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“I am. I’m not going anywhere, hopefully ever again. This is it, this is us.”
Jack blinked momentarily, as if he couldn’t quite believe it. We’d have to work on that.
“Alright, Chuckles,” Hawk said, prising me out of his grip. “You’ve got your daily affirmation of love out the way.”
“From Jules, but you’re not off the hook,” Jack shot back.
“Neither are you,” Hawk rumbled, but he turned me towards him, sheltering me deep in his arms. He didn’t make any further moves, though I could feel his thick length pulled up tight against his stomach. He just held me until I felt the sigh shudder through his body. His breath seemed to come out harder, more strangled after that, as if holding me was making things worse rather than better. I reached out and placed a hand on his chest, which was quickly covered by his. Something hard and desperate struggled behind his eyes, so I took a deep breath and tried to look deeper into the bond.
I saw me, looking a whole lot more amazing than I would have looked, running like the wind across the cavern floor. I saw rocks the size of house blocks—that was definitely an exaggeration—smashing to the ground around me. Then there was the Black Wolf, looming as big as a skyscraper, with a muzzle full of razor-sharp teeth. He snarled as I approached, his head snaking down to eat me whole. Then the view shot to Hawk, running with everything he had, his muscles powering on, shaking with the effort, his face pulled back in a mask of agony as he kept sprinting but just got further and further away.
“No!”
I jolted back to reality as Hawk pushed me back against the wall. His grip was firm, not painful, but I could see now the effort it took for him to keep it that way. As his fingers flexed, I saw the claws pushing through his fingertips.
“Hawk…” Finn said in a low growl, but I shook my head.
“It’s OK, isn’t it, Hawk?”
He couldn’t answer. I saw the muscles flex under the much longer length of beard, his eyes staring into mine, until finally, he shook his head. His head dropped down, his breath coming in gasps, as he fought whatever he was going through.
“Hawk, I’m here,” I said.
“But you might not have been! You ran right into…” He pushed away from me, but I caught his arm and hauled him back.
“Hey…hey…” I tried to look into his eyes, but he kept them resolutely down, so I took my cues from my pack and wrapped my arms around him, closing my eyes and then letting something happen that I hadn’t since we got back. I settled.
Not a good word for it, but it was the only way I could think to describe it. It was as if all I was popped and fizzed like water droplets on a hot pan, and then the heat was turned off. My breath, thoughts, all slowed down, and I just was.
For a while, there was just the faint hiss of the water until someone turned it off, the feel of the rivulets running down our forms, the heavy weight of our bodies as we clung to each other. It was the sound of Hawk’s breath coming to match mine, growing slower, more measured, and then there was just quiet.
It should have been no surprise that the bathroom fell away to be replaced by the radiant light of our shared psychic space. Everyone stood within it, as did the White Wolf. She regarded us all with those inscrutable green eyes, just sitting there, waiting.
“This better not be another bloody quest,” Jack said, striding forward, putting his body between us and the goddess. “You’ve had enough from us.”
“That’s the goddess,” Brandon hissed.
“I don’t give a shit what she is. We just got home. We’re done with this,” Slade said.
“Let's find out what she wants,” Finn said.
You must choose.
Our heads jerked up at the sound, Hawk’s hands tightening around me.
“Choose what?” Aaron said. “Is having no more divine intervention in our lives an option? Because I choose that. You’ve tugged us from pillar to post, you’ve been playing games with Brandon since he was born. You pulled us together into a pack, and now we finally get a moment to ourselves, you come back for more?”
You must choose.
“Choose what?” Slade said. She didn’t answer, just waited implacably. “I choose us, our pack.” He looked back to the rest of us. “We’ve done enough.”
“Me too. I can’t watch the people I love go through that shit again,” Aaron said.
Hawk’s grip tightened.
“I’ve made my position clear on what I want,” Jack said. “Only words that start with F apply, and for you, that’s fuck off.”
“Jack!” Brandon hissed.
