Page 67 of Wolf Bound

Can we overcome this?

Chapter Thirty-Five

Talia

Forrester murmurs under his breath after we walk out of the cabin.

I don't even know what else to say because yeah, holy fuck. Nestled in my arms is the box containing notebooks, letters, pictures, and even a few voice recordings detailing everything we just went over with Miranda. This is so much more than I expected when we got here, and I don't even know if I can process it all.

"Talia!" Nick calls out as we walk to the car, running out the door towards me. "I just wanted to thank you again for coming out. I know that the things my mom was involved in and didwould have warranted you ignoring our invitation, but it means a lot to us that you came in spite of that."

"Oh, it's not a problem. Thank you both for giving us all of this." I motion the arm with the box. "I feel far more prepared for what's coming and who we're up against."

Nick smiles and rubs a hand against the back of his neck. "Talia?"

"Yes?"

"When all of this goes down, and you take a stand against The Croises, I want to stand with you. Those people, the things they've done and continue to do," Nick speaks, his eyes telling me as much as his words. Anger, fear, determination. "They deserve to pay for it. I want to be standing on the right side of this when that goes down. I want to stand with you guys."

My eyes search out my mates before I answer. I don't know the logistics of a human standing with shifters, but I know it sounds like a good idea to me.

Wes smiles and answers for us, taking the weight of this off of me. "We would be happy to have you at our side. I still have your email and phone number, and I will get our pack enforcer to reach out to you to cover things like training and fighting. If you're going to stand with us, we'll make sure you're prepared to fight and survive."

"Thank you," Nick chokes out, tears shining in his eyes. "Thank you. I want-- No, I need to both make up for what my mother, and now sister, have done as well as avenge the things that have been done to my family. So, thank you."

Nick turns and jogs back up to the cabin, leaving us alone at our vehicle. We get in, silence surrounding all of us. There's too much to think through, to sort through, from this visit and it seems we all need the quiet to do just that.

There's a few things that were said and then glossed over that have been eating away at me. My peryton brushes against mymind, calling me inwards. Closing my eyes, I succumb the pull, following her into the meadow of the goddess.

"This is crazy, right?" I ask my peryton, settling down onto the ground beside her.

She rests her head on my lap, looking up at me with her large doe eyes. A hefty sigh comes from her, just as overwhelmed by all of this as I am.

"There's two things I am realizing went unanswered during the talks," I murmur as I run my fingertips over her snout. "How do I awaken the dormancy of shifters? Considering that's how I am supposed to be able to find the Unicorn shifter, I probably should have asked how to do that. And, what exactly happened to my father?"

My peryton bumps me with her nose, offering me comfort and assurance.

I'll figure this out. There may be more on both of them in the box of stuff I was given so I'll get my mates to go through all of it with me. Six pairs of eyes will go far faster than one. Besides, we can then sort it into categories to help going forward.

The other shifters won't care about the love between my mother and my father or the bonds between mythical shifters and their mates, but they will care about the hierarchy of the Croises, the nature of the upcoming war, and the role we all have to play in this war of the gods.

"This is all happening so fast," I muse out loud with a shake of my head. "One minute I'm trapped in that prison cell and the next, I'm here, preparing for a war against the very people who kept me locked up my whole life."

Burying my face in my peryton's neck, I sigh while holding back tears. This is so much more than I ever thought my life would be. I didn't even know if I would survive day to day back in that prison.

Am I the right shifter to start this fight? I can't help but feel inadequate for the role I've been given. If this happened twenty five years ago, would it have been my mother? Was it my line that was chosen? Or me specifically? Maybe someone like my mother would have been better at this than me. Less unsure, more confident.

"It was always meant to be you." Adessa's voice echoes through the meadow like a song in a breeze. "All things are as they should be."

I raise my face to the sky, letting the golden glow sparkle off of the tears falling down my cheeks. I don't respond to her words, I let them sink into me and fill me with confidence in who I am and the path I'm meant to walk.

This task ahead of me, much like my mates, has been fated by the goddess herself. Knowing that gives me the peace I was lacking. My mates fit with me perfectly, in ways I never knew I needed, which means this task is one I can not only handle, but do right.

It has to be me. This is my destiny.

The glow around me brightens to blinding levels, lighting up every part of me and making my magic sing inside of me. My magic swirls into the air, dancing with the golden glow of the meadow. I smile at the sight and kiss my peryton on the forehead.

"I'll see you soon, okay? I have dormant shifters powers to awaken," I say and wink at her.

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