I wept into his arms for hours. Finally, my chest began to ache, so I pulled back. He let me go reluctantly. Then he cracked his back, twisting his torso. I caught sight of the wound on his head.

"How is your head?" I asked. Worry seized my heart. Elijah was one of the few friends I had left. What if he died?

"It's healing," Elijah said casually.

Fear was still pounding. "Are you taking antibiotics? Are you sure you won't get an infection?" What if he died? What if he died because he was trying to help me?

Elijah started rubbing my wings again. "Hey, I'm okay. It's healing. The last thing you need to do is worry about me."

That didn't stop my worry. If I wasn't trapped at the castle, Elijah wouldn't have had to rescue me, and he wouldn't have gotten hurt. "I'm sorry," I said quietly, shame blazing across my face.

"For what?" he asked, a shadow of confusion crossing his face.

"For your head. If I wasn't up there, you wouldn't have—"

Elijah lifted a hand. "Naomi, stop. This wasn't your fault. Some dude bashed me on the head. It's very clearly his fault." He stopped and thought about it for a few seconds. "My uncle was right," he said simply.

"About what?" I asked.

He looked at me. "It's not right to blame ourselves for things that aren't our fault. You have nothing to apologize for."

I nodded smally. Images flashed through my brain. Horror. "Elijah, can we please talk about something unrelated to all of this?" I asked desperately.

"If you could have any job, what would it be?" Elijah asked. He leaned back and threw an arm over my shoulder, pulling me a bit closer. I wasn't going to complain.

I blinked up at him. He had agreed and moved forward in some step. "What?"

He smiled. "If you could have any job, what would it be?"

A job? "I don't know," I said.

"Well, what have you done in the past?"

"Kitchen stuff," I said, trying my best to keep the memories at bay.

"Did you enjoy it? Enough to do it again?"

I shook my head. "Uh, no. I hated it...Well, I didn't think it was the worst thing ever. It was consistent. Repetitive. What have you done?"

He smiled. "I cut Christmas trees every fall and winter."

"You were a lumberjack?" I asked skeptically.

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess I was. And I have the flannel to prove it," he joked.

I stared at him. "Since when were you funny?" I asked.

He smiled again. "Since...well, I've always been funny. Just ask Roger."

"I've never seen you...laugh before. I'm pretty sure. Unless I, like, kicked your butt with some wind and you laughed to cover your hurt pride," I said venturing into a dangerous zone: joking. He deserved laughter.

He laughed loudly. "Wow. Throwing shade on me, are you? I can only recall somewhere between 1 and nine times that you knocked me onto my butt."

"Somewhere between one and nine times?" I asked, giving him a small smile. Seeing me smile made him laugh.

"As a lumberjack," he said, "I'd come home covered in sap every day. The house reeked of it."

"The entire castle?" I asked skeptically.

"I spent most of my life in a much smaller home. Roger raised me until I shifted. And I shifted very late."

"I don't think I've ever seen you shift," I realized. "Are you a werewolf? Or do you have gills or something?"

He laughed again. I wanted to snuggle up next to the warm rumble in his chest, but I ignored that desire. "Werewolf. My wolf is pure black, as you would probably expect with the whole dark elemental thing. Nothing too fancy," he said. He took a deep breath. "I do have some good news. It isn't unrelated to all of this, but it is good news. We send a party to find your friends." I perked up. Berry and Eric? "Our sources say that Eric and Berry fled. They're not at the castle. Damien has no idea where they are," Elijah told me. I almost collapsed with relief. I didn't need any more guilt on my conscience for their deaths. "We're putting out feelers to see if we can contact them. Eric and Berry were the one who originally led me to you back when you were at Joshua."

He kept his word. He was trying to find them.

"Also, maybe good news. I discovered that you had successfully used a dispersion spell the first night you arrived, which is why everyone disappeared. The nurses were quite confused when I woke them up and told them to go back to work. I definitely did not teach you that one. But stranger things have happened."

I nodded and took a moment to look around at our surroundings. They were familiar. "Are we back at Redwood?" I asked, both hoping and fearing I was right.

Elijah nodded.

I leaned into him. "Won't Damien know I'm here? Or at least find me eventually?" I glanced at the door, heart beginning to pick up pace.

Elijah shook his head decidedly, which made me feel a bit better. "Naomi, a lot has happened since Damien became Wereking. Most packs...do not consider him a legitimate ruler. Eric and most of his gammas left."

"Who's still there?" I asked.

"Ironside?" Elijah said cautiously. "I think that's his new beta's name. Thomas stayed back as well. Thomas is..." he bit his lip, trying to think of how to phrase it. "A friendly. He was our contact for finding out that Eric and Berry had escaped. He's not sure when and doesn't want to give away too much information."

I nodded. "The gammas just...left?"

He nodded. "Smith, Baker, and Reid all left after they saw what he did to you. They were the ones who made your escape possible." He bit his lip again. "Word...spread about his treatment. Reid told me that...he had trapped you against that wall while he met with pack leaders and handled disputes. He was clearly unhinged. Most packs have left the kingdom on account of it."

"They left?" I asked, astonished.

He nodded. "If a Wereking treats his equal like that, how will he interact with his lessers? We are deep in free territory. Redwood is strategically located. A few, trusted alphas between the usurper and us know where you are and will alert us if they see any movement. Them, Thomas and a few others we have on the inside, and what remains of my pack make this a very secure location. Damien can't step a foot toward us without setting off a hundred alarms."

"What remains of your pack?" I asked.

"Damien sent troops to wipe out my uncle's pack, which I consider to be my own. My father decided not to run a pack as well as a kingdom, as some do. He transferred the responsibility to my uncle."

"Is Roger okay?"

Elijah nodded. "He and my aunt are fine. Shaken up, but most of my pack survived. A few sacrificed themselves." I looked up at him. A shadow of pain crossed his face. He glanced down at me. "The good news is that Damien has many, many enemies and very few allies right now." He sighed. "We are drawing up plans to dethrone Damien. Then, there is the discussion if the monarchy should be a thing at all. All countries in North America are republics or democracies. I think it may be time we caught up. None of this is your concern unless you want it to be. Your part in this war is done."

I nodded. I didn't want any part of this. I was done. Truly done.

"Naomi, I will keep you safe. That is my promise. Say the word and we can be on the next plane to Namibia. A close friend, an alpha, there has agreed to provide sanctuary. For you."

I nodded, seriously considering it. "Would you go with me?" I asked.

"Not initially. I am needed here for a bit longer. We have momentum and it makes sense to keep pushing."

"Elijah. Thank you," I said. He glanced at me, slightly surprised.

"For what?" he asked.

"For stopping me from going back. I...my brain wasn't working. I was desperate."

"What are friends for?" he shrugged. "If not to ensure that they don't make life-alteringly dumb decisions?

I winced at his words. "Harsh. But fair," I said, too tired to argue with him right now. He smirked. "I hope you don't think I'm hopelessly stupid."

He stood up and walked over to me, setting gentle hands on my shoulders. "All I saw was someone who was exhausted and desperately wanted her friends to be safe. The problem is that you don't seem to see that you friends might want you safe, too. Berry would never forgive me if I let you go." I blinked a few times. I hadn't considered what Berry would think. "I am going to check in on a few things. You need to stay here; I'll send Roger up to keep you company if that's okay?" I nodded, deeply trying to keep the panic within me to stay down. Damien was still out there. "Do you want to stay in the dark realm? Roger can easily keep you here if you feel safer."

I took a deep breath and shook my head. "No, I think outside the realm is okay."

Elijah nodded. "Roger can always take you inside if you need it."

I felt safe in the dark realm because he was there with me. The dark realm was his special realm. And I trusted him.

"Okay," I said.

"I'm going to have the nurses come in and take care you once I'm gone, okay?" he asked tenderly. I nodded, taking a deep breath.

He opened a portal and swept us back into the regular world. It was bright. My heart beat faster, but I took a couple breaths to calm down.

Elijah leaned in to kiss my forehead and I jerked away, hard. He froze.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean that weirdly. I just thought that would be comforting."

I shook my head, trying to shove the memories away. "No, no, no. It's not you. It's just. Damien always used to do that. Please don't."

Elijah nodded.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Be with the—

Suddenly, I felt a light touch on my nose.

"Boop."

I opened my eyes and stared daggers at Elijah. "What did you just do?" I asked accusatorily.

A ghost of a smile crossed his face. "It seemed appropriate."

A slice of unreasonable laughter rose into my chest. "Did you boop my nose?" I asked him.

His lips pressed into a thin line of conflicted amusement and concern, so he quickly jumped off the bed and dipped out of the room.

Once he disappeared, a short laugh burst from my chest. I quickly smothered my enjoyment. I didn't deserve that. I mentally cursed myself.

I didn't deserve happiness. Not after what I did.

Still.

That grown man had booped my nose like he was a toddler.

It was a little funny.