“I don’t understand where they all came from,” Ava said in an awed voice.

Ten was just as stunned at the hundred head of cattle and one very feisty bull that were milling about the yard. Sure, some of them were the Two Claws Ranch cattle, but where had the rest come from?

“Maybe they all jumped the fence, and we need to return them to a neighbor,” Ten said.

Kurt was standing beside her, legs splayed on the front porch of Trig’s cabin, his arms crossed over his chest, and a deep frown furrowing his brow under his cowboy hat. “I haven’t seen that bull around here before.”

Indeed, the white and black mottled monster was a bit of a show-stopper.

Trig was up on Harley, corralling said bull at the moment, while the rest of them were standing on the front porch watching that big old cowboy get charged time and time again.

“Is it just me, or is that bull a bit of an asshole?” Kurt muttered.

Colt snorted. “He’ll fit right in around here.”

Ten laughed and bumped shoulders with Karis, who was holding the small swell of her belly. The cub was growing good. Her friend’s shape was one of the many changes around here.

Ten now had a last name for the first time in her life. It was Kurt’s name, and she even wore a silver band with a little diamond on her finger when she wasn’t close to a Change. She stayed human most of the time now. And she was comfortable in her own skin. Happy with herself and her progress. Oh sure, she still had so much to learn, but she was having fun adjusting to her new life.

Gunner had celebrated a birthday and was now seven whole years old. The New Darby Clan was doing good under Kurt, and he seemed so much steadier with those bonds. Trail rides were gaining traction and earning income for the ranch. She even helped with them now and got to keep a cut of the profit each ride. No one called her Origin or Genie or Tenlee anymore. Just Ten. She was just her. She was enough, and that was a pretty special feeling.

In the middle of the herd, Trig yanked a rope from around the bull’s neck and kicked Harley to dash out of the way of the bull’s charge just in time.

Trotting toward them, Trig lifted the loop of rope and frowned at a pouch at the bottom of it. “I think this is for you,” he said as he approached the porch.

“For me?” Ten asked, stepping off the stairs and reaching for it.

Harley tried to bite her as usual, but she shoved his head to the side and snatched the rope fast. The pouch had a picture of a crow.

She pulled a letter from the pouch and read it out loud.

“Dear Ten, you and your friends and Clan won’t have any more trouble from me or my people. I made mistakes with you, and it took watching you almost take your own life for me to realize I was wrong. I used to look at you and think you were nothing more than an Origin. That being an Origin was your only value. And maybe that’s what attracted my animal to you, I don’t know. And I don’t know how I’m going to break that bond, but I’m sure as hell gonna try. This is my peace offering. No olive branch for you. Instead, you get walking, mooing hamburgers. I was gonna get you something just for you, but you’re different than most people. You don’t want things for you. You like making the people you care about happy. I heard about the Warmaker and Hairpin Trigger going savage-grizzly and thinning out their own herd. I won’t say what I think about that… Meh, fuck it, yes I will. They’re idiots, ha. But they’re your idiots, so who am I to judge? Anyway, maybe now you won’t be so stressed about saving that ranch. Good luck with everything, Ten. From Ramsey and Red Dead Mayhem.”

Other than the mooing of the cattle, there was only stunned quiet.

Breaking the silence, Kurt drawled out, “Wooooow.”

“Whatever happened to don’t trust a crow?” Colt asked. “These cows are probably all tainted.”

Trig leaned on the saddle horn on top of Harley, chewing on a piece of grass, and looked at the herd thoughtfully. “They look healthy to me.”

Kurt pulled Ten close to his side and said, “We’ve all been worrying about saving this ranch for so long, it’s strange for that stress to be lifted.”

“Don’t worry,” Trig muttered, “I’m sure Colt will fuck it up and eat the herd soon and then we can all go back to normal.”

“Me fuck it up? You ate as many cows as I did!”

Trig gave Ten a wink and turned Harley around. “Come on, boys. Let’s drive them out to the pasture and get them off the lawn.”

Colt followed him, muttering, “I got called an idiot by a crow, and now my friend and Alpha doesn’t even have faith in my ability to not eat our livelihood. Kurt! Hurry up, these cows aren’t going to moooove themselves. Get it? Moo? Mooove themselves?”

Kurt looked after Colt with a tired expression, then turned to Ten and leaned down, kissed her lips gently. It was sweet until he swatted her butt and then ruffled Gunner’s hair beside her. “I’ll be back.”

“Kurt?” she called as he jogged down the stairs.

“Yeah?” he asked, turning.

“I wish you always come back,” she said through a smile.

Kurt gave her a crooked smile. “Granted. I’ll always come back to you.”

And as Gunner slipped his little hand in Ten’s, they watched Kurt make his way after Colt to the barn.

It was a sunny day, the birds were singing, the soft breeze was lifting the ends of her wild hair. The ranch was finally safe and the war completely finished. Karis had a cub on the way, Ava was managing her bear well, and though the world knew of their existence, so far, that knowledge hadn’t hurt her people. The media circus was raging on in the public eye, but here at the ranch, out where news was slow to reach, they’d been safe from it so far. Oh, the consequences would come, but right now was the calm before the storm, and Ten was embracing the days of peace.

She wasn’t just an Origin or an animal. She had become her most favorite self. It hadn’t been easy, but change never was. The hard parts were all worth it though, because look at this life she’d stumbled into.

Sometimes it was chaos, rocky roads, hard work, and uncertainty.

But it was also this great adventure with the people she trusted most in the world.

It was beautiful and bright, and her future was filled with hope and belonging.

She wasn’t alone anymore, and from this day forward, she never would be again.

She was part of the New Darby Clan.

She was a friend to the Two Claws Clan.

She was the happy and devoted mate of her Kurt.

And she was the keeper of her Gunner Boy.

Yes, she was an Origin, but all the other parts of herself felt so much more important.

She. Was. Ten.

And her legend started now.