Page 68 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

I am madly in love with you, and I always will be. I know you think I’m giving up, but I’m not. I’m choosing life.

I’m choosing you.

If this one small thing will buy you a life of peace and happiness, it’s worth it. You’ll have the entire pack to protect you, to give you the community, the family, you’ve always been searching for.

I love you, Vanessa. And I always will love you. I know you’ll cry for me, but don’t let the sadness overwhelm you. You’ve given me the best time of my life.

With love,

Leo

I stared at the paper,turning it front to back as if it would change the words written on it. It stayed the same, and the cold, sinking realization of what was happening washed over me with a vengeance.

Leo was gone.

I screamed. Long and loud and with a feral brokenness that could only come from utter betrayal. He had promised me he would stay, that he would fight. Lots of people had broken their word to me over the years, but I never expected Leo to be one of them. Already my mind was zooming off, imagining what horrible torture that witch was putting the love of my life through. It wasn’t fair.

It just wasn’t fair.

Naturally, the pained sound tearing from my throat drew lots of attention, and Ricky burst through the door.

“Ven, what’s wrong?”

I brandished the letter like that would inform him of what was going on, but I certainly wasn’t going to let him read it.

“He’s gone.”

“Wait, who? What’s happening?”

Admittedly, my declaration wasn’t exactly very explanatory, but my voice raised even higher in irritation—or was it desperation?—when I replied again.

“Leo’s gone! He went to that fucking witch! He’s going to sacrifice himself for us.”

“He’s not!” Ricky shot back on instinct, and honestly, I couldn’t fault him for the denial, not after I’d run up the entire river. “This whole week he’s been...” But then his eyes finally focused on the letter, and all the air left his body at once. “Son of a bitch!”

He whirled, fist raised as if to punch out one of my windows, but he seemed to realize the destruction that would cause and pulled back at the last moment. Honestly, I didn’t even care if he shattered my windows. What did a greenhouse matter when the love of my life was marching to his death? I’d give it up, and every single plant I’d ever nurtured to life, to make sure Leo was safe.

A knock sounded on the opposite door of the greenhouse, and we both turned to see Andromeda and Tabitha there with blankets over their shoulders. They were still a bit frail but had largely returned to a much healthier size, and their skin didn’t look so ashen anymore. I was getting good at caring for shifters.

“Did we hear right?” Andromeda asked wearily. Although I was utterly devastated, I felt bad for her as well. She had only just been reunited with her alpha and still didn’t have all her memories back. To have him ripped away from her had to be like reopening the wounds that were only just beginning to close. “Leo’s gone to the witch?”

“Yeah, he has,” Ricky said. God, he sounded so broken.

“What do we do now?” Tabitha asked, sounding forlorn. It was like we were all being orphaned all over again, which was a crazy shared trauma to have.

It was too much heartbreak in such a small space, and suddenly, I was done. Done having things happen that were over my head, done being a damsel. I wasn’t going to allow Leo to sacrifice himself, and that was that.

“Gather everyone up,” I said, surprised at the steel in my voice. “Get them all out front.”

“Why? Are you going to announce it to all of them?” Ricky asked.

I was uncharacteristically short when I answered, but every second was precious. “Ricky, just get everyone. We don’t have a ton of time.”

I was grateful when no one argued with me, and the three of them hurried off. They assembled everyone quite quickly. I stared out at the small sea of faces as I stood on the steps of my greenhouse, marveling that they were all here because we’d chosen to stand up against what was wrong. It hadn’t been an easy path, not at all. But the pain, the loss… it was all worth it. Because we were all safe. And it made no sense for that safety not to extend to the man who had sacrificed so much already. Leo might be ready for his life to end, but I wasn’t.

“As I’m sure all of you have heard by now, or maybe even surmised on your own, Leo has taken Katarina’s offer of his life in exchange for all of ours. He is buying our salvation with his blood.

“So, for those of you who wish to honor that, you are free to go live your lives. Free to have the peace that he’s bought with his flesh. I won’t hold it against you.” It was hard to say those words, but it was true. If we wanted to go up against the most powerful witch, I could only have people who were one thousand percentsure they were where they wanted to be. No wishy-washing. No one who felt pressured.

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