Page 50 of Kidnapped By the Alpha

Those four words nearly gave me the strength to scoop her up and take her away from this place. I would leave everything behind if it meant I could be with her. But I knew that in my weakened state, it wouldn’t take long for Aiden and Lex to overtake me.

I pulled her against me, breathing in her scent as I willed myself to be strong enough to let her go.

“They aren’t going to let you leave, and I can’t live without you,” I told her. “It’s over. I’ve made too many mistakes for them to forgive. You need to go back inside so they can finish this.”

“Never,” she said fiercely. “I will never leave your side. They’ll have to kill me, too.”

“You know I won’t allow that to happen. But if there is another life after this one, I’ll find you,” I promised.

April held back a sob, and I closed my eyes so that my own sorrow wouldn’t leak out. I only needed to be strong for a few more minutes. Strong enough so she would agree to leave.

“Go inside,” I whispered. “Please.”

I opened my eyes, beseeching Aiden and Lex to get her away from here. If she had to watch me die, I didn’t think either of us could bear it.

“You really do love each other, don’t you?” Aiden said, realization written on his face. “I thought it was a ploy to get us to give in to your demands, but I can see it.”

It seemed that he had taken April’s lecture to heart. He was finally seeing that my repentance was as real as his own had been.

“Maybe we should let them go,” Madi said. She had come forward to stand by his side.

The two of them gave each other a knowing look before turning to their Sparkle Hollow counterparts. They only spoke a few words to each other in hushed tones before Lex turned to address us.

“There is no alliance between the wolves of Sparkle Hollow and Moonstone with the Dark Moon Pack,” Lex said. “We will not attack you if we aren’t provoked, and we expect the same in return.”

I stared at him in shock as I realized what his announcement meant. “We can go?” I asked in disbelief.

April whirled her head around. She had been so focused on me that I wasn’t sure she had heard the conversation that had led up to this moment.

“Don’t make us regret it,” Aiden said.

“Can you walk?” April asked me.

“For you? I can run,” I assured her.

We stood unsteadily and left the courtyard as quickly as we could manage. By the time we reached the edge of town, I had recovered my strength, and we decided to shift so that we could run together back to Pinedale.

“Let’s go home,” April said.

“I’m already home,” I said.

I looked into her auburn eyes as she shifted and knew it was true. All this time, I had thought home was a place, but I had found it right here with my luna.

Epilogue - April

One Year Later

I looked around the clearing where so many meaningful events had occurred and felt my heart swell with pride and happiness. The wolves from the Pinedale and Dark Moon packs had welcomed their first visitors from Sparkle Hollow. Mila and her mate had brought some of their friends to join in the experience.

“We need to tell Aiden to do this at home!” Mila said, cheering as the latest skirmish ended.

I smiled at the thought of influencing my old pack to start a new tradition. We still didn’t have a formal alliance with them, but thanks to my relationship with the other lunas and my status as an ex-Sparkle Hollow wolf, we had managed to develop a tentative friendship. Pack members were allowed to visit each other’s territories, and so far, everyone was getting along.

Aiden and Jasper hadn’t spoken to each other since my mate had fought to have me returned to him, but that was to be expected. There were too many bad memories to have the bad blood between them erased so easily.

As I watched the cheerful faces of the wolves laugh and joke together, I felt pride in how far Jasper and I had come. If I didn’t know better, I would think they were all members of the same pack.

The Dark Moon wolves had come leaps and bounds from where they had been even a year ago. There had been no violence toward their neighbors whatsoever. Even the staunchest proponents of victory by conquest hadn’t felt the need to invade other packs or fight for power. Even the presence of a dozenSparkle Hollow wolves in their midst hadn’t raised an eyebrow among them.

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