They were kissing again now, holding each other, reconnecting. And it was a long time before they came up for air.
As he brushed her hair back, he saw her as she had been. Saw her as she was. Was looking forward to seeing her as she would become—
A spontaneous burst of applause exploded in the long, thin room, so unexpected and shocking that the two of them turned and faced the sleeping quarters. Every single one of the patients that Nadya had treated with such care had poked their heads out of their berths and were clapping their hands, supportive eyes and wide smiles a blessing that felt like destiny’s approval that the pair of them had finally figured everything out.
And that all was as it should be.
Within the sound of so many hands being brought together, Kane tucked his female at his side, noting that she fit him perfectly. Then he stared down at her with love as she brushed shaking hands under her eyes to clear happy tears. When she was done with that, she looked up at him.
“Hi,” his female breathed.
Kane smiled down at his one true love and gave her a kiss. “Hi.”
EPILOGUE
It was the scent that brought it all back. Wasn’t that always true, though, the nose like an amplifier for long-term memories, sharpening the focus, the accuracy, the emotions, of them.
As Kane strode up the mountain trail, his footfalls cushioned by the layers of pine needles, a cool breeze against his face, he looked up through the entwined boughs above. The moon was full overhead and its radiant blue light pierced the canopy of pines, fracturing into cleaves of illumination that reminded him of the crystal chandeliers he had once lived with.
No more, though. He was no longer a member of theglymera.
And that was no loss at all.
He glanced over at Nadya. She was striding along with him, her hands in the pockets of a loose red jacket she borrowed from the Brotherhood’s nurse, her hair streaming freely down her back, her lips lifted in a private smile that he knew meant she was thinking about what they had done together in their shared bunk during the day.
Kane smiled himself. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”
Her eyes shifted to his. “Is it wrong that I never get tired of you saying those words?”
“Not at all, and hey, that works for both of us. I’m never going to be tired of speaking them.”
A quick tilt down and his lips found hers. Then he refocused on the rising trail ahead. “Almost there.”
When he’d told her he needed to come back to the mountain, she hadn’t hesitated. She’d clocked out of her shift at the clinic, with Ehlena, owner of the red jacket, taking her place, and off they had gone. They’d left the hospital through the front entrance, and walked out into the underbrush, into the night. When they’d gotten to the chain-link fence, he watched her dematerialize through it, but then he’d had to climb up and over the old-fashioned way.
With every grip and and release of his strong hands, he had thought about that night after the resurrection, when he’d returned to the camp as a different version of himself, hell-bent on finding his female and getting her out of the prison. Back then, he’d had no appreciation for the transformation he’d undergone. He’d only been along for the ride, with no idea that he was a host to an entity, that freedom of thought and action was now and forevermore relative, a negotiation instead of something unilateral.
But he had absolutely no regrets.
The viper was a gift. For both him and Nadya.
Reaching out, he took her hand. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Coming with me.”
“You didn’t even have to ask.” Nadya squeezed his palm. “Plus this is a wonderful walk. The way this air smells—I can’t believe how delicious and clean it is.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too.” He frowned and remembered Apex carrying him out of the back of the old hospital. “I don’t remember much from… that night I was brought up here. But the scent. The scent brings me back—and speaking of scents…”
He glanced into the tree line as a shadow raced ahead, moving over the ground as fast and smooth as the wind.
“We’ve still got an escort,” he said with a smile.
“I thought I saw something, too.”
They’d started their climb at Callum’s garage, heading around back to the trail that was hidden in the trees—and the moment they’d stepped onto the beaten path, a wolven in four-pawed form had appeared in their way. And then another. And a third.