Chapter 145: Epilogue

“Why are we on patrol duty again?”

Maya didn’t turn to him, her eyes fixed on the path ahead.

“Because we’re ~technically~ no longer part of the pack, so Olivia’s punishing me by making me do the stuff I despise the most.”

~That made sense~.

In the past few weeks, Julian had been healing. His recovery was slower than they’d expected, largely due to the numerous silver fragments lodged in his body.

As he healed, these fragments would surface, and Olivia would have to remove them.

So far, it seemed she had extracted all of them, but Olivia had asked them to wait a few more days to ensure he was completely healed.

They had agreed.

Truthfully, he could have left by now, but when Maya didn’t object, he decided to stay.

~He~ wasn’t leaving anyone behind, but ~she~ was. He knew she had come to terms with this long before he entered her life, but…

Departures and farewells were always hard.

It wasn’t as if she could never return or see them again. But it was still tearing her away from her old life and thrusting her into a new one.

~With him~. Some days, the fog of memories would clear but ~it wasn’t enough~.

At least they would be together.

Out of respect, he had given Willow the option to stay, but…~she didn’t recognize him~. It worked out because despite her innocence, he felt there was no trust, no connection.

So Alex let her go, and she left—alone.

He did hope she would find whatever she was seeking. She had thanked him for helping her cope with her loss.

Even though he didn’t recall it, Julian knew losing someone dear to you was hard.

So if he was able to help her…~it meant something~.

As fragments of his past life returned over time, sometimes he thought he saw Willow’s face, but nothing made sense. So he chose not to dwell on it.

If his memories returned, so be it.

But he couldn’t pursue an uncertain possibility. And there were things he wasn’t sure he wanted to remember.

~There was one thing he couldn’t forget, though~.

There, right before him.

Even though rain had since fallen, saturating the earth and trying to erase the evidence of the massacre, he could ~smell~ the blood as if it had just been spilled.

~This was where the hunter had died~.

“You okay?” Maya asked, catching up to him and stopping by his side.

“It’s there.”

“There, what?”

“The cave, where we found him. Then we killed him over there.”

“Oh.”

Maya moved ahead of him, not giving him a chance to comprehend her actions until it was too late.

Why was she going there? What would it accomplish? Nothing. It wouldn’t change anything.

But Maya walked with determination, reaching the small cave. It wasn’t much. As he approached, he wasn’t even sure it was a real cave.

It was more like a slight hollow in the mountain wall.

Maya stood there, her feet planted where the man had lain. “Not the smartest place to hide.”

“I don’t think he was thinking clearly.”

Julian was relieved the hunter’s life had ended the way it did. He hadn’t wanted the man to survive or to kill again.

Yet, the man had squandered an opportunity. Sure, he hadn’t wanted to become a werewolf, the very creature he’d hunted. But he could have harnessed those powers.

Instead, the powers led to his downfall.

~Good~.

~Because...the things he could do...the weapons he’d created.~ No wonder the man had left a field of bodies in his wake.

Julian was surprised they hadn’t encountered more. He was surprised he’d managed to evade the man for so long.

Perhaps ~past Julian~ didn’t know the hunter could transform. All he saw was his lethal nature and all he managed to do was avoid him indefinitely. A life in hiding.

~But this new life was a gift~. He could do anything with it. He could be anything.

“I think he was desperate,” Maya remarked.

“What do you mean?”

Maya crouched down, digging through dirt and large rocks until she unearthed a muddy, dark forest-green backpack.

“I guess he left this behind?” she said, her lips twisted.

She unzipped it, plunging her hand inside. When she pulled it out, she was holding a stack of paper.

“He must’ve had more of those explosives he used on you.”

Perhaps the hunter had kept it as a last-ditch effort to win. But he hadn’t managed to use it before the lethal strike.

At least that bastard was the only one who died, not Julian too. If the hunter had done this when Julian was alone…

~He wouldn’t have survived~.

No one would have discovered him in time. No one would have come to his aid.

He would have perished.

Maya set the backpack down at her feet, starting to sift through the items she had taken out. ~They need to dispose of these weapons~.

He didn’t think it was right to use them against other wolves, and if any of them ended up in the wrong hands…

~“Julian…”~

He didn’t like the tone of her voice.

“What’s the matter?”

“I…I think he had a child.”

“What?”

Maya’s complexion was even paler than usual, her fingers shaking. She handed him the stack of papers she had been holding, and he quickly skimmed the content.

~Dear Max. ~They ~were~ letters.

As if he was writing to his son.

But they were all here…so…he’d never sent them?

“Do you think he could be a threat?” Maya ventured to ask, looking at him.

“I’m not sure. I think he might have abandoned him. To avoid hurting him.” As if werewolves were mindless beasts.

That kid was definitely better off without a monster like him for a father.

“Good. We don’t need another ~lunatic~,” Maya said, shaking her head. “And he might have been a pervert, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a lot of stuff here, even pictures!”

Julian glanced at the pile she was holding, half-expecting to see his own face in those photos, but instead…he saw a woman.

~A woman who looked familiar~. His heart stopped, his blood pounding in his veins.

~He was imagining things, right~?

“Wait, wait, hand me those.”

“The pictures?”

He nodded. He didn’t even wait for Maya to respond before he grabbed them from her. ~It couldn’t be. ~

Julian’s stomach churned and he could barely hold onto the photos in his hands. She was different, ~she~ was different, but ~it was her. ~

He ~knew~ it was her. From his entire life, of the few clear memories he had…

~This was Jade~.

“It’s her.”

“Her who?” Maya asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Maya, it’s my sister…I….”

She was older. ~It had to be her~. He could see her pleading, crying, and there was no mistaking it. ~It was her. It had to be her. It couldn’t be anyone else~.

“I thought…”

“So did I.”

So that bastard hadn’t just been hunting him. If Julian had known his sister was alive, he couldn’t believe he wouldn’t have sought her out.

Especially if this bastard was tracking her.

It had to mean he didn’t know about it.

Yet the hunter had known.

He had pictures. He had tracked her…

In a city. She looked like she was in a ~human~ city. Was she ~alone~? The questions were flooding him.

His mind was buzzing, and he could feel a splitting headache as he tried to piece it all together.

~Jade was alive~.

Someone who meant so much to him. The last of his family.

She didn’t know the hunter was dead…

He had to find her. He had to find Jade.

~“Let’s go~.”

Maya’s voice shattered the silence and he had to blink a few times before he could even comprehend her words.

“What do you mean, ~let’s go~?”

“Let’s go find her. Together.”

“You want to leave?”

“We were always going to leave, right? There’s no better time than now.”

“Maya.”

“Julian, it’s okay. You know what, I’d rather not be here. This place is starting to hold too many bad memories. Plus, I’m pretty sure the packhouse is turning into a psycho killer’s lair.

“I’d rather not be here for the next one.”

“It’ll just be the two of us.”

“I’ve never been one for socializing. It’s a wonder Alex has tolerated me this long,” she confessed.

“We won’t have a permanent place. We’ll always be on the move.”

“Great, I’m not a fan of this whole ‘find your calling, contribute’ concept. I didn’t…” Maya’s lips twisted in contemplation, as if she was fishing for the right words.

“I…I didn’t find ~my~ place…here. In the pack. I was just…going with the flow.”

“It could be risky.”

“I’m pretty accustomed to that.”

“So, I mean, I have no idea where she is. We don’t know…we’re clueless.”

Maya shrugged. “So we’ll explore everywhere. We’ll experience everything. Maybe we won’t find her, but we won’t know unless we give it a shot, right?”

“How will we…”

He was at a loss for words. He’d never anticipated this proposal coming from ~her~.

“Julian…I have my pack, but nothing’s anchoring me here. I can be liberated. We can be liberated. You and me.

“We’ll keep moving. We’ll find her… then…if we do…we’ll work it out.”

“So you’re fine with this?”

She nodded. “Having two alphas was starting to be a pain. It’ll be simpler,” she said, bending down to pick up the backpack from the ground.

“So we’ll leave.”

“We’ll leave.”

~Okay then~.

***

“In the dead of night?”

“Why not?” Maya asked, shrugging her shoulders.

“You’re going to depart without informing them?”

Once again, she responded with a shrug.

She had said ~see you later~. Granted, she had said it under the pretense of them going on patrol. They sort of were—but they weren’t returning.

“It’s okay. I left a note.”

“A note?”

“I would have sent a text, but then they’d be aware by now. Don’t stress about it. Look, Olivia will weep and it’s going to be a whole drama…I don’t want it to be a drama.

“I don’t need everyone getting emotional. I’m okay. I prefer it this way.”

It wasn’t that Maya didn’t care for them, didn’t love them, or didn’t value the years they spent together. She did. But this was simpler. Besides, the pack might restrain them, offer them too much…

Maya packed what they might need, including a few essentials in case more silver shards appeared. As for the rest…they would figure it out.

It was…genuinely exciting. For the first time in a while, Maya felt ~liberated.~

~Not bound by expectations, not tied to a routine~.

They could go anywhere. They could become anyone.

Yes, she knew Julian would be searching for his sister, but as they tried to locate her—there were no restrictions on what they could do.

She didn’t have to be considerate of everyone’s lives.

It could be about her.

About her and Julian.

No, they didn’t know everything about each other, and Julian was still figuring himself out.

But this would give him an opportunity to push his limits, and perhaps something along the journey would spark more memories.

“Do you need to bid Alex farewell? Should I be envious?”

He gave her a look and she brushed him off with a laugh. “I want this, okay?”

“Alright.”

“So let’s go.” She cleared her throat. “Unless you’re going to be a nuisance like Alex. If that’s the case, I’ll leave you here.”

“No, ma’am.”

“Good.”

Maya adjusted her backpack on her shoulder before approaching him, her shoulder brushing against Julian’s.

As if he could read her thoughts, his hand reached out, and their fingers intertwined.

This was new. Having someone. ~Truly~ having her someone.

She’d have to adapt to it and to ~him~. But it almost felt like they had already shared a lifetime together. She was ~truly~ curious to learn about his life as he did.

She didn’t have to discover her purpose.

She didn’t have to let the expectations of others burden her.

Together, they had a clean slate.

They could be anything.

For the time being, he could take on the role of Julian.

She could embody Maya.

And that would be ~sufficient~.

***End of Book Two***