Mine

Chapter 6

The crowd united in their pain and distress at the loss of the Alpha, their sobs filling the night with the crackling of the fire and inching closer again, I found Toby and Aiden to one side. Harry, Aiden’s Uncle stood in front of them and the group of about eight that surrounded them were the only ones not crying. Had they come with Nate or as the closest pack, had they come to pay their respects?

The sobs soon silenced, the odd sniffle or exaggerated sigh replacing it and all stood up. Looking towards the house, the remaining Alpha appeared and the fear that tore through my body had me covering my mouth in an effort to keep quiet. Behind her, Nate and Dean carried their Fathers body on the wooden stretcher and just as the moon peaked over the hill behind us they slid his body over the flames, moving to stand together as a family.

Because that’s what they were, not what they are.

One of the elders stood, reciting something in an ancient language no one spoke anymore. As if they understood their duty, it wasn’t until he was half way through that the flames finally engulfed the body. Nate stood tense beside his brother who comforted their Mother. She didn’t look so scary now, she looked weak. Her sobbing drowned out the words of the elder, but not once did Nate look her way. His face was set to stone, watching the final resting place of his Father and once the Elder silenced, the chorus of howls from the shifted wolves expressed the true feelings of the pack. It was all there, the loss, the love… For a second I forgot everything and only wanted to be down there with them as we all mourned together. But I had never had a place down there and now with Nate here, I couldn’t leave.

The silver flecks of spirit rose up amongst the black smoke, joining up with the white orb in the sky. It was done. He was gone.

In three steps Nate had to gone to Harry. Dean left his Mother to grab Nate’s arm and pulled him back. I couldn’t hear what was being said, I didn’t really need to. It could only be him serving an ultimatum or threat and no matter what it was, Nate was about to shift.

From my position on the hill, I spotted the car lights down the drive before they disappeared as quickly as they came. No one would dare arrive late to the funeral of their Alpha. The punishment would be too severe and looking back, Harry leant close to Aiden and Toby. The pair nodded and went to stand by Nate. He didn’t seem to notice.

The pack began to disperse, keeping in small groups they continued to mourn. Nate shoved Dean and in a swift comeback, the soon to be Alpha had his sibling on the ground. Aiden and Toby moved in to defend him only now the rest of the pack was paying attention.

And that’s when the backup arrived.

Human and wolves started to brawl, the sadness of the situation disappearing as the fight quickly moved to an intense level. The coward in me wanted to run, to get away while we could, but that was never going to be an option while Nate was down there. The confidence he had built up in me in the last year returned, taking over with the logic I had no reason to fear any of these shifters anymore.

No one noticed as I joined the chaos, and going straight to Nate, I had the element of surprise. Running over I put all I had into knocking Dean over and I did. It took him a second to realize who I was and that was all he needed to shift.

“Nate!” Ignoring the wolf, I dropped down beside him and the wound against his temple had him barely conscious. Dean knew how to fight, I’d seen him drop shifters twice his size and his brother had been no match.

“Sylvie, go. Run!” He stuttered and from behind me, Aiden’s hands were under my arms lifting me up and dragging me away.

“No! We can’t leave him!” I scream, too busy fighting my friend to see Dean surge forward.