Chapter 430 Battle effect

Chapter 430: Chapter 430 Battle effect

Talia’s POV

We collided in a hug.

I wrapped my arms around her, and she wrapped hers around me, and I felt her tears on my neck, and I felt my own tears falling, and neither of us let go.

"You are alive," Piper said, and her voice was muffled against my shoulder. "You are alive."

"I am alive," I said. "I am here."

She pulled back, and she looked at me. Her hands flew to my face, touching my cheeks, my hair, my shoulders. She was checking to make sure I was real, that I was not a ghost, that I was not going to disappear.

Her hands were warm on my skin, and they were trembling, and I knew that she had been carrying the weight of my death for hours. She had thought she had lost me. She had thought she would never see me again.

"I thought you were dead," she said, and her voice cracked. "When we saw the light, and we heard the explosion, I thought you were dead."

"You did not lose me," I said. "I am right here."

She hugged me again, and her body shook with sobs. I held her, and I did not tell her to stop. I let her cry, because she needed to. Because we both needed to.

"I was so scared," she said. "I was so scared I would never see you again."

"I was scared too," I said. "But I am here, and you are here, and we are together."

Piper pulled back, and she wiped her eyes, and she laughed. It was a wet sound, half a sob and half a laugh.

"I cannot believe you killed him," she said. "I cannot believe you killed Malachai."

"I did not do it alone," I said. "I had help."

Piper looked at Kaelen. He was standing behind me, leaning on Jax for support.

"Kaelen," she said, and her eyes filled with tears again. "You are alive."

"I am alive," he said. "Thanks to her."

Piper hugged him, and Kaelen hugged her back, and I watched them and felt my heart swell.

Jax grinned. "There she is. The love of my life."

Piper rolled her eyes. "You are injured, Jax. Do not make me hurt you more."

Jax laughed. "You would never hurt me."

Piper looked at him, and her eyes softened. "No. I would not."

Jax smiled. It was a real smile, not the playful grin he usually wore. It was the smile of a man who was looking at the woman he loved and realizing, for the first time, that she might love him too.

I saw the way they looked at each other. I saw the way her eyes softened when she looked at him. I saw the way his smile became something gentler, something realer.

They would be okay. They would find their way to each other. I knew it.

Silas and Cain arrived. They were both wounded but standing.

Silas nodded at me. "Luna."

Cain said nothing. He just nodded.

That nod was enough. It was always enough with Cain. He did not need words to tell me that he was glad I was alive, or that he was proud of me, or that he would follow me anywhere.

We stood together, the six of us, and we did not speak. We did not need to. We were alive. We were together.

The army began to pack up.

Tents were taken down, and supplies were loaded onto carts, and the wounded were carried on stretchers.

I walked through the camp, and I helped where I could.

I saw wolves handing out clothes and food to the freed wolves. I saw them speaking in gentle voices, and I saw the freed wolves accepting the gifts with trembling hands.

I saw Alpha Stone kneel beside a freed wolf, his voice low and kind. I saw Silas hand a blanket to a shivering woman. I saw Jax make a joke, and I saw the freed wolf laugh, just a little.

It was a small thing, a laugh. But it was a start. It was proof that they were not broken beyond repair. It was proof that they could heal.

I saw a young wolf approach Alpha Stone. He asked if he could join the Stoneclaw Pack. Alpha Stone put a hand on his shoulder and said yes.

I saw other freed wolves doing the same. They were approaching the Alphas, and they were asking for a place, and they were being welcomed.

They were not alone anymore.

I felt my lips curve into a smile. It was small, and it was tired, but it was real.

I gathered the Alphas and the pack leaders.

"They will be given a choice," I said. "They can return to their packs if they have any. They can join the allied packs. Or they can go their own way."

I looked at them, and I let my words sink in.

"They are not prisoners," I said. "They are survivors. They deserve a chance to live."

The Alphas agreed. They would spread the word.

I watched them walk away, their voices low as they spoke to their pack leaders. I watched them spread the word, and I watched the freed wolves begin to approach them, one by one.

The tightness in my chest eased, just a little. The war was over. The healing had begun. And for the first time in a long time, I allowed myself to believe that everything was going to be okay.

I told them we would leave at dawn. We would return to Blackmoor Valley.

The Alphas nodded, and they left to prepare.

The sun began to set, and the sky turned orange and pink.

Kaelen and I sat by a fire, and we were alone.

He told me he was proud of me, and I told him I was proud of him.

We talked about the future, and we talked about home.

"I want to rebuild Luminara," I said. "I want to find the scattered Silvertongues."

Kaelen took my hand. "I will help you," he said. "We will do it together."

We held each other, and we watched the stars appear, one by one, until the sky was full of them.

The stars were bright, and they were beautiful, and they were the same stars that had watched over us in Blackmoor Valley, and in the Ashen Lands, and in every place we had ever been.

But they felt different now. They felt like a promise.

They felt like a promise that the world would keep turning, and the sun would keep rising, and the stars would keep shining. They felt like a promise that we would be okay.

Tomorrow, we would begin the journey home. Tomorrow, we would leave the Ashen Lands behind and return to Blackmoor Valley.

I stood, and Kaelen stood beside me.

We looked at the camp. The fires were burning, and the wolves were resting.

We looked at the Ashen Lands. The grass was growing, and the land was healing.

We looked at each other.

Kaelen took my hand. "Are you ready?"

I nodded. "I am ready."

We turned and walked back to our tent.

Kaelen stopped walking. So I stopped beside him, and I looked at him.

"What now?" he asked.

His voice was soft, and his gray eyes were steady, and he was looking at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.

I thought about his question. I thought about the war, and the battle, and the silver, and the grass, and the sunlight. I thought about everything we had lost, and everything we had won.

"Now we go home," I said.

He nodded, but he did not speak. He just took my hand.

And we did.

And for the first time in a long time, I was not afraid of tomorrow. I was not afraid of what it would bring.

I did not know what the future held. I did not know what challenges we would face, or what losses we would endure, or what joys we would find.

But I knew that I would not face any of it alone.

And that was enough.