Cody's POV

"Nice! Just like that. Don't hesitate, I won't die." Charlotte instructs making me snort as I dodge her Mana blades, using my momentum to come up with an uppercut.

She evades it, flipping back effortlessly only her hands before pushing off of my  chest with her foot, sending me stumbling back as she lands gracefully. Before I can recovery she rushes at me with her blades, going for my neck.

I'm able to stop her arm with my own, the force of impact surprising her, one of the blades falling. Before she can react, my other hands snatched it from the air, both of the blades coming just short of each others throats.

Charlotte smiles, pleased, taking the now offered blade and putting them away as I fall to the ground in exhaustion. And it's sad really because I know she took it extremely easy on me and I still was only able to win half the matches today.

"I can hear you beating yourself up from here, stop it, Cody." She tells me and I feel a rock hit my stomach, the impact stinging.

"I can't help it. I feel like I'm getting no where." I admit as I push myself up, leaning back on my hands.

Charlotte sits down next to me sighing as she tears at the grass beneath us, staring off into the distance. "Yeah, that's what happens when you measure yourself against the result instead of where you begin. At least even if you don't make your goal, you're still doing something and you're not exactly where you started. You have to remember everyone that you're training against has at least six years of training. I've been training both at home and the Academy since I was eleven years old. It's been over tens years for me to get here, and almost six months to get to where you are now. You can assign the cause to your one on one Commander training, luck, fate, or you can just own it as your own will and powers. It's up to you what you call it and label it, just make sure you're not selling yourself short." She tells me and I sigh knowing she's right.

She usually is.

She's twenty three, though from her stature you would think she was sixteen or seventeen if you wanted to be nice. She's a small adorable Omega that still managed to be the kick ass spy master that she is. One that's wise beyond her years.

She still hasn't told me much about her family, or her childhood, but Charlotte and I are really close, are relationship growing rather quickly after she reassured me that everything was okay during the worst time of my life. It makes me feel just a little bit closer to Casey I think.

The two of us continue to talk, laughing about something dumb Jothnathn said yesterday during a meeting.

Now that I'm Luna, for the past few days I've been involved with everything, people wanting my opinion and help all the time. At first it was a bit overwhelming, but now I'm finding my stride, even making sure to spend three hours every Monday Wednesday and Friday at the Nursey & Home.

I have such a full life, and I try to not take it for granted for even a moment.

It's when we're talking about different ways of using mana to help enhance fighting skills when I spot James coming onto the field from the Academy, my man looking amazing as the sun kisses him just right.

He walks straight towards me with a smile, bending over to give me a kiss before reaching for my hand. Confused, I place my hand in his before he helps me up, ignoring my clearly confused face to address Charlotte who seems amused by the whole ordeal. "Hey, Char, sorry to interrupt, but I need Cody." He tells her with a apologetic smile and she waves it off like it's nothing.

I scoff and roll my eyes at the two that are completely forgetting about me here.

I wave bye at Charlotte as James leads me away with a satisfied smile that has me squinting at him in deliberation trying to figure out what's going on. "I'm assuming this is a surprise." I state with amusement, knowing that when it comes to James and surprises there's no point in trying to get them out before hand. Apparently there's a strong principles in surprises.

"Exactly. You know me so well." He hums and I shake my head laughing as his antics, allowing him to take me past the Village and deeper into the woods.

We pass by Zee's house, the home of our Advisor seen way off in the distance through a thicket of trees, the birds humming sweet melodie's as we take an impromptu stroll.

That is, until I finally realize where we are going. My eyes start to fill and not even a minute later, I see a break in the trees, a mailbox at the end of the road the the words 'Alpha James and Luna Cody' in calligraphy. As we come around the trees, at the end of a long driveway thankfully keeping us away from the road, I find an amazing house.

It has a large porch, a screened in sun room along the side of the home. The front door has two french doors with the sigils of Wolves painted on the frosted glass.

I just stand at the end of the driveway with tears streaming down my face, my heart pounding and aching from how full it feels in hit moment. James squeezes my hand, his free one coming up to wipe away my spilling tears, blessing my forehead with a soft lingering kiss that only sends more tara's streaming down my face.

"I love you, Cody. Welcome home." He tells me and there's nothing else he needs to say as he starts to gently pull me forward.

We walk into our house after walking up a small set of stairs, the pair of keys in James' pockets the proof that this really is our home. We walk into the space and I'm met with a tall hallway with amazing windows, the living room immediately to my left, big and long, the kitchen on the other side of the hallway, giving the room separation while including everyone in on the fun.

I walk around in awe, taking in the furniture and the wall art and every single detail through the house into the master bed and bath.

It's clear that James heard me in everything I wanted and even knew the things I wanted that I didn't even realize. My tears have flowed no stopped since we walked into the house, James waiting for me to walk out of the second guest bedroom outside of a closed door.

I frown, wondering what's so special about this room that it needs to be shut when my lover turns the nobs and gets out of the way to let me inside. I'm stunned at the door, the inside of the room decorated in sea blues and greens, creams here and there bringing a neutral calming feeling. I notice the crib along the far wall, a rocking chair sitting in one corner with a changing table in another.

Except for the painted walls and rugs, it's empty, but the promise and possibilities it holds brings tears to my eyes as the emotions overwhelm me, James stepping close to me to gather me into his chest.

"It's perfect." I'm sure to tell him, needing him to know just how much this all means to me.

I haven't had a home in over six years. In fact, I wasn't allowed inside the home after the day my family died in there. Vilin Officers and Autumn Warriors investigated the scene and took out all the valuables and memories that wasn't tainted after the took the bodies out. After that, they gave me the option of keeping it to live in once I turned eighteen with my Mate, or burn it to make place for a new family and memories.

I chose the latter, too heart broken to go into that place again and I don't regret that decision the way I thought I was going to.

Because it's taken me a lot of contemplation to be able to realize that every single decision and experience that we've ever had plays a part in who we are and the path we're on. And I am proud of the person I've fought to become, because of where I came from, not in spite of.

So as I walk through the walls of our beautiful new home, still fresh and empty, waiting to be filled with love and memories, all I feel is joy. Joy and hope that James and I are able to save our kids from the heartbreaking reality that we were forced to suffer so young. My wish is to  create a home and a village of people who have so much love to give that no matter what, they're never left feeling alone and isolated like we did.

That's all I could ever hope for.

I stop in my tracks, turning to face James in the middle of our home, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Thank you." I tell him and he actually has the audacity to look confused.

"For what?"

I can only laugh, shaking my head because he's the only guys I know that couldn't see just how amazing he's been and all the things he's done for me.

"For loving me. For being there for me. For trusting that you can depend on me. For our home. For just be you." I tell him, truly meaning every word, and I think he feels that from the way his eyes tear up.

"You're very welcome. I count myself lucky that I'm even able to do those things for you. So thank you for letting me love you. And thank you for holding me up when I doubted myself. I love you so much and I can't wait to start this new season of our life." He tells me and all I can do is hug him, laying my head on his shoulder as I squeeze him tightly, breathing him in as he holds me.

And we stay there for a while.

Holding each other in our own little slice of heaven.

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If you guys didn't notice, yes this is a shorter chapter and the next two will be even shorter as we finally wrap up this story. This is the longest I've taken to write a book, but it's also the longest book I've written I can wait to share it with the world and see what everyone thinks.

Thoughts?

Comments?

QOTD: Whos book are you the most excited for?