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Spring came slowly.

Like healing.

Like peace.

The forest bloomed again. The trees that once echoed with battle howls now hummed with birdsong. The southern wall had been rebuilt stronger. The fields replanted. The Crescent Fang pack walked lighter.

And so did I.

It had been two months since the last Ashmoon scout disappeared from our borders. Two months since the Moon's blessing was spoken over me. Two months since I stood face-to-face with the boy I once thought held my future...

...and realized my future was mine all along.

**

Kael proposed under the twilight sky, no witnesses but the stars.

He didn't kneel.

He didn't need to.

"I don't ask because I want to own you," he said, holding my hands in his calloused, battle-worn ones. "I ask because I want to build something with you."

My eyes burned.

"Then let's build," I whispered.

He placed a moonstone band on my finger.

It was simple. Light-catching.

Just like us.

**

Our wedding wasn't grand. It didn't need to be.

There was no throne, no crown, no claim of power. Just a circle of wildflowers, a howling sky, and the pack gathered around us in celebration.

Mira cried (though she'll deny it forever). Lira brought wild lavender and peace offerings. Even the elders from distant lands came to witness the union between the Alpha of Crescent Fang...

...and the omega who changed everything.

When Kael marked me again that night-this time in love, not war-my wolf didn't howl.

She sang.

Because this wasn't destiny.

This was choice.

**

Later, when the fires burned low and the pack danced beneath the stars, Kael and I slipped away to the top of the ridge. Our ridge. The place where Crescent met sky.

He pulled me into his arms, resting his chin on my head.

"You scared me once," he whispered.

I laughed softly. "Me?"

"You came into my life like a storm. And somehow made everything feel quiet."

We stood there, hearts synced, wolves sleeping peacefully inside us.

"Do you regret it?" I asked.

"Not for a second."

Neither did I.

Because I was no longer the girl waiting to be chosen.

I was the wolf who chose herself.

And in doing so, I found everything I thought I'd lost-