Chapter 238

Sarah POV

“We all fear death,” Zane said.

That wasn’t what I meant at all, and I told him so. My dress turned to silver in the moonlight, and I held his warm hands in mine.

“If you seek the truth, stop seeking enemies and find the moon,” I and the statue and someone else said, speaking as one.

He looked up at the moon. “It’s right there.”

“But you are not,” I said, and a great sorrow washed over me even as my heart beat in anticipation. “You must walk with me so the moon may reveal herself.”

Zane leaned down and kissed me, and the warmth of the moonlight filled my body from my fingertips to my toes. He had never seemed more handsome to me, though I knew the way love changed our vision.

He brought up his hands and traced them over my face, and I felt in that touch the depth of this adoration, just as I showed in answering his touch.

“Then let’s walk,” he said next.

I felt my fears fall away along with my certainties and my denials. It was easy to take his hand and turn not right or left or up or down, but just forward. We stood then on a white field with a black sky above us glittering fiercely with stars.

I felt my spirit within me, housed by a body that seemed to float while holding itself completely still. I looked up farther above us.

Like a heavy blue pearl capped with white, the earth hung above us, watching over us to keep us safe. As I watched, the brilliance of the clouds swirled into the shape of a white wolf. I saw her face and recognized her, and then she raced directly toward us.

I stepped away from Zane just slightly, but he kept hold of my hand. I knew I should be afraid, and a memory of recent pain assaulted me, but the wolf was beautiful.

“Welcome her, Sarah,” I heard Zane say. “Call her home.”

I held my arms out, one hand still clasped in Zane’s, and as the wolf neared I sent out my spirit to her to guide her.

At the last moment, she leapt within me, and I felt the joy of her, the freedom of racing across space, the power of this new version of myself. I was made new, made strong, and made whole, and Zane’s hand held me aloft as I accepted it all.

I opened my eyes.

I was in a white room that smelled like medicine and blood. The light was too bright, but it faded, and I realized I was lying on my stomach on a soft white bed. I looked down to see soft white fur, dark claws, and some torn bits of a floral hospital gown.

It should have been, at the least, disorienting, but the wolf’s body was as much my own as my human form had been. I breathed and felt my lungs expand, my fur felt the drafts in the air, and my muscles were coiled and ready to spring to action as I needed.

I was panting, and with each breath came dozens of more smells: Zane, Chloe, Grace, strangers, stale food, urine, and something else I knew instinctively was myself.

I looked up, and Zane was standing there staring at me in wonder. He looked tired, but when I tried to tell him that, I just made little whines and growls.

He laughed, and the door flew open to emit an alpha and two betas in green scrubs. They halted upon seeing me and stared.

“What the hell?” the alpha male said.

The beta woman swayed on her feet. “It can’t be.”

Then all three were shoved aside by Chloe and Grace.

“Sarah!” they both shouted, not quite in unison, as they ran to my bed. I reached down to sniff them and found them both well. With a nod, I licked them both, sending them into giggles.

“How did she get in here?” the alpha male demanded. “What’s going on?”

He irritated me. This was such a great moment, and he was ruining it. I snarled at him.

His blue eyes widened, and in one graceful moment he was on one knee, as were the betas. I woofed in approval. He would have his answers in a moment.

I felt the energy now of a hundred, two hundred wolves around me. Some were ill, others greatly stressed. There were humans too, but I knew them mostly by smell.

I realized Zane was tearing off his clothes, and as much as I approved of the sight, I wasn’t sure it was the time. Then he transformed, his pitch-black fur shining in the harsh light of the hospital room.

There wasn’t room for him on the bed, so I leapt down to the floor and nuzzled him. Chloe and Grace ran to us, throwing their arms around our necks and holding on. I knew I could help them transform now, but there was no need for it. They were young, and there was plenty of time.

“Moon Wolf,” the beta female said.

I looked to my mate and to my children and then to the others of my pack. Sitting back on my haunches, I raised my head and howled.