Under the exit lights《camren》

"I Fucking Love You."

They held Cole's funeral in the back yard of the Hamilton house.

It was a small affair, just like Cole would have wanted it to be. Normani, Lauren and Ariana couldn't be there, but Noah understood why. He knew Cole would understand too. Their alpha needed them, and no matter what, she couldn't reach the same fate. It hurt, but he accepted it.

Some other time, he thought. They'll have their turn to mourn some other time.

Otherwise, it was just this little mound in the earth beside a peach tree, completely secluded from the rest of the world. Cole never liked to grab too much attention in his life, so they knew he wouldn't want that now either. The spot just seemed... right.

And he was just like that. Never one to make too much of a fuss, always more worried about others than about himself, and they all knew it. They all knew everything about him, and they felt it too. The pain.

Like a stab to the heart.

Nobody had anything to say. And although it was customary for someone to recite some kind of sermon, or maybe a little prayer, none of them could muster up the will to do it. They all just stood there, the vampires, witches and werewolves alike, staring at the ground as if a hand would break through the soil.

The Hamiltons did their blessings and enchantments over the grave, the vampires all leaving flowers over the headstone. Ally was crying, Dinah not far behind her, Noah was kneeling on the ground, Billie with her hand on his shoulder, and Shawn... Shawn was stone-faced. Shawn felt an anger inside him. A vengefulness.

He knew someone had to pay... but not right now.

Billie had never felt so lost, and that statement had never been so truthful. Sure, she'd been through a lot. She'd been chained and abused in more ways than one... but she'd never felt a loss quite so devastatingly horrible that it could throw her off the rails to an extent that would make her dizzy enough to throw up. She'd never lost one of her own.

And it was a strange feeling, she thought, to have grown so close to someone that their death was almost unimaginable. Someone like Cole, so protective and fierce in his loyalty, Billie would never have dreamed that anything would have happened to him.

They were all supposed to make it, weren't they? They were all supposed to live. All of them. No man left behind. That was the way of the pack, and especially the Fifth moon. She always thought they were invincible that way, y'know? They'd all made it through so much already, why not another round?

But they didn't all make it this time, and she realised quickly just how cruel the world could be. It felt like they were betraying Cole by still living, it felt like they were leaving him behind. And Billie just knew, she knew that these feelings, the hurt that broke them all, was coming directly from Noah's heart.

Billie had always found Noah annoying, she made no effort to hide that fact. But a part of her, that deep part inside of her that suddenly decided to make an appearance, felt this urge to protect him. Sure, she insulted him all the time. But if anyone else dared to try, other than her pack of course, they'd probably land up in the hospital or dead.

It was twisted, and confusing, she knew. But that was the way she felt and that was the way it was. Nobody could hurt him as long as she was around, nobody could hurt any of her pack as long as she was around. But this kind of hurt, the hurt that they were all experiencing then... there was nothing she could do to ease such pain.

And she could only imagine what Camila would feel when she woke up.

Everyone wore black, even the daylight sky. Even those strange vampires, even the child. It felt wrong, Billie thought. She never wanted any of this, to see black clothes everywhere, and tears running down every face. None of them ever wanted this. Not even Cole. It all just felt wrong, as wrong as could be, but they did it anyway. Because Noah asked them to.