{Book Two In : The Alpha's Trilogy}
Alister Clayert-Phoenix was not born an Alpha, and as a rare golden wolf, he hasn't been dealt an easy hand.
When he reaches teenhood, he's lucky enough to be rescued by the Alpha and Beta of Autumn Falls. They do...
I'd never been to a funeral before. I never got to see my parents be put to rest if they ever did, and shifters lived long lives, as well as wolves so there was never anyone dying around the compound for me to go mourn. If there had been, I wasn't allowed to go, which was fair because I had only known a hand full of people.
But a wolf funeral, it was solemn. They'd gathered at the packhouse, everyone gathering about a box in the cemetery that hid beyond the trees of the pack land. Miquel sat silently in front of everyone, his lips moving with prayer as the Alpha spoke over Nani's body.
The day was sunny, beautiful, a day that reminded me of her. Birds chirping in the trees as a fire was being built at the head of the small cemetery.
Her body was lowered into the ground as the fire burned, it was Darren and Verene's duty to gather her things to place in the fire. Though not everything was burned, Miquel of course got to keep anything he wished. It was customary to burn the dead's belongings so that it could join her in the next life.
Once it was over, we stayed until the fire burned out. Darren connected with his old pack while Riot spent time with his friends and family. I was stuck close to Silas, who though followed Darren around a tad, did hold himself back for my sake, and I was more than thankful for that.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I didn't want to jinx what Riot and I had, but we'd been getting close. Though I still felt hallow with Nani gone, now that her funeral was over and that my dads were leaving things felt normal. I tried really hard not to break down during the day while we worked. But my soul just needed to be around him it seemed. And I think he knew it because lately, he was never far away.
Preston knew about Nani and said he was going to come home early, but we reassured him that he didn't need to, that he could enjoy his vacation, especially where he had started it late. I wondered though what the house would be like with him home. Riot and I had gotten into a routine, we had started sharing his bed, opting that it was better for both our necks. We didn't sleep very close, there was no touching as of right now, but it was comfortable, more so than the sofa. In the morning we'd wake up, get the animals ready for their day and as I was feeding chickens Riot would get breakfast ready. We'd eat together before stopping in to see Miquel and Verne,
Lunchtime I would go in early to make us something to eat, it was nice. It had only been a week but it felt like a lifetime.
But I was still in a dark space. Every moment alone I could feel it crawling up my back, the bugs grabbing onto my neck and trying to keep me from doing anything, to keep me from being happy.
"Are you sure you're ok with me leaving?" Riot asked for the umpteenth time. I was sitting on the couch, feet up as I clicked through channels. I wanted him to stay so bad, I wanted to scream at him not to leave. But I didn't want to be that person. So I just looked up at him, smiling at him. His hair sweeping to one side, a leather jacket graced his arms with a dark blue button-up underneath, one with little pugs on it that I had picked out for him because he didn't know what he wanted to wear. He wore lighter jeans, his sneakers matching his jacket. He was perfect.
