23
Vampires did this and left her here in hopes we found her. The blood is fresh, I can smell it, the kill is still warm, and I can still feel the traces of her heat and her scent around me as though her soul still lingers. Feel the ebbing away of her emotions and fears in the air around us because they are still so recent and my gift homes in, tortured by what I can feel. They knew we were looking for her and yet they waited until we were close enough to kill her completely and I don’t understand why.
Was this a game to them? It feels like they were luring us out here this far for fun and I look around trying to sense if this might be a trap with so many of our kind out here, but there’s nothing. The vamps have retreated and gone and only the chaos they have caused is left behind in the air around us. No hint or traces that they are close in anyway and not even the feeling of eyes observing.
“Meadow… take Carmen and Lorey back to the house. They don’t need to be here for this.” Colton yanks my focus back to him as he instructs, and Meadow appears behind me like a sudden shadow. I note that all the other packs are now flooding in to where we are, so we’re grouped as one unit once more. Obviously Colton linked them, and Carmen’s scream brought them zoning right in. Colton has lifted up to pull the trembling figure with him to their feet and I look away quickly as he hauls her into another hug soothingly and let’s her weight rest against him. That stirring of dislike growing like a warm ember in my belly even though I know he’s only being compassionate. He’s being the Alpha, and this is no time for feeling threatened.
“Come on you.” Meadow leans in to take charge of Carmen in Colton’s arms and I realize tears are still washing down my face as I stare at them again in stupefaction. Cooling my skin as the air turns them from warm to icy cold. Hating myself that I feel inner warm relief when she’s taken from my mate’s embrace and blush with shame at my own selfishness. I’m so stupidly possessive of him sometimes that it’s not admirable.
The shock of what we have in front of us comes back into view as I stare in the direction of chaos and it pushes my own emotions to quiet as Meadow guides Carmen past me. She seems to snap at the sudden release of his arms and makes a dart for the remains of body once more in blind hysteria. A painful sob escaping her lips, but this time I am faster and she’s closer to me than him. Meadow is startled by her sudden change of direction so that she loses grip for a second and I flash my hand up, catching her in the air, holding her steady and pulling her around, lifting her from her feet and back towards me. As soft as air and making her fly with my ability.
My gift never fails me, and I glide her to my side and hold her there as she gently meets ground once more, wide and eyed and still after what I just did to her. The shock silences her completely and I release her once Meadow gets a grip on her hand and wrist in a way that signals she won’t get loose a second time
“Carmen go home with Meadow.” Colton alpha tones her again, leaving no room for a second error and she reluctantly turns on her heel. Her skin white and damp, her eyes empty and blurred and her whole body sags with sheer misery. Her whole aura is that of grief.
“Lorey… come here, baby.” Colton moves to me, bringing my attention back to him as he pulls me into his arms and nuzzles me close. With one moment of attentive affection, he wipes away my brewing green eyed monster and gives me the kind of hug that no one else gets. The ‘I need you’ embrace that sweeps me up into him and holds me tighter than he held her, while burying his face in the crook of my neck. Warming my skin with his deep exhale before pulling up to look me in the eye again. I melt like liquid with his touch and allow him to wipe away my tears with gentle fingers. I can feel his own despair at what has happened, and it weighs on me heavily. “We need to bury her. We can’t leave her like this. Go home and wait for me there, where it’s safe, and warm, and see if you can help her… somehow. I don’t even know how. You’ve been through the loss of your mother, maybe you can …” Colton trails off at a loss, squeezes me tight, kisses me softly and wipes away the rest of my tears for me as I hug him back. Aware that most of the wolves are now moving in to see what’s been done and a couple rush to the bushes to vomit. Not all wolves can stomach things like this, and I’m actually shocked that I am not one who had to throw up on smelling and seeing this. Maybe these months and what happened before have numbed a part of me more than I gave it credit for.
“I love you.” I breathe hastily, that inner insecurity peeking out at me because I am sometimes still that unworthy girl he rejected. I give him a second kiss, more of a grazing of lips and he nestles his forehead to mine in the way he does when he’s trying to reassure me. Maybe this time he needs me to ground him, his emotions are definitely on the needier and cast loose side than mine are.
“I can’t believe I let this happen. I feel like I failed her….. Sun’s coming, so we can do this right and lay her to rest. I owe it to Carmen and her mom to treat her with the respect of the pack….. Take two wolves as guards and go catch Meadow and get home. Don’t hang around, especially not this far outside the borders. I don’t want you around this or helping. You shouldn’t be near this… I love you, baby. Go home for me.” He sighs heavily and tightens his arms around me once more, craving me yet needing me to leave him for now. I can feel his conflicted feelings and make it easier by letting him go with a nod.
Colton lets me loose and nods to two guards who appear beside me in the now dim and less dark light. I note he’s sending the two who threw up, sensing neither will be any good at helping with what he has to do. They stand patiently and obediently wait for me to move.
“With many wolves digging it should be fast and then….” He sighs knowing he has to somehow get that mess buried in some kind of respectful way and I nod, knowing what he’s thinking. I don’t envy the task of clearing this up and putting every piece of her and her blood in the ground to honor our ways. He may have to scorch the landscape and burn the surrounding landscape t properly send her soul to the fates.
Taking one last much needed hug to try and calm my distraught heart I turn on my heel to go but pause a second. Knowing I should catch up and stay close to Meadow, even if my powers make me more capable than most wolves but something crosses my mind.
“I’ll ask the Shaman to start preparing a ceremony. Help Carmen with closure and allow her time to grieve. Give the pack a proper funeral service to grieve a kin member…… Tawna’s mate?” I ask absentmindedly, knowing that Carmen maybe needs to grieve two parents and not one and we should give her that, even if he’s not someone we should remember. Colton’s face tenses and he signals yes with the slightest of head movements that makes my heart sink even further.
