The Amber Wolf (Completed)

35. Payton

(Keaton's POV)

Upon reaching the lake, I approach the weeping willow. Tala is sleeping soundly in the sling, so I dig a hole on the side for her to sleep in. After she's settled, I start digging beside the tree.

"How come you're not changing into Erindell and using your paws to dig?" Grayson pulls away the dirt I dug out.

"I guess you didn't notice. I still have my wolf abilities, for the most part, but Erindell and I never rejoined when I got my memories back. He's using a bit of magic of his own to keep an eye on the jinn. He and I can hear each other's thoughts, it's similar to mind-linking, but only between the two of us, and, if need be, we can see what ever the other is looking at. Karen and Tressa are able to do that also."

Karen's eyes light up, "I can?! That's so cool!!"

"But it sure is a pain in the, well, everything, just to separate in the first place." I finally hit the box I buried here around 2000 years ago, "Oh!! Here it is!!"

I dig out the end and pull the box out of it's crypt below the tree. It is difficult for someone with werewolf strength too pull the box from the sand, it would've been impossible for a human. The box was reinforced with magic so it would be able to withstand the test of time.

"If this was here, how come you didn't come get it sooner? You could've saved my other father...."

I shake my head, "I never had the opportunity to retrieve it without the jinn finding out about it. I couldn't take the chance of losing the only means of stopping him I had. I'm so sorry that you never got to meet him Karen, but I am happy you didn't have to watch him die. The jinn forced his wolf to stay with his human spirit, he wouldn't let him escape to be reborn."

"What do you mean?" Grayson picks up the small box I just unburied.

"He came with other hunters, we were having a picnic at night. It was my idea to go out in the dark because I had something I wanted to tell him...." I look over at Karen, "I was pregnant with you at the time. Anyway, the jinn and the hunters caught us by surprise and I was detained.

"I could normally fend them off, but my strength wasn't normal. The jinn stood between Payton and me while two hunters held him back with silver plates against his chest. I could smell his flesh burning under the silver, but I couldn't do anything to help him at the time.

"The jinn had a silver blade that he held next to my throat exclaiming that he would kill me if his wolf spirit left his body. The jinn has never actually killed me himself though, he always left it to someone else and I have yet to figure out why."

Grayson tilts his head as if he was deep in thought, "For some reason this seems familiar.... Are you sure Payton's wolf died that day?"

"I watched him die, there's no chance he'd survived, and even if he had survived, he wouldn't remember me since most wolves forget their past lives." I don't understand what he's getting at.

Grayson reaches over grabbing my hand, "What was Payton's wolf's name?"

"Terrigan, why....?" both Grayson and Karen get quiet, "Am I missing something here?"

Karen tries to conceal her giggling while Grayson flat out laughs, "I....I knew it was odd.... that my.... my wolf remembered some.... of his past...." Grayson says between fits of laughter.

I'm slightly frowning, "What do you mean?"

"I don't think I ever told you his name before, my wolf's name is Terrigan. He can remember bits and pieces of his past, the funny thing is that his memories are identical to mine. My current mother didn't care much for the name Payton, so she changed my name to Grayson. Something forced my wolf and human spirit out of my body, even after death. That something, it was your mother, the moon-goddess. She saved me so I could be your eternal protector, your eternal mate. I just hadn't remembered any of this until you spoke about me, then the memories started flooding in."

I can't tell if I'm going to cry or laugh, a family reunited after many, many years. I longed for this day for so long, and now that it's here, it feels surreal as if I'll wake up at any moment and find out that it was all a dream and I'm still all alone. I can no longer hold in the tears that begin to fall like rain, I'm once again with the man I love and both his daughters that I brought into this world. Life is perfect right now in this moment.