The Funeral

LORELAI

“Mom was someone you could rely on. She was loyal to a fault, and once you had her at your back, you never had to watch it again because she was there doing it for you,” Cain said, his face empty of emotion. He was pale, with dark shadows under his eyes.

His hair was unkempt; the clothes he wore were the same ones he had worn since yesterday when she had passed. They still had her blood on them.

Cain continued his speech. Tabby was wrapped in a linen cloth, tied together with ribbons, rope, and vines, just as Cain said she wanted. “She stood up for what was right, the balance, and for this pack. She didn’t deserve this,” he clenched his fists.

His brow deepened, and his lips pursed as he looked at Tabby on the wooden slats that had been made to carry her over the grave that had been dug.

I had thought they were going to cremate her, but Cain insisted she wanted to be laid to rest within the realm where she belonged. She held no animosity toward it.

Apparently, it had given her Cain—a child that should never have been allowed to exist—and let her live out her days with him. She wanted to give her body and magic back to the realm because of it. Loyal to the end, just as Cain said.

“I will avenge her. Those witches will learn that they are not our gods. The realm is the only goddess we answer to. Our own moon goddess that decides our fates. Not them. Their power is only an extension of the realm. I will make them pay for this,” Cain snarled. Then he chucked his parchment into the flame torch and let it burn before stepping away.

Beenie went with him, her own face hollow.

“I have to say something,” Derik muttered, his throat bobbing, his brow furrowing. I grabbed his fidgeting hand with my own.

“Are you okay too?” I asked, adjusting Enzi in my arm and making sure her blanket secured her tightly.

He blew out a tight breath.

“I don’t know. But I have to. She was a part of us. Even if it was a distant part, even if she wasn’t in the city or a wolf. She helped us, saved us, sacrificed for us. I have to rally the wolves on behalf of her,” Derik swallowed.

His pain seared me. Losing Tabby had cut him deeper than I had thought.

Kai moved to stand where Cain had been.

He didn’t face the pack, though; he turned to Tabby.

“I never knew kindness. I never knew affection. My pack was brutal, and growing up, I learned that our nature was to break things we loved to make them stronger. You taught me that wasn’t always necessary. It brought a light to my life that led me to my mate. For that, and for your sacrifice, I have no retribution to offer other than my gratitude. That, and my love, you will have forever, Tab,” Kai said, as if he was talking to just her.

Tears filled my eyes as his pain became mine. It was tight in my chest and leaked out of my eyes. A tear fell from his eye too, and he didn’t wipe it away.

He kissed a green gem pendant, then placed it on her body.

“And I’ll make sure Ruby is okay,” he whispered, then walked back to us. He came to me, and I wrapped my arm around him. He held me tight, and I sniffled.

It wasn’t fair.

We had lost so many wolves, and now Tabby? How was this war worth it? How could the vampires believe that all the casualties were worth power over everyone?

Derik turned to Brax. “Are you going to say something?” he asked.

Brax shook his head, his eyes filled with tears as he held Zale wrapped in a blanket.

“I said what I needed to say before she left. She knows I’m sorry,” he said, pain tugging at his heart and mine too.

Tears kept streaming down my cheeks as the sorrow in the pack link ran high.

They might not have been okay with Tabby living in the city or as accepting of Cain as we were, but she meant something to all of us.

She had gone against the witches; she had helped us at every turn. She was the reason every single one of us stood here.

They all knew that, and the respect pulsed as fiercely as the sadness.

“Okay,” he said, then stood and walked up to the grave. I handed Enzi to Kai and went up to the front with Derik. I wanted to be with him for this part that I knew he didn’t want to do.

I stood next to him the whole time as he said how much she meant to the pack, how much she did for us, how much we loved her for it. Then I cried with him as our hearts broke and the wolves lowered her into the ground.

We all howled, every one of us sharing our pain with the realm.

It was a unity, a connection through us all that brought us together so solidly that my magic swelled inside me.

We had no moon, only magic. We had no sun, only darkness. And this war meant we had no rest, only sorrow.

It was weighing heavy on us all, but we were together, and we knew we had to be the ones to end the war. None of us wanted to lose anyone else.

We each poured dirt on Tabby’s body and grave, whispering our private words for her, saying prayers to the realm to keep her safe from shadows in her death.

I cried as I sprinkled my dirt over her.

“I’ll miss you. Thank you,” I whispered before wiping away my tears and going back to hold Enzi, snuggling against her.

Once we had all helped cover her in the ground and we had said goodbye, most of the pack left to the tavern where Juniper was putting on free drinks for the night. I didn’t go that way. I sat down next to the grave of Tabitha.

I held Enzi closer, Brax sitting down next to me with Zale.

My mom rubbed my shoulders from behind as Galen hovered. He usually stood closer, but he was eyeing the city wall, his snout out.

I let him be paranoid and put my head on Derik’s shoulder as he sunk to the ground next to me.

“I don’t know how to say goodbye,” I whispered. Kai came over holding a collection of flowers from the gardens.

He sprinkled them over the loose dirt grave, then sat down next to it, laying his hand on the stone that had been placed there to mark her resting place.

It was a beautiful spot in the city. One of the few grassy patches there were with a huge blossom tree that overhung.

There was a wooden bench seat underneath it that was always sheltered.

The grass patch was against the part of the wall that led to her swamp; I hoped that made her happy.

“None of us do,” Derik said, then kissed the top of my head.

“She’ll be watching. Crazy girl wouldn’t miss what’s coming for anything.” Kai grinned.

“Nikolai, please tell me why you have your crazy face on?” Derik said, his voice stern.

Kai grinned wider.

“I have plans for us, and it involves dead witches and dead vampires,” he wriggled his eyebrows.

I chuckled low and shook my head, resting my head back on Derik.

I looked down at Enzi, who was staring up at me. She had my finger and was trying to suckle it.

I smiled down at her. How easy it was to be a child and have no worries in the world. I hoped it was always easy for her.

“I’ll take them up to their room before it gets colder,” Brax said, standing with Zale and holding his other arm out for Enzi. I placed her in his arms and kissed him, soft and simple, but it meant everything to my pained heart.

He kissed me one more time, then took the twins inside.

“Go with Braxton, my precious Pearl; he may need help settling them in,” Galen said, his voice firm. My mother frowned, and so did I.

His tone was not one I had heard him use, especially not on my mother.

I turned to see him eyeing the wall.

Derik caught it and stood up, alerting the wolves in the link.

I couldn’t sense anything, but I trusted Galen.

“Okay,” Mom said and went inside, still frowning after us before following after Brax.

My shadows prickled inside of me then, my magic aching in my bones.

“Something’s wrong,” I whispered.

Galen nodded. “I sense it too.”

My body started moving before I could process where it was going.

Derik and Kai followed, both of them on alert, sending a signal to the wolves that were on call for attacks tonight.

But I couldn’t sense any vampires.

I frowned and stopped in the middle of the stone street, closing my eyes. I took a deep breath in and let my magic and shadows go.

They poured out of me, searching for any trouble, warnings, or instincts that went against us.

I found nothing within our walls, or even vampires on the border.

I pulled my powers back and opened my eyes, turning to the others who were now flanked by more wolves.

“I don’t understand. I can feel a threat, but I can’t get anything to distinguish it,” I sighed, looking through the darkness of the streets only lit by flame torches.

I peered over my shoulder at Tabby’s grave back by the blossom tree. It was untouched, but something was drawing me back.

I sent my magic out again, hating that hope filled me.

But it wasn’t her. She was still gone, her life force nonexistent. I swallowed at the confirmation, then looked at the wall, going over to it.

I hadn’t asked for a vision in a long time, but something was wrong, and I needed to know what. So I asked.

I placed my hand against the cold stone of the wall, sucking in a breath when my head was filled with images.

Fighting images of our patrol wolves against vampires.

They were being ambushed, slaughtered.

They were screaming in the link for backup, trying to get back to the city, but they were outnumbered.

I dropped to my knees, tears falling as their pain and panic crushed me.

They fought with everything they had until the last wolves fell.

Angus and Valentina Achlis. The oldest council members. The ones who were currently leading the patrol around the city.

Derik’s parents.

They were dead.