Page 155 of Ranger's Last Call
No shadows watching from the edges.
No eyes tracking my movements.
Those pieces of my life no longer owned me.
They never would again.
Later, when the night had wound down and the last chair was turned upside down, Wolf locked the tavern door behindus. We walked slowly upstairs, the familiar creak of the steps beneath our feet, the comfort of routine grounding.
At the top, I paused.
“You know,” I said, glancing back at him, “there was a time I thought peace meant being unaware.”
He studied me. “And now?”
“Now I think peace means being aware — and choosing to live anyway.”
Something warm flickered in his eyes.
“That’s the bravest thing I’ve ever heard.”
He pulled me gently into his arms, holding me without urgency, without tension. Just warmth. Just certainty.
“I love you,” he said quietly, like a truth he never needed to question again.
I smiled against his chest.
“I know,” I whispered. “And I choose you. Every day.”
We stood like that for a long moment, the tavern quiet below us, the town safe and sleeping.
The past remained exactly where it belonged.
Behind me.
And the future?
The future was open.
Steady.
Ours.
She hadn’t escaped the past—she’d reclaimed herself, and that was the sweetest victory of all.
The End
