Chapter 189
Jackson's POV
I watched the messages fly back and forth, my mind reeling. All this time, I'd thought it was just Miles and me. Two survivors of a shattered pack. But the Wilson pack had survived. They'd stayed together. They'd been searching for us just as desperately as Miles had been searching for them.
"They didn't fall apart," Miles said, wonder creeping into his voice. "After fifteen years, they're still a pack. Still a family."
"I'm creating a group chat," Elena wrote. "The whole pack is going to want to talk to you. Uncle Miles, there are forty-seven of us."
Miles buried his face in his hands, and this time the sobs that shook his shoulders weren't from grief. They were from relief so profound it had no other way out.
A new notification appeared. Wilson Pack - Family Circle. The member count ticked up rapidly: 5... 12... 23... 40... 47.
Messages began flooding in:
"Miles? The Miles Wilson?"
"Uncle Miles! It's Thomas's son. You probably don't remember me—I was only five when we got separated."
"Is this real? After all these years?"
"Abigail just ran out of the house screaming. I think she's heading to the Alpha's den to tell everyone."
Miles looked up at me, tears streaming down his face, but he was smiling. Really smiling, for the first time since I'd known him.
"Jackson," he said, voice thick with emotion. "I found my pack. They found me. We're... we're not alone anymore."
I sat down beside him, my own throat tight. "You never were, Miles. They were always out there, looking for you."
He nodded, turning back to the screen where his pack—our pack—was welcoming him home with message after message of joy, relief, and love.
"Fifteen years," Miles whispered. "Fifteen years I thought I was the last guardian. That I had to carry everything alone. But they were there the whole time. Staying together. Staying strong. Waiting."
A new message appeared, this one from a username labeled SilverMatriarch:
"Miles. It's Abigail. I'm putting together a video call for tomorrow evening. The whole pack will be there. We're coming home to you, little brother. Finally coming home."
Miles read it three times, then carefully set down his phone and looked at me with clear eyes.
"I've been telling you to fight for the Alpha position. To take back what was stolen. To make them pay for what they did to your parents."
I nodded slowly.
"But maybe..." He gestured to the screen full of messages. "Maybe this is what actually matters. Not revenge. Not power. Just... finding our way back to each other. Building something instead of destroying."
My phone buzzed. Ellie: "How's Miles? Still glued to his screen?"
I showed Miles the message. He actually laughed—a real, genuine laugh I'd never heard from him before.
"Tell her I found them. Tell her the network just reunited a pack that's been lost for fifteen years. Tell her she built something more powerful than she knows."
I typed quickly, and Ellie's response came immediately: "Oh my God. Miles, I'm so happy for you."
Then: "This is what it's all about, isn't it? Finding each other. Coming home."
Miles read the message and nodded slowly. "Yeah. That's exactly what it's about."
He stood, stretching his stiff muscles, and I noticed how different he looked. Still exhausted, still red-eyed from crying, but somehow lighter. Like he'd been carrying a mountain on his shoulders and finally set it down.
"I'm going to shower," Miles announced. "And eat actual food. And then I'm coming back here to help every single lost wolf on this network find their way home."
As he headed toward the bathroom, I sat with the laptop, scrolling through the Wilson Pack family channel. The messages kept coming—pack members sharing updates, asking questions about Miles, expressing disbelief and joy in equal measure.
One message caught my eye, from Elena:
"Uncle Miles, the Alpha wants you to know: your place in the pack was never filled. We always knew you'd come back."
My phone buzzed again. Miles, from the bathroom: "Also, tell Ellie I'm officially joining the management team. Not to help you fight your battles. To help wolves like these find their families."
I smiled and relayed the message. Ellie's response was immediate: "Welcome aboard. We need all the help we can get."
Through the bathroom door, I heard the shower start. Outside, the sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of amber and gold.
But for the first time in longer than I could remember, that didn't feel like a curse to endure alone. It felt like something we might actually be able to share—with each other, with the network, with the growing community of wolves who were slowly learning they didn't have to hide in isolation anymore.
Miles emerged twenty minutes later, clean and dressed in fresh clothes, looking more human than he had in days. He sat back down at the laptop, but this time his movements were purposeful rather than frantic.
"Abigail wants to do a video call tomorrow night," he said. "The whole pack. Forty-seven wolves all wanting to see me, talk to me, welcome me home."
"That's going to be chaotic," I observed.
"I know." Miles grinned. "I can't wait."
He opened another message, this one a private note from someone named Robert: "Your sister would be so proud of what you did, Miles. Keeping her son safe all these years. Thank you for not giving up, even when you thought you were alone."
I watched his hands move confidently across the keyboard, no longer shaking, no longer desperate. Miles Wilson had spent fifteen years as a lost guardian, driven by vengeance and guilt, convinced he was the sole survivor of a dead pack.
Now, in the span of a single afternoon, he'd discovered the truth: his pack had never died. They'd survived, stayed together, and never stopped searching for him.
He'd finally found his way home.