Always And Forever | ENG ✓

Chapter Sixty: Healing the Wounds

The final battle had come to an end, and the power that had once gripped the land had been severed. But as the last remnants of the force dissipated into the air, I could feel the weight of everything that had happened settle around us. The land was free, yes, but the cost had been high. The pack had paid a price—a toll not just on our bodies, but on our souls.

We stood together in the clearing, surrounded by the echoes of the battle, the silence now pressing in like a thick fog. The pack was breathing heavily, their exhaustion palpable, but there was something else in their eyes. Something darker, something we couldn't shake. The battle was over, but the scars it left were still fresh, still raw.

Keira had been one of the first to move, her body trembling with the aftermath of the fight. She had fought with everything she had, but now, as she stood there, the weight of it all seemed to crush her. She had been one of the youngest to face the darkness, and I knew it had taken a toll on her.

"Keira," I said softly, stepping closer to her. "You okay?"

She turned to me, her eyes hollow with a grief that I couldn't quite understand. "I don't know. It feels like the land is still holding onto something. Like it's not truly free. And I..." Her voice cracked, her words fading as if she couldn't find the right ones.

I reached out, resting a hand on her shoulder. "The land is healing. And so are we. But it's not going to happen overnight. We've all been through so much."

Keira's shoulders shuddered, a soft sob escaping her lips as she let herself lean into my touch. "I don't know if I can keep carrying this weight. The fear, the darkness—it's still inside me."

"We face it together," I said, my voice steady even though the fear I felt was just as real. "We'll carry it together."

Dean had moved farther into the clearing, standing at the edge, his posture rigid. I could feel the same heaviness in his shoulders, the weight of leadership pressing down on him. He had been the one to keep the pack together through all of it—the fear, the unknown, the constant threat. But now, even as he stood tall, I saw the cracks in his resolve.

"Dean," I called softly, stepping toward him.

He didn't turn immediately. Instead, he stared out at the landscape, his eyes distant. "We did it," he said quietly, his voice low and filled with an exhaustion that was beyond physical. "But I can't shake the feeling that it's not enough."

I stood beside him, looking out at the forest we had fought so hard to protect. "It never feels like enough, does it?"

Dean shook his head, his eyes filled with something I hadn't seen before—vulnerability. "I kept thinking if we just beat this thing, we could move on. But it's not that simple, is it? It's not just about the battle. It's about everything that came with it. The fear, the loss. And I don't know how to make that go away."

"We don't have to make it go away," I said, my voice soft but firm. "It's a part of us now. But we'll move forward. We'll heal. Together."

Dean turned to face me, the weight in his eyes softening just a fraction. "Together," he repeated, the word almost a question. But he nodded, as though reminding himself that the pack, the family we had built, was the one thing we could rely on.

Ace had been the quietest since the battle's end. He had always been the thinker, the strategist, and now, even though we had won, I could see the toll it had taken on him. The weight of everything we had learned—the ancient power, the land, the force—it had all been too much for any one wolf to bear.

"Ace," I called, finding him sitting alone, staring at the remnants of the altar, his face expressionless. "How are you holding up?"

He looked up slowly, as though pulling himself out of a trance. "I don't know. I feel like we've only uncovered a small part of what's been buried here. The land is healing, but it's going to take so much longer for us to heal from this."

"I know," I said quietly. "But we'll get there. We'll face whatever comes next together."

Ace nodded, but the doubt in his eyes remained. "I hope so."

The pack, though victorious, was still fractured. The emotional toll of the battle had left deep scars—ones that no amount of physical healing could fix. We had won, yes, but there were no easy answers. The land was free, but the fear, the uncertainty, and the trauma we had endured were still fresh in our hearts.

We had severed the connection to the ancient force, but the journey to rebuild—ourselves, the pack, the land—was far from over. We would need time to process what had happened, to come to terms with the darkness we had faced. But one thing was clear: we weren't facing it alone.

As the days passed, we began to work again—together, as a pack. We rebuilt the defenses, reinforced our bonds, and began the long road to healing. The land was healing too, though its scars would never fully fade. But even in the midst of it all, there was a quiet understanding: we had survived, and we would continue to survive. Together.