged smiling looks until Nero broke the silence. "I'm going to retire," he uttered, looking at Damien, who was looking at his father just as irritated as Camilla and I. "The hatred within me has driven us into a war that has already claimed far too many lives. My final action will be to release the captured people, and that will be in a week."

While I was still staring at him in disbelief, he took his son's hand. "It will be my honor to give you my position," he smiled at the black-haired man next to me, whose expression showed pride but also nervousness. Unprepared, he stood up and picked me up by the waist in his arms, spinning around with me beaming.

His laughter was the most beautiful I had heard in a long time, and infinite happiness swept through me too. Everything seemed to be forgotten, only his smile and his bright eyes drove me insane and I wished I could hold these feelings inside me and never let go.

When he let me down, I had to recover from the dizziness and happily sat down in my chair. He also lifted Camilla up happily, while Nero gave me a satisfied nod. Only one was not in a good mood. Sapphire snorted loudly at the sight of Camilla in Damien's arms and growled to himself. It would have been a thorn in my side before these terrible events, but the three of us had so much more in common through what we had been through that it never occurred to me to be angry about it.

"Come with me." He suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my thoughts. We walked down the stairs holding hands to a car that I saw for the first time. It was a large SUV, the black color of which matched his hair perfectly, which was well styled again today. "Where are we going?" I asked when he opened the passenger door for me, but I didn't get an answer. He just casually leaned against the door and winked at me, which made me grin. "A surprise," he let me know, slamming the door shut as I sat inside.

Before he got in, I checked myself in the side mirror and tucked my long hair behind my ear while adjusting my white blouse and then looking over at him, who in the white shirt looked like we were dressed specially to match .

The engine started and immediately a terribly loud rock music came from the radio that threatened to hurt my head. "Are you serious?" I yelled, covering my ears protectively. "Sorry," he turned the knob down. "Camilla got the car."

It didn't surprise me, it kind of matched her loud, stubborn demeanor, and the thought of her mischievous leprechaun hairdo made me laugh so heartily that Damien stared at me in shock. He probably thought I was going crazy, but one look into his eyes and he started laughing out loud too, which gave me a warm feeling.

We drove off happily and after a while arrived at the meadow with the beautiful apple tree that I had missed so much. Memories came back of the rain replaced by the bright sun today. Of the convertible that we had to replace with the SUV, and of him that I felt so alien to at the time, but now closer than I could have imagined.

He politely opened my door and helped me out of the car to walk towards the tree with me. I noticed that he kept ruffling his hair nervously, until he suddenly stopped and stood in front of me. Only now did I see that he was holding a small, dark blue box in his hand that made my heart race and I almost fell over, I got so dizzy. "Damien.", I covered my face with my hands and had to hold back my tears, but he wasn't deterred. Smiling, he knelt down and opened the box, revealing an incredibly beautiful ring that took my breath away.

Normally I would have laughed at this idea. I wasn't a woman who liked that kitsch, at least I always thought so, until that day when I saw him kneeling in front of me and caught the look in his eyes.

"You'd make me the happiest werewolf in the kingdom if you said yes. I promise-" "Yes," I breathed, wiping away tears, and my response made him shine brighter than the sun ever could. Trembling, he took my hand to put the ring on my head, then frantically stood up to place his soft lips on mine.

It was true love's kiss that held us both in that moment and promised to never let go. Everything would be alright, everything would be fine, I knew that, because I felt something that overshadowed everything that had gone before and gave me the anticipation of life by his side.

I nervously tiptoed in a stunningly beautiful white dress while Camilla busied myself with putting my hair up. "Hold still. You're impossible.", she grumbled, but she still smiled warmly and friendly, which still didn't calm me down.

"I can't do this," I breathed and turned to her, but she just rolled her eyes. "You can and you will, and now turn around again. I'm almost done."

She looked really beautiful in her loose yellow dress, even her hair looked really good this time, although it was still quite short. "It's alright," I mumbled, turning back to the closet that Damien bought us new after smashing the mirror on the old one.

I looked at myself, breathing heavily, trying to just focus on him. Not on the panic that alarmed me. "So finished." Camilla proudly stood next to me and held up a small hand mirror so that I could gaze at her work in astonishment. "I'm just a genius," she beamed, winking at herself in the mirror. "Yes you really are.", I replied with a smile and took the short-haired girl tightly in my arms until a knock made us look curiously at the door.

When Emma shyly entered the room, I caught my breath for a moment. I hadn't seen her since that bad night when I thought it was my fault, but her delighted face spoke a different language. "Well, little ones." Camilla took her in her arms and I took a step closer to her. The way she stood there with her blue eyes and the blue dress to match, just beautiful.

"I'm so glad you're here," I hugged her tightly while tears formed in my eyes, turning Camilla into a fury. "If you cry now, I won't put your make-up on you again!" she snapped and held out a handkerchief to me. "Sorry," I broke away from Emma and took the cloth to dab at the individual tears.

We stood like this for a while, three women who had passed through hell and survived, and no matter what the future held, we would be linked forever.

"So.", Nero entered the room and widened his eyes in astonishment, which caused my cheeks to heat up. "You see ... well, I'm at a loss for words.", he stuttered and then greeted Emma warmly when he was finally able to take his eyes off me. It was good to see that he could do things differently, that people could change, and since he stepped down and Damien took his place, things got better and the war was pretty much over. No more slaves, no more violence against women and no more oppression either. Life was full of colors again.

"We'll wait outside." Camilla smiled at me and took Emma's hand to leave the room, only Nero stayed and gave me his arm. "So shall we?" I looked at him confused while he just smiled happily. "Yes, we can." I linked my arm with him, shaking, and then we walked together down the large corridor to the stairs, where my heart stopped.

Everything looked beautiful. No market was built today. Instead, many light brown chairs, between which an aisle made room to get to a beautifully decorated arch, under which Damien stood and looked at me with wide eyes. It hurt me briefly to see him standing there alone, but I quickly shook off the thought and walked down the steps step by step together with Nero.

The closer I got to him, the faster my excited heart was beating and the more nervous I became. I ignored most of the people sitting in the seats, didn't know anyone anyway, until suddenly the bald guy from the third row nodded happily and put a grin on my face. Damien noticed our little flirtation, but unlike then, he had changed, and he finally trusted me, allowing more than just instincts between us, and for that I was infinitely grateful.

When Damien arrived, Nero gave me a kiss on the cheek and hugged his son, and only now did I notice the tears on his face, which almost made me cry too, but Camilla, who was sitting next to Emma in the first row, pointed a threatening finger at me to pull myself together. I shake my head at her and looked back at the perfect face of the love of my life.

"Ready to get it over with?" Damien whispered, smiling so sweetly I wanted to hug him, but I had to wait for that funny-looking vicar to say yes to us.

The ceremony didn't last long and the celebration afterwards was just great. The weather played along with the sun accompanying us all day long, and the music that was played could only put you in a good mood.

As it slowly got darker in the evening, we said goodbye to the guests and he carried me across the threshold of our new room in the old-fashioned way. It was huge and the bed was beautifully decorated with white rose petals. Damien lowered me to the bed and picked up two glasses from the bedside table to pour us some from the bottle of champagne that was there.

I gratefully accepted the glass and admired the rest of the room. Instead of a mirrored cabinet, there was a mighty white cabinet with large doors, but there was still a mirror leaning against the wall at the side of the bed.

"Do you like it?" he asked, glancing over at a large window with an easel in front of it, putting a happy smile on my face. I walked over to her, looked out the window at the moon, and was just grateful. For everything that my life would have in store for me. Grateful to have survived everything, even if the people I had lost would remain a part of me, especially one whose eyes reminded me of the night sky.

Damien stepped close to me and took my glass from my hand to set it on the windowsill. "If you still need time, then-" "No." I pulled him close to me by his shirt and kissed him so passionately that he had to pull away to catch his breath. I was beaming with happiness and no matter what Aiden had done to me, it was behind me and would no longer ruin my present and future.

He nervously unbuttoned his shirt and I was reassured that I wasn't the only one who seemed to be shaking with excitement. "Let me do that," I whispered and just ripped open his shirt, making Saphir laugh out loud and Damien grin too.

He smirked and turned me around and unzipped my dress while I angrily removed Camilla's countless bobby pins. There were so many, there was no end at all until we were just standing naked in front of each other and we both couldn't breathe.

"I love you," I blurted out without thinking, and after a brief flash in his eyes, he grabbed me, smiling, and pulled me onto the bed with him.

It was the most beautiful night of my life. The feeling of being one with him. The feeling of desire that lay between us. His smell, his moans, those beautiful brown eyes. Everything was more beautiful than I could ever have imagined and I was finally able to feel what I had been searching for all my life. Selfless, kind, patient love that completely took me in.

"I love you too."

An alliance for eternity.

END