he make it years?
No . He clenched his fists. I told Kendrick I wouldn’t break, and I’ll live by that .
“Put the stuff we need for the fire over there. No matings are going to take place there for the foreseeable future. Let’s honor the ones that did take place by ending their time here where once they were happy.”
“Good idea.” Michael squatted down onto the ground. “Do you think it’s weird that none of us, none of his sons, were mated? Shouldn’t one of us be in that pile too?”
One of us should be there . “No. I guess it’s statistics. I mean, look at Cullen. He’s not mated, and he’s been around forever. There just aren’t that many matings.”
“True.” Gabriel stood. “How could he stand it? After he killed Mom? Why didn’t he kill himself?”
“The aunts are making it. They’re withstanding the pull to die for all of us.”
Michael kicked the dirt. “Are you suggesting Dad is acting altruistically and keeping himself alive for all of our sakes?”
“No.” Gabriel looked up at the sun. How could it be shining today? Shouldn’t it have fallen from the sky in tribute to the world ending? “Dad’s evil. To his core. He probably paid some fucking witch to keep him alive. Mom deserved better. She got the unmated women off the island and then stood there and waited for him. That’s bravery.”
Carrie had waited too. She hadn’t gotten on that boat even when she knew others were dying. Where did the women in his life find their courage? How did they hold on to their love when all the sense in the universe should have them running for their lives away from their crazed mates?
The pack members started to arrive in the clearing. Some were carrying wood, some kindle. Cullen held a large bucket of what Gabriel would bet money held kerosene. He shook his head. Leave it to their enforcer to know just how to make things catch fire. Behind them more of their thirty still living pack members carried bodies.
Tristan walked up behind them. “Everyone’s working on it. You know, I was thinking that we can’t give them individual burials, but maybe we could at least acknowledge them one by one before we put them in the flames. A statement that they lived and that we loved them. They’re all our family.”
Gabriel nodded. “We say good-bye and then we find a way to rebuild from the ashes they leave behind.”
But could the flames burn hot enough to scald away his sins?
* * * *
“Kendrick.” Carrie banged her hands on the bars of the cage he’d shoved her in. At first he’d tried to keep her in a room, but she’d nearly gotten out several times so now she’d been banished to the cage. In her human form. It didn’t matter. Her wolf paced around as much as she did. Shifters didn’t respond well to imprisonment. Now she knew why that lesson had been drilled into her mind.
A woman popped into the room and Carrie growled. The Drea woman that Kendrick had apparently taken to sleeping with. “You.”
“Me.” Drea smiled. “Yes, dear. You’re going to get used to me. You’re here until Kendrick can either turn Gabriel to our side or I can figure out how to magically maneuver him. Then he’ll be no use for you. We’ll even let you leave. Where will you go? No one at Westervelt even knows who you are.”
“I’m aware of my situation, you bitch.”
Her mother would be appalled at her choice of language. But then again, her father had murdered her mom. Perhaps the woman who raised her wouldn’t care that much about her vulgarity anymore.
“Then why are you screaming? You don’t really expect Kendrick to come here to deal with you?”
Carrie banged the cage bar. Her hand throbbed in response.
Take it easy , her wolf warned.
“I have been here for weeks. I need to know what is going on. I want to speak to Gabriel.”
“That’s cute.” Drea bent over her cage. Carrie could smell the woman’s perfume, and whatever it had been made from hadn’t come from nature.
No . He clenched his fists. I told Kendrick I wouldn’t break, and I’ll live by that .
“Put the stuff we need for the fire over there. No matings are going to take place there for the foreseeable future. Let’s honor the ones that did take place by ending their time here where once they were happy.”
“Good idea.” Michael squatted down onto the ground. “Do you think it’s weird that none of us, none of his sons, were mated? Shouldn’t one of us be in that pile too?”
One of us should be there . “No. I guess it’s statistics. I mean, look at Cullen. He’s not mated, and he’s been around forever. There just aren’t that many matings.”
“True.” Gabriel stood. “How could he stand it? After he killed Mom? Why didn’t he kill himself?”
“The aunts are making it. They’re withstanding the pull to die for all of us.”
Michael kicked the dirt. “Are you suggesting Dad is acting altruistically and keeping himself alive for all of our sakes?”
“No.” Gabriel looked up at the sun. How could it be shining today? Shouldn’t it have fallen from the sky in tribute to the world ending? “Dad’s evil. To his core. He probably paid some fucking witch to keep him alive. Mom deserved better. She got the unmated women off the island and then stood there and waited for him. That’s bravery.”
Carrie had waited too. She hadn’t gotten on that boat even when she knew others were dying. Where did the women in his life find their courage? How did they hold on to their love when all the sense in the universe should have them running for their lives away from their crazed mates?
The pack members started to arrive in the clearing. Some were carrying wood, some kindle. Cullen held a large bucket of what Gabriel would bet money held kerosene. He shook his head. Leave it to their enforcer to know just how to make things catch fire. Behind them more of their thirty still living pack members carried bodies.
Tristan walked up behind them. “Everyone’s working on it. You know, I was thinking that we can’t give them individual burials, but maybe we could at least acknowledge them one by one before we put them in the flames. A statement that they lived and that we loved them. They’re all our family.”
Gabriel nodded. “We say good-bye and then we find a way to rebuild from the ashes they leave behind.”
But could the flames burn hot enough to scald away his sins?
* * * *
“Kendrick.” Carrie banged her hands on the bars of the cage he’d shoved her in. At first he’d tried to keep her in a room, but she’d nearly gotten out several times so now she’d been banished to the cage. In her human form. It didn’t matter. Her wolf paced around as much as she did. Shifters didn’t respond well to imprisonment. Now she knew why that lesson had been drilled into her mind.
A woman popped into the room and Carrie growled. The Drea woman that Kendrick had apparently taken to sleeping with. “You.”
“Me.” Drea smiled. “Yes, dear. You’re going to get used to me. You’re here until Kendrick can either turn Gabriel to our side or I can figure out how to magically maneuver him. Then he’ll be no use for you. We’ll even let you leave. Where will you go? No one at Westervelt even knows who you are.”
“I’m aware of my situation, you bitch.”
Her mother would be appalled at her choice of language. But then again, her father had murdered her mom. Perhaps the woman who raised her wouldn’t care that much about her vulgarity anymore.
“Then why are you screaming? You don’t really expect Kendrick to come here to deal with you?”
Carrie banged the cage bar. Her hand throbbed in response.
Take it easy , her wolf warned.
“I have been here for weeks. I need to know what is going on. I want to speak to Gabriel.”
“That’s cute.” Drea bent over her cage. Carrie could smell the woman’s perfume, and whatever it had been made from hadn’t come from nature.
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