Shameful by May Dawson
74
Legacy
We went backto our pack. Cyrus was dead, and so was Lucas. We buried them there on the island. They didn’t deserve to ever leave this place they had condemned us to. The shifters who had worked for him stayed on the main island for now for medical care. I wasn’t sure yet what Killian would do with them, now that he had killed Cyrus, now that he was alpha.
“Not exiling them,” he said shortly when I asked.
“Maybe we could make this place into something different,” I said to Killian as we swung the heavy door closed behind us. The four of us stood on the stone steps alone. I’d sent Tania and Courage ahead; this place didn’t mean anything to them. But even though my men would never admit they had any emotional attachment to the place that had been their home—and their prison—for years, I thought we needed to say goodbye.
“You want to come here on vacation?” he asked skeptically.
“Maybe. It’s not all bad memories here.” I tucked my arm over his, held my other hand out to West, who gave me his arm too. “It’s where I fell in love with my true mates, afterall.”
“We’re not the ones the moon chose for you,” Rhett stopped on a step a few down from us, crossed his arms. “Does that bother you atall?”
“No,” I said. “I didn’t need the moon to do my choosing for me, as it turnsout.”
The four of us headed through the forest toward the boats that would bring ushome.
We arrived back in the Northwood as night was falling. We passed familiar forests as we traveled the dark moonlit roads, and I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until Rhett leaned over and kissed my shoulder. I turned to realize he was watching my face and not the home he’d missed for four years.
“Glad to be home?” I whispered.
“Home is where you are, Legs,” he said, his lips turning up at one corner as if he knew it was unbearably cheesy. But I knew it was true for him just like it was true for me, even as West and Killian groaned.
That haunted house had turned into home while we were there, and we would turn the Northwood into homenow.
We pulled into my driveway. All the lights seemed to be on in the big white farmhouse where I’d grown up. It looked strange and like home all at one time, as if I’d changed while I was gone though the house always remained thesame.
Then the front door flew open. My parents rushed out of the house, followed by Courage. My mother was smiling but tears flowed over her rounded cheeks as she grabbed me and hugged me tight.
“Courage told me you were fine, but I couldn’t really believe it until I saw you,” my mother murmured, hugging me over andover.
I hugged her tightly, inhaling her familiar scent, then pulled away from her. “I’m glad to see you too. Rooney.”
She stopped and stared at me, abashed, then said, “How did youknow?”
“I get my smarts from my mama,” I said. “Sorry, Dad.”
My father just grinned, leaned in and hugged me too. “It’s nolie.”
“What were you two up to?” I demanded, hands on myhips.
“We pretended we didn’t have any connection to you so Tobias would work with us,” my mother said. “To try and stop him and Cyrus.”
“We always intended to kill him.” Dad added.
“Bloodthirsty shifters everywhere,” I said, shaking myhead.
Then my parents both hugged me, and I clung to them. “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet my mates.”
The three of us turned together to face Killian, West and Rhett, together at the hood of the car. Rhett leaned against the car, making himself comfortable as usual. West had that grumpy, stoic look on his face that made him seem unapproachable. Killian looked confident as ever, his arms crossed over his chest, his posture tall. But his fingers tapped his broad bicep over and over, as if maybe our fearless alpha still got a little nervous to meet my father.
“Did these men have your back?” My dad asked me quietly.
“Always,” Isaid.
“And we’re lucky to have her watching ours,” Killiansaid.
Dad nodded, and Mom smiled at me, her gaze fond. “Come on. Let’s goeat.”
Together, the two halves of my family climbed the stairs to the front porch, to enter the brightly lit house that smelled of barbecued ribs and fresh-bakedpie.
It was good to behome.