Extinguishing Wildfire

Aaliyah

We thought the day was over after the funerals, but we didn’t account for all of the displaced wolves from the packhouse. There weren’t enough tents to accommodate everyone, as the packhouse was now unavailable. Many of us were settling down for the night in our wolf form.

“Hadley? Are you still working?” She was busy flitting around carrying supplies back and forth.

“Yes, I just want to make sure everyone is comfortable for the night. We moved Noah’s father and a few others into the clinic, and Sawyer is still busy monitoring a few patients. It’s hard to sleep without him, so I’ve just kept working.”

“Have you seen your family?” She smiled at my question.

“Yes, they haven’t been able to meet Sawyer yet as he’s been running around everywhere, but they’re excited to meet him. I can't wait for Scarlett to find her mate, too.”

“Me, too. Your sister’s great, she did so much behind the scenes for all of this.”

“Yeah, she is. I don’t think I really appreciated her until I didn’t have her with me every day…but what about you and Jordan, though? Did you get to make up?”

“Me and Jordan…we’re good today...” I stopped speaking, unsure of what to say.”

“You want to be with him, right?”

“Yeah, I do.” I could say that with complete certainty. It was everything else I was unsure about, “I don’t know that I completely deserve him, though. I’m glad I didn’t formally reject him and break our bond, but I really messed up with him. I went about things all wrong.”

“Have you told him that yet?” She raised her eyebrows at me.

“I apologized but I haven’t said those exact words. It’s been a day, but I’m sure he’ll want to talk the first chance we get. Especially now that he’s getting his pack back.”

“That’s right, you’re a Luna now.” She smiled at me.

“Don’t remind me, I’m sure I’ve got some big shoes to fill. I've only heard good things about his mother.” I sighed, not wanting to keep up this topic of conversation. Luckily, Jordan came our way.

“You ready for sleep?” He pulled me off the ground I was sitting on, and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Unfortunately, I gave away our tent to some of the Wildfire wolves, but Neo promises to keep you warm all night.”

“I’ll have to excuse myself before I become the witness of any PDA, but I’m sure Sawyer's wondering where I am. Good night, guys.” Hadley excused herself, leaving me and Jordan alone for the first time today.

“So, I know there’s a lot we should talk about, and we left things a bit weird after the Harvest Moon Festival, but can we talk about that later and just be with each other tonight?” He tucked a finger under my chin and lifted my face to look at his.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Good, I just want to curl up next to you tonight.” And that’s exactly what we did. We found a soft corner to ourselves and shifted to keep warm. It wasn’t ideal, and in any other circumstance, I’d find somewhere better to sleep, but it ended up being the best sleep I had ever had, and Hope agreed.

Jordan

We got Noah’s dad settled into the hospital. His vitals were decent, but we didn’t know how things would go once they started to flush the wolfsbane out of his system. They had given him just enough to keep him unconscious but not enough to kill him. The doctors would see if it would be possible to transport him as I thought we’d all be better off back home.

Home. That was a strange concept as we hadn’t been there in so long. A part of me was scared to go back there. It was easy to ignore my pain back at Harvest Moon, but I’d be surrounded by memories of my parents back at Cobalt Falls. I was even more scared for my sisters to return.

’Let’s just focus on today, on what we can do and can fix.’ Neo was back to being my voice of reason, and I had to agree with him. No use getting worked up over nothing. Might as well just sleep on things. Noah and Gema were settled in at the clinic with their parents and Cristian was off somewhere beating himself up, all things I could get back to tomorrow.

“Jordan?” I looked up as I made my way back to the camp area to see Rebecca and Isaiah headed my way. “Hey, I just wanted to let you know I called my brother. The pack is safe. The warriors all worked together and put the Wildfire pack members in the cells. Eight of them total, they’re leaving them there until you get back and decide on how to deal with them.

“Thanks,” I smiled at her, something I had been doing a lot of today, with every new victory, “Thank your brother for me next time you talk to him. He was a big help.”

“Will do, Alpha.” With that, Rebecca and Isaiah rushed off into the night, and I finally went for my girl and turned in for the night.

As much as I wanted to sleep more, we had another busy day ahead of us. Everyone needed to return to their packs for funerals. Yugen Vale was the only pack that didn’t lose anyone. Everyone else lost one to two people. The shifters with more minor injuries had healed already, but a few people still remained at the clinic.

I needed to check on Noah and see if he and Gema had heard from Cristian yet, but Aaliyah stopped me before I could head out.

“Hey, can we talk?”

“Yeah, sure…what’s up?

She bit her bottom lip, “There’s still that pending conversation about us. All the mate stuff…and also when do you think you’ll head back home?”

“Cobalt Falls is safe for now, but they have a few Wildfire pack prisoners I need to deal with. I also have to figure out how to help Noah’s and Cristian’s parents. We want Noah’s dad to wake up, but we might have to take him back in a coma. I also have to figure out things for my sisters, so you have some time to think about coming with me.” She had already told me she loved me and wanted to be with me, but a small part of me was still not ready to completely trust her. She’d broken my heart, and I wanted to protect myself from feeling that kind of pain ever again.

“Jordan, I know I already said this, but I’m sorry…for hurting you, for just pushing you away without a second thought and not even giving you a chance. You deserved better than what I gave you. Honestly, I think you deserve better than me. I made a lot of stupid decisions without really thinking things through. I thought I knew best, but I was wrong…about everything, but especially about you. I meant it when I said I accept you, and if you’ll still have me, I want to be with you…and I’ll go wherever you need me to be. Hope and I are both all in.

Neo let out a tiny whine at her words. He was ready to drop everything and mate and mark her this second, but I couldn’t blame him for wanting to do that as Hope had always wanted us. Aaliyah, on the other hand, still had some work to do before she regained my trust, but she was my Goddess-given mate, and I knew there would be no other woman for me.

“You did hurt me, but I still want you. I’ll always want you, and I want you by my side as my Luna.” I pulled her into my arms and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“I promise, I’ll be the best mate from here on out.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” And with that, I kissed her softly. We didn’t deepen our kiss, enjoying just the soft and gentle touch of each other’s lips. I could have stayed here forever with her, but we were interrupted by the loud clearing of someone’s throat.

“I see you two have made up.”

Aaliyah groaned, pulling back from me. “Kedrick, could you be any more awkward right now?”

“Don’t tempt me, Liyah, I might be pushing 30, but I’m not above embarrassing you and protecting you from all of this PDA.” He chuckled good-humoredly. “I’m happy for you, though. And I’m glad you’re safe now. Maybe next time you won’t hide important information about having found your mate from your brothers?”

“Lucky for me, I only get the one mate, so this won't be happening again.” It was nice seeing their sibling banter as it reminded me of my own relationship with Jasmine and Jade.

“I'm sure it won't, but I actually just came to tell you guys we’ll be heading out by lunchtime. We’re already starting to pack up, and some of the northern packs are already sending people back home.”

“Sounds good, we’ll start packing,” Aaliyah responded for both of us.

“Wait, Alpha Kedrick, I still have to figure out what we can do about Noah’s dad.”

Before Alpha Kedrick could respond, a deep voice sounded out, and we all turned to see as Alpha Larkin walked up to us.

“I already arranged for a medical transport for Gamma Rodrigo. His mate will ride with him to Harvest Moon. I figured it was the least I could do to make up for what was done to him while here.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you.” I was shocked but grateful for his kind gesture. It took a huge weight off my shoulders.

“I uhh…I also wanted to speak with you because…well…” He trailed off, brushing a hand through his hair. “When Marek attacked Cobalt Falls, he took over as Alpha. As a result of his death, his title passed on to me, but you are the rightful Alpha of Cobalt Falls, and I want to give you your title back.”

In all of the fighting and planning, I had forgotten that my family didn’t hold the official title anymore. Everyone had been treating me as the Alpha of Cobalt Falls, but I actually wasn’t the Alpha right now, Larkin was.

“Can we do this right now?” He pulled out a pocket knife to show me he was serious. “I’ll be making reparations for what my pack did over the last few decades, and I want this to be my first act, to return your pack to its rightful Alpha.”

Before I could say anything, he held out his hand and cut his palm. I looked over to Alpha Kedrick and Aaliyah for support, and they both gave me a nod to continue. I looked back at Larkin and extended my hand for the knife.

“By the moon’s decree, I, Larkin Novak, relinquish the position of Alpha of Cobalt Falls to its rightful Alpha. May justice prevail and peace be restored.”

Without a second thought, I cut my palm, joining it with his. “With the moon’s blessing, I, Jordan Rodriguez, embrace the role of Alpha of Cobalt Falls.” As I spoke those words and connected my palm with his, I felt the transfer of power between us. Every bond that once broke was restored, and I felt the parts of my soul that fell quiet at the death of my parents sing out with a strength and power that weren’t there before.

Alpha Larkin smiled at me and shook my hand one last time. “Thank you, for letting me at least make something right for you.”