Chapter 433 Celebration - Jax’s proposal

Chapter 433: Chapter 433 Celebration - Jax’s proposal

Talia’s POV

The celebration began at sunset, and it did not take long for the courtyard to fill.

I stood on the balcony, and I looked down at the courtyard.

It was filled with wolves.

There were so many of them that they spilled out of the courtyard and into the surrounding fields, and their voices rose together in a song of survival. Warriors stood beside healers, elders stood beside children, and freed wolves stood beside the wolves who had once been their enemies.

Everyone was welcome, and everyone was family.

Aldric stood at the center of the courtyard, and he raised his hand, and the crowd fell silent.

"Tonight," he said, and his voice carried across the courtyard, "we do not mourn. Tonight, we do not grieve. Tonight, we celebrate."

He looked around at the wolves, and his eyes were bright.

"We celebrate the ones who came home. We celebrate the ones who did not. We celebrate the ones who fought, and the ones who waited, and the ones who prayed."

He raised his cup.

"To the fallen," he said.

"To the fallen," the pack echoed.

"To the survivors," he said.

"To the survivors," the pack roared.

"And to the Luna who saved us all," Aldric said, and he looked up at me.

"To the Luna!" the pack shouted, and the sound was deafening.

Fires were burning in iron braziers, and torches were stuck into the ground, and their light flickered across the faces of everyone below. Music was playing, and it was not the formal music of ceremonies, but the wild, joyful music of a pack that had survived.

Someone had brought out drums and flutes, and someone else was playing a fiddle, and the music was fast and loud and alive. It was the kind of music that made you want to move, even if you did not know how to dance.

I heard laughter, and I heard singing, and I heard the stomp of feet on stone.

I saw wolves dancing, and I saw wolves singing, and I saw wolves laughing.

I saw Piper dancing with Jax.

"No, Jax, you step with your left foot," Piper said, laughing.

"I am stepping with my left foot," Jax said.

"That is your right foot."

"They look the same to me."

She rolled her eyes, and he grinned, and they kept dancing.

Then Jax did something that made everyone laugh.

He tried to spin Piper, and he spun himself instead. He tripped over his own feet, and he fell into a group of Stoneclaw warriors, and he knocked over a table of food.

"I meant to do that!" Jax shouted, and he was covered in gravy.

The pack roared with laughter, and Piper was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.

"You are impossible," she said.

"I know," Jax said, and he grinned.

Then he stood up, and he wiped the gravy off his face, and he took her hand.

"Dance with me," he said. "Properly this time."

And they danced.

They danced for a long time, and the pack watched, and the music played.

Then the music slowed, and Jax stopped dancing.

He looked at Piper, and his face was serious.

"Piper," he said.

"What?" she asked.

He got down on one knee, and the entire courtyard went silent.

"Piper Holloway," Jax said, and his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. "I have loved you since the moment I met you. I have loved you every day since. And I will love you every day for the rest of my life."

He took her hand.

"Will you be with me forever?" he asked.

Piper stared at him. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was open, and she was not moving.

Then she laughed.

"You idiot," she said. "Of course I will."

The pack erupted.

Wolves were shouting, and wolves were howling, and wolves were clapping. Jax stood up, and he pulled Piper into his arms, and he kissed her.

"To Jax and Piper!" someone shouted.

"To Jax and Piper!" the pack roared.

Kaelen put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, loud and sharp, and the sound cut through the noise, and Jax looked up and grinned.

The music started again, and it was faster this time, and the wolves began to dance.

I saw Stoneclaw warriors dancing with Thornwood wolves. I saw Silver Ridge wolves dancing with Moonshadow wolves. I saw freed wolves dancing with the wolves who had once been their enemies.

They were not enemies anymore. They were family.

I saw a young wolf climb onto a table and start dancing, and I saw the pack cheer. I saw an old warrior try to do a jig, and I saw him fall over, and I saw everyone laugh.

I saw children running in circles, and I saw mothers chasing them, and I saw fathers lifting them onto their shoulders.

It was chaos. It was loud. It was perfect.

I saw Silas talking with his sister.

"I thought you were dead," she said, and her voice was shaking.

"I am not dead," Silas said. "I am right here."

She held his hand, and she cried, and he wiped her tears away.

I had never seen Silas cry, and I had never seen him show any emotion other than calm. But tonight, standing with his sister, he let his guard down, and he let himself feel.

I saw Cain standing at the edge of the crowd, watching. He was not dancing, and he was not singing, but he was there, and that was enough.

I saw a young wolf approach him, and I saw him nod. I saw the young wolf smile, and I saw Cain’s lips twitch, just a little. It was the closest thing to a smile I had ever seen on his face.

I saw my mother, Seraphina, sitting with Aldric.

"You raised her well," Aldric said.

"I did not raise her," Seraphina said. "She raised herself."

"Then she learned from the best," Aldric said.

My mother laughed, and it was a real laugh, and it was a sound I had not heard in years.

I watched them for a long moment, and I felt something warm in my chest. My mother was happy, and after fifteen years of darkness, she was finally happy.

I saw the freed wolves.

They were dancing too, and they were laughing too, and they were free.

Some of them were still thin, and some of them still had shadows in their eyes, but they were dancing, and they were laughing, and they were living.

I saw a young wolf who had been corrupted, spinning a girl around in circles. I saw an older woman clapping her hands to the music. I saw children running between the legs of the adults, shrieking with joy.

They did not know what we had been through, and they did not know what we had lost. They only knew that there was music, and there was food, and there was love.

They were the future, and they were the reason we had fought.

They had been prisoners in their own bodies, and now they were dancing.

I saw the Alphas.

Alpha Stone was talking with Alpha Thornwood, and they were smiling. Alpha Frost and Alpha Ridge were standing nearby, and they were laughing at something.

They had been enemies once, and they had almost gone to war with each other. But now they were standing together, and they were laughing together.

Now, they were family.