THIRTY-EIGHT
Jo was in shock.
So much had happened in the Race Games, so many perceptions had changed, that she couldn’t focus on the sound of the applause or the image of so many screens zooming in on her dirty face. Her hair was wild around her cheeks, singed in places and ripped at in others. Nic didn’t look much better as they both stared with wide eyes at the people suddenly rushing out of the stands toward them.
Danica was there, screaming in excitement, her vampire lovers on her heels. Cricket’s wings were bright as she whooped and hollered, Radley beside her sporting his own smile.
The sounds of the wolves chanting their mantra echoed loud and clear.
“Fur and Claws, Teeth and Howls, Rip them up and take them down! Fur and Claws, Teeth and Howls, Rip them up and take them down!”
But all of that faded into the background as Jo’s ears began to ring again. She blinked furiously, trying to help the details of what they’d witnessed sink in. So much had happened. They’d learned so much.
Zeus had attacked them in the race and had intended to kill them as so many other teams had. Luna, the wolf goddess, had protected them and helped them finish the race. They wouldn’t have made it if not for her, and whatever magic had given Frankie one final push. They’d made it through a brutal race, had won it.
They’d saved a penguin.
Out of all the things, that thought entered her brain and made Jo smile.
Nic seemed to shake himself out of the shock first. Frankie had barely made it to the other side of the finish line, just enough to consider it a win, but no more. He kicked open his door, ignoring everyone rushing forward with cameras, and stiffly walked around the car as if his legs weren’t working properly. Exhaustion clung to him, and Jo knew she looked the same. After all they’d survived, they were allowed to be tired, to want to rest and sleep for days.
No other teams came across the finish line. There was no one else to make it. A few survivors were there, but their teams were incomplete, or they couldn’t finish at all. That was it.
Reporters were rushing around the car, trying to get Nic to talk into their mics, shouting questions at him.
“Nicolas, what happened in the last section when the cameras cut out?”
“Nicolas, is it true Johanna nearly died?”
Nicolas! Nicolas! Nicolas!
But he only shoved them out of the way and came around to the passenger side. He ripped open the door, the mechanism sticking after everything it had been through. Hell, the seals were probably melted from the fire. Only as he helped her from the car did she take in just how much damage Frankie had taken.
There were large dents everywhere, from the front crunch left by the hippo to the moments where they’d been shoved into walls. Different colors of paint were marking up the metal, flowered wallpaper stuck to spots, and some blood splatters were here and there she didn’t want to think about. There were teeth marks she didn’t even remember happening, and marks that looked more like lightning trails than anything else. Parts of Frankie were scorched and burnt, parts were as clean as a whistle. But she looked like she’d been through a war zone.
And she had.
They’d survived a war.
But all Jo could do was look up into Nic’s eyes, at the love shining there as the cameras flashed around them, determined to get the first scoop of the new winners. It was overwhelming, and yet not, because everything faded until all her attention was on the wolf before her.
Her mate. Blessed by Luna despite it all.
They’d done it.
They’d survived.
They’d won.
The wolves had won the games for the first time in. . .decades? ever?
And they’d found out which God was orchestrating the outcomes, which one was part of it though there were more. He’d revealed there were more.
With that knowledge in her mind, with everything that had happened, Jo threw it all out of her mind, and wrapped her arms around Nic’s shoulders.
She leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his, kissing him with everything she was feeling and more. This was it. This was everything she’d ever needed.
The cameras went wild around them.