“You’re all right, Kieran,” she said, just to fill the silence.
“Are you?” he countered softly.
She looked into his eyes. They were so clear, like a mountain lake dyed by the setting sun. They seemed to hold wisdom that no adversity could ever take away again.
Some of that wisdom had rubbed off on her. She smiled crookedly. “Just a little cold.”
He held out a bundle to her. “Your coat. Thank you.”
She took it from him, careful not to let their hands touch in the transfer. “What about the… others?” she asked.
“Luke is having Arnoux’s body taken care of. He knows the local doctor.” He searched her eyes. “So much has happened, Alexandra, and I haven’t been able to explain—”
“You don’t need to.” She maintained her smile with an effort. “I think I’m beginning to understand. Luke told me some of it. How he knew what you were and told Julie to send us here. About your people and their village. Kieran, it’s everything you were searching for.”
“Is it?”
She held his gaze. “Look at you,” she said. “I can see it. The peace inside you. Because you know who you are. Because you’ve come home.”
He took a step toward her. “Is that what you see?”
She willed him to keep his distance. “Yes. And I’m so glad.” Her throat closed, and she thought better of saying more.
Kieran stopped. “People have died to bring this peace.” He spoke without bitterness, an infinite sadness in his eyes. “Peter. Lori. The girl from the reservation.”
She looked down, blinking back tears. “That wasn’t your fault, Kieran. You didn’t know. And you stopped Arnoux in the end. You faced your past and defeated it, without killing.”
“Arnoux defeated himself,” Kieran said. “Something happened during the fight. Somehow Arnoux and I… linked minds. That was how I learned what he was and what he’d done. Luke told me that such things are possible among the loup-garou.” He exhaled heavily. “Arnoux saw his own reflection. He couldn’t live with it.”
“But even he found some kind of peace when he confessed the truth. I hope Lori and Peter and Julie’s cousin have found theirs, somehow.” She twisted her coat between her hands. “I’ve been thinking… all that money I inherited from my father. I want to put some of it in an account for Lori’s son, for his education. He’s lost so much, and… it’s a way of giving some of it back.”
She felt rather than heard him move closer. “Thank you, Alexandra.”
With a sharp motion she shook out her coat and pulled it on. “I’ll go see Lori’s sister as soon as I can. Kevin’s father might want the boy back, and I want to help her with any custody hearings. He needs a good parent, a safe home to grow up in. And don’t thank me again. You’d do the same.”
Kieran’s dark hair lifted and stirred around his shoulders. “You make it very hard for me to tell you what a good person you are,” he said softly.
She shook her head, cooling the heat in her face. “I’m grateful for whatever I can do to help.”
“As you helped me.”
“As you and I helped each other.” She met his gaze. “I promised to help you find out who you are, rediscover your past. Now you have those things. And you… you’ve taught me how to face myself.”
She touched her scarred cheek. The rough skin felt natural to her now, as much a part of what she was as the wolf was part of Kieran. She no longer wanted to make it disappear.
“You gave me back myself,” she said. “I’ve let go of the old stuff I was dragging around for so long. I can never thank you enough for that.”
“And now it’s over.”
To hear him say the words was more painful than she could have believed. “Arnoux is gone. You have nothing to fear in yourself anymore. You’ve found your people.” She looked back the way she had come, knowing the were wolves would still be waiting for him to return. “I saw the way they accepted you, welcomed you—”