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He lets out a shaky breath, his voice rough as he cups both my cheeks in his hands. His breath whispers across my face. “That’s why it means everything.”

I lean into his touch, my eyes falling shut as our foreheads meet. The air between us hums, thick with realization, with the weight of everything unsaid finally seeing the light of the day. His thumbs brush softly against my cheeks, catching the tears as they fall.

“You felt it too.” His voice trembles as if he’s also struggling to hold his emotions down. “Even if you didn’t know what it was.”

I nod, feeling as though a frog is stuck in my throat, as the sob sticks, not quite escaping as I try to swallow it back down. “I think I always did.”

His thumb hooks under my jaw, gently pushing my head back as my eyes blink open. His eyes flick back and forth as if they can’t miss a single thing that’s happening. “You are my own Golden Ratio.”

His lips brush mine. Not a kiss, not yet. Just a promise. A tether. That quiet moment where gravity shifts, the world falls away, and nothing exists but us.

Chapter 21

Caelon

Saturday, July 19th – Our Valley

The sun was low in the sky, casting a long, golden light across the field as we stepped intoourvalley.

Ours. The word humming through me, settling something deep down.

Selene moves in front of me, a woven blanket from one of our pack elders folded over her arm as her braid sways back and forth with each step.

The tall grass grazes against our legs as the wildflowers bend as if they are bowing to her. Not that she noticed, of course she didn’t, she never noticed the world softening around her. But I do.

I always did.

She drops the blanket down in her usual spot, right along the creek amongst the wildflowers and grass. With a few practiced flicks of her wrist, the blanket is smoothed out. Every movement with such practiced ease and comfort. As if she belongs here. Like she belongs with me.

I set down the basket I packed earlier. Lopsided sandwiches, fresh strawberries, and a lumpy lemon loaf I wasn’t proud of but had brought anyway. A very sad attempt at baking, but I know she will love the thought and time behind it, even if it tastes awful.

Kneeling on the blanket, she looks up at me. She smiles, not the one she gives the world, the practiced, held in place one. No, this is the one only for me. The one that lights up her face, crinkles the corners of her eyes, and brightens the world around us. Like a beam of sunlight looking directly at me. It hits me like it does every time: deep in my soul as if an arrow shot straight through me. As if that smile seeks to find every dark place within me and bring it to the light.

Her smile makes me believe that she could do it.

She lets out a content sigh as the sunlight dances across her cheeks, the breeze blowing the strands of hair around the side of her face. “This is perfect,” she says as she closes her eyes and drops her head back.

Sitting down beside her, I move just close enough that our legs are touching. The grass and flowers are high enough that we are cocooned in our own little world. The breeze moving around us like a whisper, rustling the flowers like it carried secrets we haven’t spoken aloud yet.

The valley stretched all around us. Untouched by anyone else, alive, and utterly still.

But not empty.

Not anymore, at least.

She exhales, long and fulfilled, her eyes flitting open to the wide blue sky. She watches the clouds drifting across the sky, I watch her. The glow of the sun traces along the slope of her nose, caught in the fine hairs framing her face. Her eyelashes dark around her eyes, casting shadows on her cheeks. She sits perfectly still, and for a moment it's like she’s holding her breath, and so do I.

Because she's here and she's mine. I’m still processing that it’s real. The person I’ve been chasing my whole life is here with me, because of me. Not for some wolf she thinks is beautiful, but for me.

Peace.

Quiet.

Contentment.

Her.

Selene drops her head back down, pulling her feet underneath her as she reaches into her bag. Rummaging around for a moment, she pulls out her SLR film camera. She flicks the lens cap off with practiced ease. “Smile,” she says, lifting it toward me.