Bitter Kisses

AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END! Read it please!

Also, Darren DID meet his mate...You always meet your mate before you die. Always. So Darren met her, then he died. :'( Sad, I know.

Now, on with the story!

Question of the Day: Do you like the ending?

Song of the Day: Give You My All by Eyes Set To Kill

Remember to...

Vote

Comment

Fan

-Tavita

***

Epilogue

***

I bent at my knees, letting my hand softly brush over the short grass. It was a serene place; no chaos, no destruction. Just a reminder of loved ones, loved ones that so many had lost.

My hand twitched up and I let the tips of my fingers brush against the letters engraved into a tall block of stone. Like every other time I touched the words, I felt that sad, longing feeling rush into me, making me wish for something that I would never have.

In memory of Xavier Landon Wolfe. Beloved son and friend.

I closed my eyes, tears pooling against my will and let my knees rest on the grass, pressing my forehead against the cool stone. It’d been a long time since he had died in my arms in the cover of the forest while the battle raged on, but when I revisited this site, it still sent a deep aching in my heart.

Today was actually the day he had closed his eyes for the final time seven years ago.

In the time he’d been gone, a lot of things had changed in the world.

For instance, the war between the hunters and supernatural had ended. It had lasted for two years before the leader of the Circle had made a peace treaty with the packs. A descendant of a famous Circle leader from the 1800 century had introduced the old ways of the Circle to the hunters. Now they only hunted down creatures that had no humanity. The newfound – but not really new since it began five years ago – peace was nice. Now we didn’t have to look over our shoulders every time we went out.

In all, the three packs, Midnight, Shadow and Moon, had made up a hundred members. By the end, it was sixty. We had lost forty men and women. Mates had lost their other halves, children lost their parents, and parents lost their children…The first year after the battle was a time of huge grief.

The Midnight Pack had chosen Hayden to be their Alpha. Parker became their Beta, which was his rightful place. Hayden had neither true alpha or beta blood in him, but Parker did, just like me and Holly. The pack was in turmoil for the first few months of Xavier’s departure, but they coped.

Dylan was the lucky one. He had a small pack in general and had not lost any of his men. Kellan was wounded on his neck, but he had survived it by some miracle. Luckily, it hadn’t gotten his brain or heart.

As for the Shadow Pack…we had suffered heavily. Sierra met her mate eight months after the battle and had left with him to another pack. In the span of one year, I had lost my mate and my two best friends. So many families had died. It was heartbreaking.

I had stuck around until the war ended, helping Jebadiah restore the pack to full strength. But as soon as the peace treaty was created, with Jeb and Lily’s permission, I left the Shadow Pack, to escape the memories and hurt. Jebadiah was reluctant to let me go at first, but I had suggested for him to promote one of the older, experienced men to be Beta.

For my escape, I had chosen a town that was three hours away from the Shadow Pack. It was nearer to where Dylan had his pack house located, but I wasn’t in his territory either. There, I had created a new life for myself as a self-defense teacher. It seemed like the best job for me, considering my history.

It wasn’t easy to leave. Michael had wanted to come with me, but I knew I couldn’t take him away from pack life. He needed to be around our own kind as he grew up. Jebadiah wouldn’t have minded me taking him as he was basically my son, but I hadn’t wanted to separate him and the family he knew there. To soothe both our hurt and loneliness, I had picked him up every Friday since the last five years to spend time with me for a few days. He was twelve now and a handsome young boy, but he still spent weekends with me. I would always be his mommy, no matter what anyone said.