Epilogue: Tomorrow Came

Finally.

Everything I'd worked toward for the better part of six years had come to this.

Mom and I shared a teary-eyed goodbye at airport security and I heaved my carry-on to the back of the line. Everything I owned was in two checked suitcases and this one duffel bag.

Clothes, mostly. Some books and movies. A set of dishes Mom and Dad bought me for my new place.

A trophy made of alien teeth and a Life Alert button to bring my warrior back to me. Both tucked safely in a suitcase, wrapped in bubble wrap under my laptop where they hopefully wouldn't be bothered.

All I could do for now was hope that Wolf hadn't forgotten about me, because I certainly hadn't forgotten about him.

Not for one minute.

He was always in the back of my head. He visited me in my dreams. That tall, imposing alien hunter that had saved my life all those years ago.

My confidence had grown since then. My wounds were healed, my mind was almost whole. Another surgery had lessened my limp even more and I'd passed all the requirements for getting into the FBI.

It had taken a lot of sleepless nights. Up late studying, third shifts at the Fort Collins Police Department, tireless and sometimes painful physical training . . .

But I'd done it. I'd jumped through their hoops and played the part. Now it was paying off.

All the blood, sweat, and tears.

I was on my way to Quantico to spend the next four months training. Then, I'd have to wait for the right clearance level to see those aliens again.

Those nightmare black, slavering, all-consuming beasts that had taken everything from me.

They were waiting for me there. I'd destroy them yet . . . obtain my righteous vengeance. Ask this time, my hate for them had only festered like the infected sores they were. It fueled me just as much as my desire to see Wolf again.

Once they were dead and gone, I would be ready. I would have the closure I needed to be by his side once more.

I looked down at the mark on my wrist, faded and pale against my porcelain skin. Something more waited for me beyond the stars, so I would hurry. I would do whatever it took.

I was doing whatever it took.