Nolan didn't ask questions. He didn't so much as shoot me a confused look as he offered me his sweatshirt and brought me to the porch of the pack house, where Dominic was already waiting. I stepped beyond the threshold, and my mate stayed inside. I murmured my thanks, which earned a devastatingly gentle smile from the Black Lupis Alpha.

"I'll see you in a bit," he promised, and closed the door, leaving me alone with Dominic, just as I'd requested.

With Nolan gone, I finally turned to face the Rogue Alpha. His broad figure eclipsed the moon that shone just above horizon of trees in the distance, casting a shadow across the wooden porch floor. In the darkness, I couldn't make out his features, but his eyes were glossy and reflected the lights in the packhouse. Dominic had been crying.

My heart simultaneously accelerated and throbbed in my chest. I cleared my throat, fingers fidgeting behind my back. "H-Hello, Dominic."

"Charlie," Dominic's voice cracked on my name. "I'm s-so sorry. I--"

I immediately held up my hands, a silent request for him to not continue. "Wait, I didn't come out here to make you apologize. I mean, thanks. For the apology. But, well... Can we go for a walk?" I glanced back at the windows behind me. Any werewolf with enhanced hearing would be able to hear our conversation.

Dominic cocked his head to the side, no doubt bewildered by my request. He probably didn't think that I would want to be alone with him after... well, everything. Eventually he nodded and led the way down the porch steps. "Is everything alright?"

I followed him, careful to sidestep around the spot on the ground where I'd bled out only two weeks before. "Yes," I answered, glancing up at the stars that shone overhead. I thought about Sarah and Lyra and Sophia and wondered if they were watching us right now. "There's something I need to tell you, Dominic. Something I need you to know."

Dominic's scar puckered out, the way that it always did when he was concerned about something. "I'm all ears," he replied, not taking his eyes from me as we walked away from the packhouse and toward Nolan's private cottage. My private cottage.

"When I died," I began slowly, choosing my words carefully. "I saw Sarah. She found me, actually. In the afterlife."

Dominic was silent. In fact, I thought that he might've stopped breathing for a moment. Finally, he nodded, and I noticed his throat bob once, swallowing his emotion. "Did you... speak to her?"

I nodded, glancing down to navigate my way into the purple orchid garden that lined the front entrance of the cottage. In the floodlights of the cottage's front porch, the garden looked like a fairyland. It was perfect. Sarah had planted the orchids, after all. I smiled at the memory of seeing the young, deceased mother for the first time. I felt closer to her here.

I sat on one of the two little steps that led to the cottage's front porch, illuminated by a single, glowing light that was swarmed by moths. I patted the spot beside me, and Dominic descended beside me. Now I was ready to tell him the truth—the whole truth that he and Nolan had been robbed of.

"Sarah guided me back to the talisman. Without her, I'd likely still be wandering through the afterlife." I shivered, recalling the nightmares that had plagued my every slumber. Dominic looked like he was about to wrap his arm around my shoulder, but then thought better of it. "I would have never made it back to you all if it weren't for her. And baby Lyra, of course."

"Baby?" Dominic echoed, eyes wide. "T-The baby is there?"

My smile widened at the thought of Lyra, curled against her mother's breast. "Yes, and she's darling. You're her Uncle Dom," I teased, leaning my shoulder against his playfully.

Dominic breathed a hesitant laugh, as if he couldn't quite believe my words. He stared down at me with a new intensity, tears glossing the surface of his blue orbs. "They are together? Happy together?"

"The afterlife... it's not what you would imagine." I glanced up at the stars, trying to conjure the right words to describe it. "It's a good place. It's not like here, where everything is hard and violent. There's no pain or fear. It- It's peaceful... Sarah and Lyra are at peace."

Dominic nodded, pressing his lips tight against one another, like he might cry if he dared open his mouth. I decided to spare him and continue. "She told me things. Things that were only revealed to her when she passed on..."

The truth spilled out of my mouth quite quickly after that. I told him everything that Sarah told me, about the curse and the witches and how they altered the Fate Mate bond. I explained, to the best of my ability, that when Nolan arose as the Black Lupis Alpha, he also took Dominic's true mate. A spare mate, to trick the hybrids and serve as a safeguard if the first should fail.

Dominic listened patiently, but he did not speak. He did not interrupt me to ask questions or clarify. He simply allowed my words to wash over him. Only when I finished, did Dominic dare to speak. His voice was hoarse, like it was filled with gravel. "W-Which one of you was mine? Before the curse?"

I tried to smile, but the corners of my lips fell, and my eyes prickled with fresh tears. "Sarah woke in the afterlife, and the curse could no longer affect her," I said, voice thick with emotion. "She said that she loves Nolan, dearly. But you are her true mate, Dominic. Her only regret is that she couldn't spend her time on earth with you."

Dominic teeth clamped down on his bottom lip, a last, desperate effort to control his emotions. Despite this, a small whimper escaped his throat, and tears began to leak from the corners of his eyes. One whimper led to another, and the Rogue Alpha wept. He buried his face in his hands and wept for his lost mate. Wept for the loss of what might have been a beautiful life together.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held him tight, clenching my own eyes shut as his sobs wracked through my body. With every cry, my heart broke for Dominic—the man who had lost so much in his life but still managed to do good. Despite everything that he had endured, he fought for the good left in the world.

We sat like that for what could have been an hour. The moon had shifted in the sky by the time Dominic's last tear had been shed. He pulled back and smiled, his throat bobbing. "Thank you, Charlie."

I reached out to take his hand, squeezing it once. "I'm sorry... For everything, Dominic." I was sorry that his future had been taken from him, that he'd been alienated from birth, and that he had endured all that happened because of these things. "But you should know that Sarah wants you to find happiness. You deserve a happy ending, Dom."

"I think we all deserve a happy ending, Charlotte." He smiled, and, for the first time since arriving at the Black Lupis Pack, I saw hope glimmer in Dominic's eyes. He bent down to press a chaste kiss to my temple.

We sat on the cottage steps for several long minutes before Dominic spoke again. "Does Nolan know all of this?"

I shook my head. "I wanted to tell you first."

"He'll be happy to know that Sarah and Lyra are at peace," Dominic mused, thoughtfully.

I nodded. In truth, I could already imagine the joy in my mate's eyes. The prospect of Nolan's elation made me eager to reveal the truth as soon as I returned to the packhouse, but I also wanted the moment to be special. "I was planning on telling him after the Mating Ceremony."

Dominic grew quiet when I mentioned the Mating Ceremony, but his silence was not angry or bitter. No, it was filled with contemplation, until he finally squeezed my hand and murmured, "I'm happy for you and Nolan. Happy you have each other. Speaking of my brother... won't he be missing you?"

I smiled. "I'm afraid so. We'd better get back to the packhouse."

"You do have quite a big day, tomorrow." Dominic winked and stood from his spot on the porch steps. He extended me a hand, which I took and allowed him to pull me up beside him.

I didn't release his hand as we started a slow walk back to the packhouse. "You'll be there, won't you?"

My Rogue Alpha smiled. "Charlie, I wouldn't miss it for the world."