Swiftcurrent Creek But in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do.

Her reaction stunned him to silence for only a moment—whether he had expected anger, or confusion, or sadness, he didn’t know—but when he was met with exuberance, and the way his daughter ran to him instead of from him—it was like coming home. It was the way he had envisioned coming home to always be like, that fateful day.

And so he bounded forward, ignoring the uncomfortable stretch of healing injuries, and quickly gathering the girl into his embrace. She burst into tears—the splash of water that had sprayed over them just may have hid his own—and he was torn between planting rumbling kisses upon her crown and holding her close, and then pulling back to look at her.

She was different. She was so very different. And yet she was the same.

“Lilitu,” he replied, his voice hoarse. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” he admitted, the words coming from a raw throat. “I…” She questioned him—but he just wanted to know more about her. “I’m starting a pack here,” he finally noted, knowing he could not touch upon the dangers of the wayward band of rogues at their doorstep. Not just now.

“But you. Where have you been? Are you okay?”