Page 74 of Who Let The Wolves Out?

I pull the sweater over my head and catch a glimpse of myself in the little cracked mirror above the dresser.

And for once?

I look exactly how I feel.

Solid.

Settled.

Like I finally fit into my own skin.

Outside, the bonfire crackles and the stars begin to appear, one by one.

Jason’s already there, kids orbiting around him like he’s their personal gravity. His eyes find me in the crowd and soften instantly.

I take the spot next to him.

He doesn’t say anything.

Just takes my hand.

And that’s the moment I know—deep in my bones—I’m where I’m meant to be.

After the bonfire winds down and the last of the marshmallows have been incinerated by overzealous campers, Jason and I sit on the steps of our new cabin, legs stretched out, the warm hum of embers still crackling across the lake.

He’s got that faraway look—half content, half exhausted.

I lean into him gently, letting my head rest on his shoulder. “Hey.”

He turns, just a little. “Yeah?”

“I’ve been meaning to say something,” I murmur. “And I keep chickening out.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Alice I know.” His voice is teasing but soft.

I pull my knees up, arms wrapping around them. “I spent a long time feeling like I wasn’t enough.”

Jason goes still beside me, listening.

“I kept trying to be everything for someone who didn’t know what it meant to love someone fully. Sam… he cheated. More than once. And I let it make me feel like I wasn’t worth staying for.”

Jason’s jaw tenses, but he doesn’t speak.

“And then I came here,” I continue, voice shaking a little, “and met this obnoxiously shirtless werewolf who insisted on climbing trees without ladders and helping kids learn to be proud of themselves. And before I even realized it... I wasn’t looking backward anymore.”

He shifts, facing me now.

I meet his eyes. “You helped me move forward. Not by fixing me. Just… by being kind. By showing me how it feels like to be safe and seen.”

He exhales slowly, then cups my face gently with one hand. “You were never not enough, Alice. He just couldn’t see what was right in front of him.”

I close my eyes, letting the words settle.

And then I whisper, “I think I’m starting to see it now.”

His thumb brushes my cheek.

“You’re more than enough,” he says. “You’reeverything.”

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