The Blood-Book III

Chapter 24: Unexpected Guests

It smelled like roses.

There were white roses covering Evangeline and Liam's pyres. White symbolizes their transition to the moon–a new life on the other side. The other side they would walk to together.

White roses.

They were mixed with other flowers, and bouquets, that wolves from both Tikanni and Mangata had picked and laid around the pyre. There was a bouquet at the top of wildflowers amongst them; blues, reds, purples, and what looked like daisies that I had picked from the wildflowers that grew in Ethan and my backyard.

A bed of white with red hair next to a bed of white with blonde hair; both laying next to each other as they would want it.

Derek, Barrett, Evie, Elliot, and Helen all carried flowers and placed them around the pyres at the base with the other hundreds of bundles; Evie was sobbing while Derek and Elliot both let their own tears fall on the flowers like rain. There was no hiding this heartbreak–not today.

Andrea snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me close to her as Ethan and Evan climbed up the wooden ladders that had been built on the pyre, while Lander climbed up on the other side–all three men carrying torches already in flames in their hands.

Andrea let out a shaky breath; Jaxon pulled her closer to him while Lyanna clung onto my other side, my heart breaking with hers. Levi and Lucas stood next to us; Levi looked like he still couldn't believe it. Like his brain understood what was happening, but he still wasn't comprehending it; Lucas just looked like he carried all the guilt in the world with him. Guilt that made me hurt more for him, because this wasn't his fault.

There was a vile creature named Aurelia, and it was her fault. She stabbed Liam with a silver blade that I so badly wanted to twist deep in her gut.

Ethan and Evan both just looked at Evangeline laying so peacefully in the bed of wood, twigs, and flowers cradling her. Ethan and I stayed the night in that treehouse the night she jumped; both of us were too horrified and too broken to move. It wasn't until Lucas found us that we came home–when Lucas brought us home.

Dominic gave Levi's shoulder a light squeeze while Wynona hugged Claire, the other females of both packs gathered around them and sharing her pain. Her pain that fell like a waterfall down her eyes as Lander let out a shaky breath and lit the small twigs on Liam's pyre. He seemed to stir something in Ethan and Evan, wake them from their trance and causing them to mechanically follow him.

It's amazing what fire can do. How it can burn and destroy but in the same notion how it can cleanse the earth of impurities. However today it was like the fire knew who it was that it was burning, the flames were almost gentle as they licked over the bodies laying before them; carefully burning away and taking them to a place far from here.

Remi was standing with Ryder, Jake, David, and Bowie. His eyes somber and full of tears while he watched the flames. Ryder whispered something to him but he just stood there with his eyes glued to the fire while his beast howled out painfully behind his eyes.

The men climbed down and walked back towards the crowd that had gathered to watch. The crowd that seemed to still be stunned at the sight of Lucas; some wolves were more than happy to see him and praised the moon and some were still in shock–almost scared. Levi whispered something to Lucas, something that seemed to make him smile a little before Levi kissed his temple.

I turned and found Ethan's eyes as Lyanna broke away from me and ran to Evan. It was like that night we had touched the tree–the night we saw them all die. Brokenness plagued him, gnawed at him.

Andrea nuzzled my cheek then let me walk to him. He let out a sharp breath and pulled me to him as the flames started to grow–started to reach towards the sky until the bodies were nothing more than ash floating up into the air.