Nova and I unsealed the documents we found in the makeshift wall between our sacred areas. We uncovered what we expected, and a lot more. A whole lot more.
It was the werecat's history, written and drawn. Their history was passed through stories and word of mouth around campfires of temporary homes. Now, they had their homes restored and their true history remembered.
“I feel as if so many have lived to come back here. It is a heavy burden to carry. That it is me who has led them back. Especially after so many have passed living an in-between life.” Nova’s lips pressed together, her golden eyes glassy.
"You have done an excellent job," I told her. "No one could fault you."
She dipped her head. “I feel almost guilty, no, not guilt...” She pursed her lips. “Sad, mournful, I think.”
“About?”
“The fact we never settled elsewhere. I mean, we tried, but it felt wrong, something about being in one place for too long; it physically started to make my skin crawl, as if something was begging me, us, to move.” She looked to the ceiling and our lands above. “Here…this is the first time I have felt true peace. I mourn those that have never felt that that lived only to tell the stories, to hope that we would make it back.”
“Don’t forget to write the stories of what you have done, what you all have done since you have been wandering,” I told her. “Those stories are just as important as your history before.”
She nodded resolutely. “I will. They will not be forgotten. They kept the hope alive, and I think, no, I know, they would be happy for those that had made it back.”
She let out a deep breath and went back to sorting through the trunks of papers and some belongings. Pausing frequently and looking entirely at awe at what she had found.
A Few Months Later
I stood in Ezra’s arms as we looked over the main hall was once again filled with warmth, firelight, chatter, and that particular ancient embrace that surrounded Blood Moon one day a year. Our pack was enjoying food, drinks, and each other without a care in the world. The sight helped mend something in me instead of twisting at an ache of pain.
I found comparing what I had before in Blood Moon to what was now Blood Moon was too confusing for me to process. Instead, I focused on the gratitude that flowed through me daily.
I was grateful that I got to wake up in my pack next to my mate, who happened to be the best person I had ever known. That alone was beyond any dream I had for myself once I was taken to Black River.
Now, I reveled in the community we had, the people that were at first apprehensive to even step inside the packhouse who now felt at home here. Those who would stay inside their cottages or look away when they saw me would now greet me warmly.
The Omega’s even took a while to adjust. I think they feared the titles more than the actual people at that point. But they finally came around and understood that they were not our servants, that we all had jobs to do, and that meant we all got to enjoy time off too.
Nolan came up to us. “They’re here,” he said. coming up to us.
He seemed slightly nervous himself, but he never gave it away; I could only tell by how much he tapped his fingers or shoved his hands inside his pocket before taking them out again.
“Thanks.” I nodded to my pack at no one in particular, the speeches and explanations were over, and Nolan Ezra and I headed out to preform… well, I had no fucking idea.
Outside, Alpha Sam and Alpha Alexander of Shadow Stone, who I had not seen since he helped me bury the dead, stood waiting. Warriors flanked them, and Ezra’s brothers, all of them, both of this pack and not, stood to the side.
Emotion took hold and choked me. I was unable to speak. So I nodded to them in gratitude, hoping my glassy eyes showed them a fragment of what I felt for them.
“Enjoy, Simone,” Sam said, “We will protect you.”
“We have the watch,” Alpha Alexander said, and Ezra’s brothers silently spread out.
They all vowed to stand guard, to protect us the night when we could not protect ourselves. It was terrifying that others knew our vulnerability, and hard not to watch my back, to post my own warriors at every door and window. As always, Ezra helped calm my fears, so I could focus on my other worry of how the hell I was supposed to somehow rejuvenating our lands.
Nova was waiting for me, with two men and a woman flanking her.
Most of what we found in the tunnel was werecat history, but some were history we shared.
Once, we poured through everything, but we only found, of course, a few undescriptive drawings of the night where our lands regenerated. A few drawings showed the wolves and cats around their respective pools with light flowing out of them and our deities. It was more of a rudimental tapestry on paper than it was an instruction manual.
I was hoping instinct took over, but more than likely, I was thinking we would all be staring at a dark pool of water.
“Sister,” Nova called, her voice rich and warm.
I reached out and clasped her hand. We spent a moment staring at each other, reveling in the packs that we re-claimed, the history that had separated us that we were going to restore.
This ceremony had not been done side by side for an age—or longer.
Nova left Nolan, Ezra, and me near our marker, and we lingered there for a few moments as she led her people to hers.
“Ready?” I asked them.
Nolan nodded barely, wide-eyed, nervous yet reverent. Ezra dipped his chin and adjusted the straps of his swords. I wanted to tell him those would not fight off ghosts to lighten the mood, but the seriousness of what we were about to do, to attempt, weighed too heavy.
I was able to open it with my blood alone before, but I thought, for some reason, I needed to let the place know who to recognize. So we all cut thin slices, and they dripped their blood onto my palm. I pressed it against the cool stone, and the blood seeped into it immediately. it creaked and groned to life and then opened for us.
The blue lights lit the way to the small chamber. The pool was glowing, alive.
“Wow,” Nolan said, spinning in a circle, taking it all in.
Ezra nodded his agreement, his mismatched eyes wide. He placed a hand on the wall and then looked at me in awe. “This is…”
“Magic,” I told him. He swallowed and dipped his head.
The golden, greenish glow of the werecats sacred place pulsed through the dark tunnel connecting with ours. We three circled around the pool, the place felt expectant and we eyed each other, unsure of what exactly to do.
Blood, probably blood; it was always blood for some damned reason.
I prayed some instinct would kick in to tell me the words to speak or something to do but I had nothing.
Nova’s rich voice thundered through the tunnel. “We join again as wolven and feline, as our goddesses intended. Alpha, are you ready?” she called to me.
“I am,” I replied, the shakiness of my voice echoed.
We slit our other palms, my hand trembled. All of us leaned over to drop our blood in the pool. “We promise to protect the lands gifted to us,” I spoke.
“I, as well,” Ezra added with his steel confidence. It was like we had practiced, even though I just thought I should speak to it.
“I do, too,” Nolan added.
I met their eyes. All of us were resolute now. A cool warmth shot through me. I glanced at them and saw they were looking at their palms, too, but nothing could be seen. The other side of the tunnel glowed brighter.
Then the water seemed to shoot up and dance through the cavern, but it was not water, just shimmering light that seemed to be made of pure stardust.
Our silver light sprawled through the tunnel, and their golden light came to mix with ours.
An incredible sense of peace washed over the place; it was a blessing, unlike a peace you could find in this world.
Then they appeared… countless faces dipping in and out, made of echoes of silver. I choked, and Ezra pulled me to his side, but I was not afraid.
The faces of my pack, my mother and father, ebbed and flowed before me. A silver tapestry of who I was. I could not hold back the tears.
“Simone.” My father spoke in a voice that was his but was not. “We are so very proud of you, and the pack you have created.”
“My baby,” my mom was soft, sorrowful. “It is so good to see you again. We love you so much.”
The other pack members bobbed into view with a chorus of thank yous.
I bowed to them.
“The line between this world and the next is thin today,” my mother explained.
“Do not look for us in this life again; this was a gift from The Goddess,” my father added. “But we will always be here; we are as much part of this land now as the magic is.”
My mother and father clasped hands.
“I love you,” I told them. Ezra held me closer.
A silver figure pushed forward, the very room seemed to bow to her, her hair flowed over her and I knew instantly who it was—our goddess. I couldn’t breathe.
“Thank you for restoring the lands and my connection with my sister,” she said, her voice an echo and a whisper of eternity and the present.
The Moon Goddess looked down the tunnel and reached out; a golden hand seemed to reach back…and then they disappeared.
The light dissipated into the walls and I knew it was seeped into the land. I fell to my knees, entirely spent but elated.
It was only when the blue lights were dying down that I realized where we were. Ezra Nolan and I walked out in stunned silence.
Nova was outside waiting for us, her eyes red-rimmed.
“Who did you see?” I asked Nova.
“All of those who came before me, who wandered.” Her smile rivaled the sun, and her tears flowed. “They got to see the land restored, and I got to see them at peace.”
“I saw my pack, and they know our pack will live on.” I didn’t realize I was crying again until Nova brushed my tears away.
We embraced, and when she let me go, she said, “Go enjoy your party.”
“You as well.”
As we walked back I noticed the land had changed. The grass seemed to shimmer, the mist surrounding the forests was billowing and cool, wind sang as it danced through the trees.
Ezra grasped my hand, and Nolan squeezed my shoulder. “I couldn’t have done it without you two,” I told them. “I will always be grateful.”
We had restored what always should have been.