Page 84 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

I choked on a laugh and hugged her tighter before I pulled back with a smile, my eyes still watering. I cradled her huge cheek in my hand, kissing her nose that twitched between velveteen whiskers.

My heart was overwhelmingly happy. My soul felt like everything would be ok. My bondmate of a sister was here. My werewolf was here. My family was here.

The Black Mages would quake with fear.

The Matriarch of the Reds was coming for them.

And now she had a dragon.

PART TWO

Growth Requires Dedication to Truth… and to Yourself

BREAKING FREE IS PAINFUL, YET IT IS THERE THAT YOU FIND YOUR WINGS.

CHAPTER 29

From the Ashes

ALIA

Ran flew. She soared through the skies, doing twirls and loops as if her very being was a child just introduced to flight.

I watched her—all my people watched her. They were a bit more concerned than I about her, though.

"Is that... a dragon?" Brandt said, coming out of the house, supporting a very determined-looking Anna.

Anna glanced up to find us all free and joyful, and her face transformed from grim and determined to shimmering with happiness.

"Boy, did you miss a lot," Jacob said in a deep, grown-up voice. When everyone turned to look at him, he shrugged. "What?" he asked. His voice broke that time, reverting to his usual tone. He was growing up.

Brandt sat with Anna on a bench in front of the Red’s Palace—it was more of a small castle housing all the Reds on missions at the edge of the sand arena—and they both watched the dragon play in the sky.

My eyes tried to water as I watched Ran, so gloriouslyfree. All these years, I hadn’t realized she had missed something so vital to her being.

I turned to my people. It was time to get them into shape.

"What’s we gon’ do ’bout them unicorns, miss?" a shopkeeper asked, strangling his hat while staring at the unicorns who were milling around, eating—I did a double take. They were eatinggrassfrom along the edges of the sandpit?

"Leave them, unless they attack," I said at last. I nearly jumped when one walked five feet from me, swishing her tail and eyeing me, but otherwise passing by without altercation. She grabbed a bite of a flowering bush along a water fountain beside the palace. Everyone scurried about like scared ants until there was a large swathe of open ground between them and the unicorn.

I watched the white creature and my eye twitched. Why were these unicorns not murderous beasts?

They helped me wage a war. The war was not right nor just, and I killed many, Two-Legs.Her voice was broken, tinged with deep sadness.They were cursed with me.

That... is a tale in a half. I would need to get with her soon so we could go through it all. Right after I had atalkwith Shen about him killing my grandpa and why he was still hanging around. Didn’t he have other things to do?

But for now. "The murderer is in the dungeon along with Graham, correct? Are there any other dissenters or problems I should be aware of?” I asked Elder Timone.

He rang his robe. “Matriarch Aurelia?—”

“Alia, Elder. Just Alia.”

“Very well. Matriarch Alia, you have been through a terrible ordeal and lost a close friend and got her back. Are you not going to take this time?—”

“To what, Elder? Let my people burn in their guilt or make poor decisions? They need a strong yet fair leader. That is what I will be. Do not make me repeat myself.”

“Yes, madame. There is a faction of the Reds who have become disgruntled about no longer hunting for pelts to rise in ranks. Perhaps you could send them out for some other creature or another way to rise in rank?”

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