It was at this point, laughter spluttered from between my lips as Shadow shook his head, his expression amused and exasperated. “Ah, Sunshine, life is certainly never boring with you.”

“I pride myself on that,” I said as we finally continued walking toward the dining hall.

When we entered the hall I got why the library had been all but empty before.

Everyone was in here for the celebration feast.

Cheers went up as we stepped through the long rows, and even though Shadow didn’t do much more than nod and walk along looking broody, I found myself thanking them all and smiling a lot, even after my cheeks started to hurt.

Thankfully, we reached our section before I whipped out the queen wave, our pack having commandeered three tables. Angel was in her usual spot, and I fell in beside her, able to land easily since my wings and hers were both tucked away. “Is that really weird for you?” I asked before wondering if it was rude to be so blasé in mentioning her lost appendages.

Thankfully, she was used to me and didn’t miss a beat. “I fall over more than I stay straight at the moment,” she told me. “My wings were always there, and I feel both cold and naked without them, but I’m testing not having them out all the time. I blend better in this form.”

“You’re never going to blend, my friend,” I said, resisting the urge to hug her again because she was probably over that by now. “But I do understand. How was Honor Meadows anyway?”

She smiled. “Peaceful. We have a few layers remaining in our land, and so far, no one has tried to declare war on us and steal it. I’d call it a win.”

“We’ll destroy any who try,” Shadow said, and he meant every word.

“They will learn to respect us as a pack,” Lucien added, leaning forward, “wine” in his hand as he took a sip. “The entire Solaris System will learn.”

I didn’t argue because there had to be a hierarchy in these worlds, a pecking order, so to speak, to keep everyone in line. I preferred us at the top because I trusted every being in our pack.

Len leaned forward as well, and I was so happy to see him, that one would think it had been weeks rather than hours since he’d left us to go to Faerie.

“Did you get you know what hidden away?” I asked him. “Safely. With, like, seventy layers of protection?”

His smile was sad, and I hated to see him sad. “It was destroyed. We have the means to do that, and once the power was drained and released back into the universe, we made the difficult decision to let that stone go. It was just too powerful.”