Chapter 8 - Love Without Ownership
Our wedding was small.
No grand ceremony.
No political alliance.
No bloodline negotiations.
My daughter carried the flowers.
Sloan gave me away.
Not because I belonged to anyone.
Because she had become family again.
Rowan stood beneath the oak tree.
When he saw me, he smiled.
"You look happy."
"I am."
He took my hand.
"I want you to know something."
"What?"
"If you ever stop loving me, you can leave."
I smiled.
"That's a strange wedding vow."
"It's the only one I trust."
I kissed him.
"It means more than forever."
We built a home between Blackwater and Iron Ridge.
Elise grew up surrounded by wolves who respected boundaries.
She learned medicine from me.
Tracking from Garrick.
Politics from the elders.
And kindness from Sloan.
When she was eleven, she asked about Cassian.
"Was he really my father?"
"Biologically."
"Did he love me?"
I sat beside her.
"I think he did."
"Then why was he cruel?"
"Because loving someone and knowing how to love them are not always the same thing."
She thought about that.
"Did you love him?"
"Once."
"Do you still?"
"No."
She nodded.
"Good."
I laughed.
"Why good?"
"Because Dad says people should live in the present."
Rowan smiled from the doorway.
"Your mother taught me."
Elise groaned.
"You two are embarrassing."
We laughed.
The years moved.
The pack prospered.
The old rivalries softened.
The Vain Guard became guardians instead of weapons.
Garrick retired.
Before he left, he handed me the command ring.
"Keep it."
"What happens if I don't need it?"
"Then your daughter may."
I put it in the family vault.
Not because I expected war.
Because history had taught me that peace was something worth protecting.
One winter, a messenger arrived.
Sloan was expecting her first child.
She cried when she told me.
I hugged her.
"You're going to be a good mother."
She smiled.
"I hope so."
"You will."
She looked at me.
"I still think about that night."
"So do I."
"I hate what I did."
"I know."
"Will you ever stop remembering?"
"No."
She lowered her head.
"But I don't use it to punish you."
Tears filled her eyes.
"Thank you."
We embraced.
May you like
Forgiveness had not erased the past.
It had simply stopped the past from controlling the future.
