Three days later, the bandages came off.
Derek’s ribs were still stiff, and the new scars were raised and pink, but the wounds had closed cleanly.
He moved around the cabin with less care and more of his usual contained energy.
Allison had settled into a rhythm that surprised her with how easily it fit: mornings with coffee on the porch, afternoons spent reviewing the sparse notes she still allowed herself to keep, evenings that belonged to the two of them.
The town remained quiet.
Sheriff Cole had closed the missing-person cases with the same vague language as previous cycles.
Doris at the motel had simply nodded when Allison returned the key and said she would be staying “up the mountain” for a while.
No one asked questions that required lies.
On the third night Derek took her back to the old clearing.
The grass still showed faint scorch marks, but new growth had already begun to push through.
The air carried no unnatural cold.
They stood together in the open center under a moon that was no longer full, only bright, and the silence around them was the ordinary silence of a forest that had gone back to sleep. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
“It will return someday,” Derek said.
“Maybe not in our lifetime.
Maybe not in the next.
But the cycle doesn’t end forever.”
Allison leaned against his side.
“Then the pack will be ready.
And so will I.”
He looked down at her, something open and unguarded in his expression.
“You’re certain.”
“I’m certain.”
He kissed her there under the quieter moon, one hand cradling the back of her neck, the other resting at her waist.
The claim that had begun against an oak tree and been tested in blood and silver settled into something steadier, less a brand and more a choice renewed.
When they walked back to the cabin, the woods felt like home in a way Allison had not expected when she first drove into Blackpine Ridge with a notebook and a list of unanswered questions. New chapters come out on g.com first.
Inside, the fire was banked low.
Derek locked the door out of habit, then turned and pulled her close again.
“Stay,” he said, though the decision had already been made days earlier.
Allison smiled against his mouth.
“I’m already staying.”
Outside, the moon continued its slow path across the sky.
The trees moved in a soft wind.
Somewhere far off, a night bird called and was answered by another.
The hunt was over.
What remained was the living that came after