The house was still a disaster, a cluster of chaos, with things stuck in limbo, and yet, the change felt good. It felt like a step forward.
It felt like she needed to go for a walk outside.
Only, outside was also where Henrik was. Or to be more precise... her porch was where he was. Laying in wolf form in front of her front door.
She could sneak out the back door, but he would hear her and he would follow.
And she didn’t want to sneak out. She also didn’t really want to go alone.
The sun was shining outside, the only sign of what time of day it was, since she didn’t have her phone and she had taken down the clock on the wall, so she pulled on her coat and an old pair of boots, ready to head out. At the last moment, she remembered to grab her mother’s bag, and threw a few supplies from her younger days within. A blanket for the ground, some snack bars, water... She didn’t know where she was going or what exactly she was doing, but that didn’t really matter.
Instinct had gotten her pretty far in Garoureve, first to fixing the town line and then to figuring out what happened in the past. She was going to let instinct lead her into fixing her future.
Pulling open the front door, Violet looked down at Henrik, who had stood up quickly and backed up a few feet. He didn’t attempt to shift back into human form, which was good. As much as she loved him and his face and his voice, she didn’t really want to talk... or at least, she didn’t really want a conversation. She didn’t want to answer questions, and she didn’t want to hear him placate her or try to settle her. She wanted to walk...
So that’s what they were going to do.
“I think I need to go for a walk. I’m not really sure where we’re going, but instinct is telling me to head out, so I’m going to do it. And I would like it if you joined me.”
Henrik moved a step closer, and she took that as a sign of agreement.
Pulling the door shut behind her, she shoved her hands into her coat pockets and headed down the steps, intent on getting lost.
And seeing what magic had for her to find.
Hours later, Violet knew she was lost. Never in her lifetime had she ever been able to get lost in the forests and fields around Garoureve. She knew every inch of the soil underneath her feet and the trees at her fingertips. Magic, and wolves, had always guided her both along well-traveled paths and through thick brush. The forest was in her blood, in her magic.
So to find herself lost...
Well, others might have been worried, wondering how they would ever find their way back, but for Violet, this meant something new. Something bigger.
Because, upon her return to Garoureve, she had very quickly realized that the forests and fields had shrunk. Areas she had once spent days playing in had been swallowed up, whether by the outside world crushing in or the magic folding in on itself, she didn’t know, but the result was the same.
The pack lands, the area that the pack could patrol and grow in, it had closed in on itself. When she had asked Cole about it, the look on his face told her that he hadn’t realized it was happening over the years.
But she could see. She knew.
So to be out here, now, and to find new places she had never explored before, to have the edge of the lines extended in whatever direction she walked...
She should have hit the edge by now. Should have hit it hours ago.
Which meant only one thing.
The lines surrounding Garoureve were expanding. The magic, the pack territory, all of it. It was growing. It was allowing for more growth. More territory to defend and explore. It would mean, come Spring, that there would likely be new pack members coming to join. Outsiders wanting a place to be safe and protected.
And likely more than one of the new mates in town finding themselves with child.
This was good. This was all very good. And whether or not her presence had any impact on any of this, she had to believe that her influence on the town line helped. After all, now that shifters could move freely...
Garoureve could grow. Slowly, but grow all the same.
And a pack that was growing was a pack that could one day thrive.
But, a thriving pack needed a strong witch. A witch with conviction and knowledge. A witch that was sure of herself. A witch that wouldn’t burn the town to the ground.
“Do you know what my problem is?” Violet said as she looked down at Henrik, her faithful mate, her loving wolf who was walking at her side. “I never let go of anything. I try to play it off, but I’m pretty uptight. Arguably speaking, if I was having regular orgasms with my mate, maybe I wouldn’t be so uptight, but—”
She had never seen a wolf stumble before, other than maybe Roddy, whose legs were always too long for his body, but she was certain Henrik had just stumbled.