I didn't know where I was going, but Sarah led the way through the dense pine foliage.

Angelina had instructed me to find my tether to the ring, but she never told me how. She couldn't describe the sensation or draw a map. The poor witch was likely as clueless as me when it came to navigating the afterlife. But perhaps the tether wasn't some invisible thread that would lead me back to the ring... Perhaps it was Sarah, come to deliver me back to the world of the living. I'd have to let Angelina know this just in case she ever sought to resurrect someone else.

"How are they doing?" Sarah's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Nolan and Dominic, I mean."

I blinked, caught off-guard by the genuine curiosity in her voice. Sarah had known about the hybrid attack and my plan to sacrifice myself to end the battle, but she didn't know how Nolan and Dominic were fairing?

I bent beneath a low tree limb and glanced at my companion, who seemed able to navigate the forest far easier than I could. "Can't you-- y'know..." I trailed off, unsure of how to word my question without offending her. "Can't you watch them?"

She laughed, clearly unfazed by my ungraceful wording. "Yes and no. It's not a simple answer. We can't watch every moment of the day unfold like a reality show, but we receive glimpses. Especially when someone we were once close to experiences a strong emotion."

"Oh," I replied. It was all I could offer while I considered the information. Sarah received glimpses of our life and wellbeing, amplified when we were extremely happy or sad or angry... "Does it bother you? Do you feel disconnected?"

Sarah pulled baby Lyla closer to her chest and shrugged. "Do I wish I could see them face-to-face? Of course. I feel their heartbreak and happiness as if it were my own, but I wouldn't trade those brief moments for anything."

She spoke so eloquently, as if she'd finally found peace. For a moment, I envied her. Would it be so bad for me to stay here, with Sarah and Lyla, and wait for Nolan to join us when the time came?

Yes, it would be so bad. I inwardly scolded my selfishness. I forced the very idea of it from my mind and smiled at my companion. "Well, to answer your question. They are doing well, considering the circumstances..." But I knew what Sarah truly wanted to hear—who she truly wanted to hear about. "Dominic is a born leader. He's brought the rogues together and saved my life more than once... I-I shut him out recently, but he still came to help when I needed him. He'll find happiness again, Sarah."

I figured that Sarah knew what had happened between Dominic and I on the night of his birthday and then everything that followed. She received glimpses when his emotions were heightened, after all. A glance in her direction confirmed my thoughts, as a sad smile adorned her features.

"I'm sorry that happened to you," she responded, and the sincerity of her words caused a lump to form in my throat.

"I-I was in heat, and we both felt the mate-pull. A-and maybe I was too hard on him, but—" I spoke quickly, desperate to explain the situation to Sarah. I shouldn't have felt ashamed, and yet...

"Charlotte," Sarah interrupted, shaking her head. "You don't need to explain yourself to me or anyone else. Heat or not, it shouldn't have happened. I know Dominic feels that way as well. He'll never forgive himself."

I swallowed. "I can forgive him. Even if he can't forgive himself, I can forgive him. It might take a bit of time, but someday..."

Sarah stopped walking and turned to me, blue eyes filled with warmth. "Forgiveness is oftentimes healing for both parties involved. But first, we need to get you back to that ring."

She nodded her head forward, and I came to abrupt stop. In our conversation, I hadn't noticed that the trees were beginning to thin. I was no longer inside of a dense, ethereal woodland. Instead, I was in a familiar forest, with tree bark that had been scratched by monstrous werewolf paws. The bushes and ground foliage were broken where countless bodies had trampled along the forest trails on patrols and training runs...

I lifted my nose to the air and inhaled, ignoring the overwhelming scent of the forest until I smelt it. Blood, and a lot of it. The scent of iron-tipped rot filled my nostrils now, I was in the forest surrounding the Black Lupis pack house—surrounding the battlefield that was undoubtedly soaked in crimson.

I lurched forward, intent on racing as quickly as possible through the bramble and trees toward my home. I took a few steps and faltered, remembering my companions. Sarah and Lyra, who had delivered me back to Nolan and Dominic, the battle, and my home. And the ring.

I turned back toward the pair. "Sarah, I—"

She and Lyra were gone. Only a faint veil of mist remained where they had once stood. My eyes began to sting, but I didn't bother wiping the rogue tear that slipped down my cheekbone.

"Thank you," I whispered to the mist, voice thick with emotion. "For more than just guiding me home."

I smiled once more at the memory of them. Sarah smiling down at her daughter, while Lyra gazed up at her mother with inquisitive, bright blue eyes. Nolan's eyes. One day, I would tell him about it.

But first, I needed to find the ring.

Sarah had delivered me to the forest edging the fated clearing, so the talisman ring couldn't have been far. Mist still swirled at my feet, signifying that I remained in the afterlife, but I could tell that the veil between the worlds was thinning. I was getting close.

I started running toward the clearing. I heard no shouts or cries—no sounds of battle. And yet, I could smell the blood. Putrid and foul and rotting as it entered my nostrils and my mouth, and I inhaled it deep into my lungs. Perhaps the battle was over... Perhaps all that remained were corpses?

I broke through the tree line and stumbled to a halt, nearly releasing a cry at the sight of the pack house standing in the distance, unharmed. But the expansive field between me and the structure was empty. There was no one, alive or dead. I looked at the grass beneath my feet and saw no sign of blood, no sign of battle.

My heartbeat quickened as panic set in. "The ring," I exhaled, shakily. "You have to find the ring, Charlie."

My feet started moving on their own accord, sprinting toward the spot just in front of the pack house's front porch. The last place that I'd had the ring. The last place that I had been alive. I reached the spot where I'd plunged a dagger into my own body and stared at the ground, half-expecting to see a stain of blood where my life had slowly drained away just hours before...

It was spotless. And there was no ring.

"Shit! Damn it!" I shouted, flinging myself to the ground in search of the emerald talisman. "No, no, no, please!" I begged, as my fingers began scouring the grass, searching for something that suddenly seemed impossible to find.

I crawled around, fingers shaking and helpless sobs shaking my body. "It's not here. It's not fucking here!" I screamed, taking fistfuls of grass and tearing through the earth.

It took several moments before I regained my breath and common sense. Of course, it wasn't still in the clearing. Nolan wouldn't have left my body rotting on the battlefield, and the ring was on my finger. It was with me.

I pushed myself up, swaying on my feet as if the trauma of the entire day was finally beginning to take its toll on me. "I need to find my body," I whispered, new resolve propelling me forward.

I stumbled up the front porch steps and pushed open the front door. There was no one in the living room—no sign of life. I didn't have time to let the realization haunt me.

Every moment was crucial now. Angelina had warned me to find the ring quickly. The longer I spent in the afterworld, the harder it would be to come back. I didn't think that a few hours would cause too much harm, but magic was volatile... Who knew what sort of damage might have been done in that amount of time?

My feet carried me up the stairs, toward the monstrous bedroom that I'd taken upon first arriving at the Black Lupis pack. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but something called me to the room. I pushed open the door.

The room was filled with mist and darkness, and I knew that I'd reached the end of my journey. This was the place where the veil between worlds became extinct. This was where the ring had been taken. I waded through the mist toward the king-sized bed, eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness.

Air guttered out of my lungs as a piece of gold glimmered atop the perfectly made-up bed, catching the only semblance of light that had managed to link into the room. I lunged for the ring, and as soon as my finger touched the cool, smooth exterior...

Everything went dark, and then I was alive again.