Page 19 of Alpha's Redemption

I hear the crunch of somebody walking into the place. I wipe my tears but sigh when I realize it’s only Valen. He crouches in front of me, tipping my chin up to meet his gaze.

“Where’s my girl gone?” he whispers, his eyes searching my face.

“Sitting in the wreck of her village,” I murmur.

“This is not my girl. My girl is a Luna, and chief of her village.”

“My village is gone,” I tell him.

“Will you rebuild?”

I sigh. I want to punch something, scream and fight, yet at the same time I want to curl into a ball and die along with this place. But he’s right. I have a city to burn, and I can’t do that here, feeling sorry for myself. I nod, and he stands.

Gently, I open the letter, reading through it for the hundredth time—the one thing that kept me going time and time again. Valen stands back but remains quiet as I skim the page. Valarie’s words are unmarred and untainted as I stare at them.

“What’s that?” Valen asks.

“A reminder,” I tell him. Leaning forward, I grab the others from where they sit and hand them to him. He looks at the hundreds of envelopes.

“These are all from my mother?” he asks, and I nod.

He holds his hand out for the one in my hand, written in her immaculate handwriting, the one letter that means the most to me. It’s the shortest of all the letters she wrote. The others are a detailed, day-by-day account of what we had achieved. What we built. But this one is something else. I pull it a little closer and gaze at the words I memorized years ago but still need to see when things get to be too much.

Just in case no one has told you today!

YOU WILL NEVER DO IT!

I’m watching, always watching, my girl. And I will be watching when you prove them all wrong!

With that, I tuck the letter back in its envelope and hand it to Valen to hold with the others before walking out of the office.

“Everly? What are you doing?” Valen calls as he follows me through the charred remains.

“Building a village,” I tell him. He laughs, and I look at him over my shoulder.

“What?” I ask, and he shrugs and shakes his head. Untucking the envelope I gave him, he opens it and scans it once.

“Build your Village, Love,” he says.

“Oh, I am. I built this place from nothing. I will do it again,” I tell him, shoving through what’s left of the doors and outside.

I stop in tracks as I step into the parking lot. Valen walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my chest, pulling me back against him. The letter in his hand is open, yet my gaze is on the hundreds of rogues and pack members that cover every inch of the lawn, shovels, and supplies in hand as a convoy of trucks and machinery pull into the hotel. I suck in a breath and swallow. Every rogue must be here, and all of Valen’s pack. I glance at him over my shoulder.

“Only, this time, it isn’t just four rogue-whores and three babies. You built a village and these are your people. You never have to do anything alone again,” Valen whispers, and tears fill my eyes as I stare back at everyone who showed up. Macey and Zoe both stand at the front with shovels in hand. My lip quivers. The fact that they would all show up for this place…

Valen kisses my cheek and lets me go. My knees shake as I walk toward my village before they finally give way from under me. Everyone, they all suddenly drop to their knees and bow their heads. The sight of them is just too much.

I break. Tears fall as I place my head in my hands and cry.

Moments later, I feel small hands touch my neck and I look up to see Valarian standing beside me.

“Don’t cry, Momma, your village is here to help,” he whispers, wiping my tears. He’s wearing a neon, HiVis shirt, jeans, and little steel cap boots.

“Hey, Everly!” Valen calls from behind me, and I turn to look at him over my shoulder. Valarian stares at his father when Valen yells out to me:

“You’ll never do it!”

I chuckle. I open my mouth to answer him when a chorus of voices rings out through the crowd in unison.

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