(([i]featuring DotCom - thank you for all your help![/i]))

He heard her - she knew he did. Regrets were for a lifetime, but so was love, and Veti breathed him in, her sweet love. Max, Thad - there was not one without the other, all the same man she loved like life and breath - the very last breath he gave her. She took that breath in, took [i]him[/i] in, all the way down to the seat of her soul, all his life, every last thing that made him so... Beautiful. Shimmering, a glistening golden light like none she’d known before, or ever would again.

Veti closed her eyes as she held him there, within and without, her love. 

[i]Let go, Veti.[/i] She heard the words, the voice, singing through her head like celestial music.

[i]I don’t want to let you go. Please don’t make me. Not again… I know I said I could, but I can't. I'm not strong enough to let you go again.[/i]

The laughter in her head was gentle and loving, but tinged with a wistful sadness. [i]I’m not leaving you babe. You have me. You always will - the very best part of me, all your life. Take that with you love, and move on… [/i]

Veti groaned softly in the back of her throat, wincing in pain. There would be no runs in the woods when he finally embraced his own wolf. Max would never roam with his mate through the green hills, never slink through the alleys in the cities of this world or run with her on a hunt through ancient woods. Thad had so wanted to keep those promises he made, the plans, the futures, the pledges, but he could not. 

And she could not keep him here. Not like this. 

Veti exhaled, and opened her eyes, and chose to live the life she promised she would. 

The werewolf felt the sweeping wind of deathly cold beside her, heralding the arrival of her Reaper friend from the other side. She felt Daisy’s approach, but did not lift her gaze from her lover’s still face, cradling him closely still because she simply could not let him go. Not yet. Loving fingers traveled over those cherished features, committing every last touch, every last plane and angle to precious, lasting memory.

"I know Daisy," Veti whispered, trying not to choke on the words and yet, somehow, smiling so softly nonetheless. "I know he's gone. Thank you for helping give him back to me, just one more time. Not everyone gets that chance… “

Daisy was quiet for along moment, telling herself she was giving Veti time to adjust. But they both knew no amount of adjusting would do anything to undo what Max had done. 

She shook her head, and for once, there was no scorn or sneer or hint of derision or annoyance on her eyes. She tried not to think about the fact she was giving Veti the same shitty news twice in one day. 

"You don't, though, Veti. What he did for me." [i]What he almost did [b]to[/b] me,[/i] but she didn't add that part, and never would. 

"He didn't have to go. He could have come back. He should have come back. But he didn't. He gave himself back over to them. For me. For you, Veti. I'm here because of him. I just...thought you should know."

Veti nodded, and bit her lip, blinking back tears all over again as she turned to look up to Daisy, to those sad, strangely ancient eyes beneath all those long pink tresses. She did not really succeed though, and even though she smiled to her friend, tears fell down her cheeks. Yes, it stung still, hearing the words that he could have returned to her. That Max [i]could[/i] be in her arms right now, alive and laughing, her sweet Thad saying the words with his own lips, his own breath, just how much he loved her...

But he had done exactly what he always did. Always would do. Max would have laughed, loud and long, if she'd called him a hero. Thad would have simply smiled and waved her away with a grin. But he was, and she loved him all the more, even now.

Veti's mouth opened, as if she might say something. But the weight of all Daisy told her, the weight of the grief and yes, the [i]pride[/i] she felt in the man she loved, stopped her words for a moment like an invisible damn. She closed those sapphire eyes for some seconds before taking a long, painful breath, letting it go before she opened them once more. "I am [i]glad[/i], Daisy. I am glad you're here, and I am glad you told me. Please, for me - don't blame yourself. No more blaming yourself, not anymore. Max knew what he was doing."

Daisy smiled wanly at her lupine friend's words. She didn't know where Atticus and Siya had gone, only that they had. Max was gone. Thad was...an enigma at best. WolfGirl had lost far more than her fair share that day. 

Daisy had never wished more that she had something to offer other than bad news. 

"I'm back, aren't I?" She shrugged. "You say jump, Veti, I'll ask how fucking high. If you're glad, actually glad... It's good enough for me."

“I am.” Veti nodded but said no more as she let the wolf return, the first rays of dawn warming her crimson fur. She stood with her lover’s body cradled in her arms once again, her amber gaze running over the ruin of the stones of Ardgroom and all the lands about them. The enormity of all that was torn from her world today would not – [i]could[/i] not – truly settle in for days to come. Not even the werewolf was strong enough to bear that burden all at once: Thad and Aislinn, her dearest Siya and Atticus – even poor Jay-Jay’s brave demon though Veti never knew her true worth til the end.

Daisy and Artie, Reginald and Henry, Semyon and Jay-Jay and even the new guy Gabe, these were the pillars that remained. She had no way to know then, how precious and strong they would truly be.

[center]**********[/center]

[i]Such a difference a year and a day could make. [/i]

A difference Veti never could have imagined, a world she could not have foreseen in her wildest dreams. “Another arrived yesterday, Reginald,” she said softly, closing her eyes contentedly as she smiled up into the warm Irish sunlight. “A lone wolf, ready to find a home… I like the smell of him. Marcus’ll be by tonight. I think he’d be worth your time to meet – [i]if[/i] I can tempt you to stay for dinner?“

Those sapphire blue eyes opened once more, falling over the green hills of Ardgroom, her gaze lifting to follow the majestic forms of the restored stones, fingers of power in that ancient circle reaching to the dazzlingly blue heavens above. So much had been lost, and yet so much more had rushed into those empty spaces left behind. Veti could not bear to return to that old Boston loft, not with Siya gone. There was nowhere to turn, nowhere in that city she did not see her precious friend’s pale face in its shadows, silver blonde curls bouncing over her slight, slender shoulders, that sweet little pout of a smile with the glint of tiny ivory fangs…

But a new home, and a new purpose, were calling her back to these Irish hills at the coast. Aislinn Hoyle’s blood ran with hers now. Thad had made sure of that, one of his last gifts to her. The warlock who created her, had given her a pack as well. And in the aftermath of the battle with the Fenrir and the decimation of many of the great werewolf clans of the Lupus Naturae, the ranks of the Teachglach MacTire – a tribe once teetering on the brink of extinction – had taken root once more in fertile soil.

But a pack of her own wasn’t the last gift Thad left for his love. Not even the greatest. Veti’s gaze fell to her arms, to the precious bundle of warmth and sweetness and light cradled there, wrapped tenderly in a quilt as she snoozed away. [i]Aislinn Nastasiya Blasko.[/i] Thad promised he would leave the very best part of him with her, all his life and all his love. Veti’s fingers ran lightly along that petal soft cheek, the whole of their daughter’s beautiful face framed by a halo of golden ringlets.

[i]Oh, how he had kept that promise.[/i]

“Mmm… Tempt away Victoria. You know I’m yours where dinner is involved! Well, at least now that you know not all Irishmen will eat boiled ham… And… Cabbage! [i]Ouch,[/i] ya little rascal!“ The ancient werewolf laughed heartily, despite the chubby little fists buried deep in handfuls of his beard.

“Maximillian Atticus [i]Blasko![/i]” Veti whispered with a hiss, eyes wide and incredulous. But her boy only giggled with delight at the funny face and funny noises “Uncle” Reginald made. God above, but she was still amazed at how quickly that crimson-headed babe could get around. Well, the [i]both[/i] of them really, Aislinn and Max. Were they merely human children of this age, they might just be able to roll over and hold their heads upright. But the twins were anything but “merely.” These two wolf pups had already tussled and fussed, chewing on one another’s tender ears and wee tails by the bonfire of their first den circle.

Veti sighed good-naturedly, rolling her eyes with a soft laugh as Reginald waved her on, not minding little Max’s attentions in the least. The old werewolf carefully disentangled one chubby fist with a finger, returning the babe’s sweet wide smile with one of his own. It was [i]good[/i] to have family again. “So Victoria, back to the topic at hand. You really [i]aren’t[/i] going to try boiling another ham for dinner, are you - “

As if on cue, a deep, low howl of a bark sailed over the hill, rising toward them with its bearer on the enormous paws an ebony-colored Irish wolfhound. Artie bounded up the hill, his enormous tail wagging in a great sweeping arc behind him. The expectant sparkle in those great black eyes said he had an inkling that something about food had been involved in this conversation, and wherever there was food and his Veti, and her pups too? Oh, the hellhound was [i]all[/i] in! 

“Your lack of faith in my ability Reginald, to master the cuisine of my adopted homeland… That [i]hurts,[/i] you know,” she quipped with a wide, playful grin that said she was anything [i]but.[/i] Veti felt the chill of Daisy’s own imminent arrival and smiled. Where there was an Artie, of course her dear Reaper friend would not be too far behind. 

Veti giggled as she bent to kiss the top of Artie’s great head, cradling Aislinn gently to her chest as she began to whisper to the hellhound in the sweetest little sing-song voice. “But if Weginald will not eat Veti’s dinner winner, I bet Artie will! Oh yes, he will! [i]He will![/i] Who’s a good hellhound who woves his Veti’s cooking? Who is? Oh [i]you[/i] are Artie! Yes you [i]are,[/i] you wuvin’ lumpkin!”