Chapter 176 176: Epilogue

Chapter 176 176: Epilogue
  MILLICENT
  I didn’t remember falling asleep. I didn’t remember my body collapsing. I didn’t remember anything except the burn in my veins and the way the world stretched thin like it was trying to swallow me whole.
  But then I opened my eyes and I wasn’t anywhere. Not at the library or the school.
  Just a realm that felt older than breath, glowing faintly gold, like sunlight trapped under water.
  Figures keep appearing in front of me. Women. Men. Warriors. All of them blurry around the edges but bright at their cores. They watched me with eyes too knowing, too ancient.
  One stepped forward, a woman with hair like molten gold.
  “You carry the golden wolf,” she said, her voice warm but sharp. “And it’s time you stop letting poison steal what’s yours.”
  “I can’t fight it,” I whispered. “I don’t even understand what’s happening.”
  Another figure stepped forward, an older man with scars carved into his glow.
  “You fight it by remembering,” he said. “Not facts. Not names. But the things that anchor you.”
  “What things?” My chest tightened. “There’s nothing left—”
  “There is,” the woman said. “Think of what you cherish.”
  Cherish.
  The word sank deep into me and suddenly everything inside me pulsed—two faces flashing like fire behind my eyelids.
  Zayne’s laugh, even when he tried to hide it. Xander’s stupid smirk that I initially hated but have now grown to love. The times when it all got overwhelming and suddenly there was one of them, waiting for me with arms open, promising comfort. Sometimes both.
  I choked on a breath.
  “I want to go back,” I whispered. “I want them.” the realm cracked like glass and light swallowed me.
  —
  When I opened my eyes again, I sucked in a breath so hard it hurt. A ceiling and it was a familiar one.
  I knew this place.
  My brain worked overtime trying to decide the memory. The Silverfang packhouse. This was the guest room I once stayed in. I was securely tucked under a white soft blanket.
  My limbs trembled as I pushed myself up, bare feet touching the cold floor. My head spun and my entire body seemed like it had been dormant for a long while. Suddenly I heard voices.
  Familiar ones.
  I followed them, feet padding quietly down the stairs, hand on the rail because the world still tilted a little. And when I reached the bottom—
  Three faces turned toward me.
  Zayne.
  Xander.
  My father.
  All three of them looked like they’d seen a ghost wearing my skin. “Princess?” Zayne whispered, voice shaking in a way I’d never heard from him.
  Xander’s mouth actually fell open. His hand tightened around the table edge like he thought he’d fall.
  My father, eyes rimmed red, bandages across his chest took many steps forward as he dragged me into his embrace.
  You know the moment something so uncanny but warm spreads through your body so your brain needs a lot of seconds to decode what the fuck was happening? Yeah that's what I felt. How long was I asleep for?
  “What… day is it?” My voice came out hoarse. It felt like my throat had become sandpaper.
  Xander swallowed hard, staring at me like his soul was crawling back into his body..“ Your uncle, your cousin and my dad’s death anniversary,” he whispered.
  “Wait... What?!”
  -
  Peace felt strange at first. Almost like waking up in a new body and waiting for old wounds to start hurting again, only to realize they finally healed. It was over. 
  Silverfang pack in general had changed in less than a year. It had grown brighter, stronger, fuller after the war. It seemed as if the land itself breathed deeper now that the fighting was over. 
  Dranox territory stretched behind our borders like a scar we claimed and turned into something living again, new houses rising where ashes used to sit, children chasing one another through paths that once smelled only of fear.
   Sometimes I’d stand outside just to listen to laughter echo across lands that once was literally engulfed in flames with it's higher ups and nobles in it for their many many crimes. 
  I felt so proud. Of my mates, of our father's. It was unbelievable to think that we made it here. That somehow, after all the blood and the graves and the heartbreak, we weren’t broken. Not completely.
  Graduation had come and gone faster than I expected. One moment I was a confused wolf less little girl stumbling into Silverfang Institute with torn textbooks, carved study tables and two hot men trying to win my attention not my heart. 
  And the next moment, I was standing between two boys who had become men, wearing a sash that marked me Luna of one of the strongest packs in the realm. Luna.
   I used to whisper the word to myself at night, tasting the weight of it. It felt heavy and sweet and terrifying. But now being bonded to the twins as their Luna felt like balancing fire in both palms; not dangerous, not anymore, just warm in a way that kept me balanced.
  My father had stood behind me during the ceremony wearing a clean uniform that hid nothing of the cracks in his eyes. General Gregory Sawyer. My dad. The strongest man I knew… and the most broken.
   He’d taken nearly six months away from everything, missions, councils, even from me; to mourn the death of his brother. A brother he had loved and hated in equal measure. I used to find him sitting alone at the training grounds in the early mornings, fingers digging into the earth, whispering things I pretended not to hear. 
  He wasn’t the same man as before. But he was still mine. Still trying. Still showing up. And that was enough.
  Fiona’s memory hit me in waves. Some days soft, some days cruel. I’d catch myself laughing at something stupid Xander did, and then out of nowhere I’d imagine turning to share the moment with her, only to remember she wasn’t there and never would be again. 
  I kept wondering what she’d think of me now. Of us. Of Silverfang. Of peace. Would she have danced with me on graduation night? Would she have cried when we took our oaths? Sometimes I’d picture her smiling in the crowd, cheering like she used to. Other times I’d remember her betrayal and I’d wish I could forget everything about her except the girl she was before the darkness swallowed her whole. 
  And I knew it; deep down, I never wanted to meet my uncle. His son had already shown me enough of the monster he came from. So good riddance.
  Life as Luna came with its own whirlwind. The twins were Alphas now—yes, Alphas, both of them—which meant chaos with a fancy title. I couldn’t even drink tea without someone knocking on the door because two Alpha idiots started arguing over border expansion or who should lead tomorrow’s patrol. I swear Xander could turn a meeting into a fight just by breathing too loud.
  This morning was no different.
  “Xander, you didn’t sign the council petition,” Zayne grumbled as he shoved open my office door without knocking. “If we don’t finalize it today, the laborers will stall construction again.”
  Xander dropped into the chair beside me, tossing a pen into the air. “The petition was stupid.”
  “You’re stupid,” Zayne snapped.
  “Boys,” I sighed, rubbing my forehead as the babies kicked gently like they were laughing at me. “Can we not turn my office into a wrestling mat? Again.”
  Zayne pointed at Xander. “Tell him to act like an Alpha.”
  “I literally am one,” Xander shot back.
  “Barely.”
  “Say that again and I’ll break your face.”
  “Try.”
  “Okay, okay!” I snapped, louder this time, pushing myself upright as the babies shifted again. They were active today. Probably feeding off the chaos of their fathers. “If you two want to fight, take it outside. Preferably into the woods. Preferably far enough that I or my babies can’t hear you.”
  Xander’s expression softened first. He leaned forward, eyes dropping to my stomach like he always did when he calmed down. “You okay?”
  Zayne moved beside me instantly, brushing a hand down my arm, the anger fading from his voice. “Did we stress you? I swear he stressed you.”
  “I stressed her? You—” I shot them both a look.
  Silence. Beautiful silence.
  My father stepped into the doorway then, watching us with that tired smile that always made my chest warm. “If you boys are done tormenting my daughter, I need to steal her for lunch.”
  “She ate an hour ago,” Xander said.
  “Pregnant women eat when they want,” Dad said without hesitation.
  “She ate twice an hour ago,” Zayne added, earning himself a smack from me and a glare from my father.
  We ate together in the garden; my favorite place since everything bloomed again. My dad kept talking about rebuilding missions and border treaties, and the twins kept interrupting him with their own plans, and I just sat there letting their voices wash over me. It was messy and loud and imperfect, but it was ours.
  Later that evening, Xander carried me up the stairs even though I told him I could walk. Zayne followed, pretending he wasn’t checking every step like the floor might crumble under us.
  “Put me down,” I whined.
  “No,” Xander muttered.
  “You're thirty weeks pregnant,” Zayne added.
  “And not made of glass,” I snapped.
  “Glass isn't the only thing that breaks,” Xander said under his breath.
  My heart melted a little. Just a little.
  He set me on our bed gently, like I was the most precious thing ever carved into existence. Zayne sat beside me, resting his palm over the curve of my belly. The triplets responded immediately, kicking against his hand. Xander placed his hand on the other side, and suddenly everything inside me warmed.
  “You two are stupid,” I said quietly. “We know,” Xander murmured.
  “We’re also very in love with you,” Zayne added. My throat tightened. “I know.”
  I leaned back against the pillows, running my fingers through the twins’ hands tangled over my stomach.
  Thirty weeks pregnant.
  Three babies.
  Three tiny heartbeats.
  The future heirs of Silverfang; just like Seren once whispered when I thought my life was nothing but storms.
  Our story wasn’t over. Not even close.
  It was just beginning.
  And I couldn’t wait for the next chapter.
  -
  THE END