49. Rolly
Rolly
It’s over, but just as I think that, she collapses. I dive forward, catching her and pulling her up against my chest, holding her tight. I brush my hair back, my eyes burning as I fight not to cry. The bond is silent, trembling in pain now.
“Baby?”
She opens her eyes, and I don’t know who I’m looking at. She is just so lost.
“She’s gone.”
Kestrel.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper and pull her up into my arms, cradling her against my chest. She starts to sob, those cries echoing around this empty tomb.
I wish we could go back, fix things, change it, save her the pain or even just allow her the time to grieve and fall apart, but we have no time for tears; we’ve been here too long, and we need to clean up.
I carry her away, leaving the rest of the pack to deal with the cleanup. I’ve seen some terrible things. I’ve lived through awful things, but I can’t imagine seeing someone hurt someone I love like that and being okay.
Even in the institutions, it was never that bad. What that poor girl had to go through, what they both went through, was horrendous.
I climb into the car and sit in the back of the blacked-out SUV, and I hold her so gently, rocking her as she falls into a million pieces. She clings to me like I can make it okay. I sing to her, whispering that I’m here, I’m not going anywhere, over and over. Just telling her I won’t leave.
She’s free, but at what cost?
“We have to bury her in a meadow of wildflowers. She loved flowers.”
“Okay, we will.”
She sniffs, and then the boot of the car opens, and Callea’s body, which has been wrapped in a tarp, is placed in the back of the car. Blaze gets in behind the driver’s seat and twists to look back at us.
I explain her request.
He thinks about it for a moment and then nods. “I know the perfect spot.”
King gets in, murmurs and touches her. Pix on the other side. Roseland and Sage squeeze into the front passenger seat. We drive a short distance before the warehouse explodes. I turn my head, watching the orange ball of flames reach high into the sky.
I can’t help but think that there really is a phoenix in those flames devouring all the bad. I hope so.
We’re bruised and bleeding, but we don’t stop until we are two hours away. Then we pull over, and Roseland limps into a convenience store and comes back with food, drinks, and a first aid package.
We patch each other up as we go, drinking and speaking in low and soft tones. Everyone is aware and conscious of the body in the back.
Seven hours later, just as the night has turned to its darkest hue, we arrive in a place that is vaguely familiar.
“Where are we?”
“Do you remember that house in the middle of nowhere, the one Kestrel was offended to stay in? The one that burned down?” Blaze asks softly.
I look around in shock. “Really?”
“Really, really. I took a longer route because I didn’t want to get caught with a body, but this is it.”
I get out of the car and look at the field of flowers.
“Who owns this land?”
Blaze walks over to stand beside me. “We do.”
We bury Callea in the flowers, where the moonlight can touch her.
We asked Kestrel if she wanted to say any words, but she just shook her head.
“We never needed words.”
We don’t push her, and when she indicates that she’s ready to go back, we head off. Surprisingly, we end up at the Sanderson’s home. Our pack crashing in the spare room of the Prince pack’s house.
Kestrel sleeps for three days.
The rest of us just orbit her, waiting to see what’s going to happen, what she wants.
When she wakes up, she eats and drinks, and then looks me in my eyes.
“Can we go home?”
We don’t have a home.
“I’m not sure where that is, Kest,” I say gently.
“I know. But we can go and find it. Together.”
I lean in and kiss her forehead. The spark of life is back in her eyes. She’s fighting to live, fighting for a future with us. A thread of hope lights inside me. Perhaps we’ll be okay.
Pix takes her hand and kisses the back of it. “Sounds delightfully interesting.”
Blaze and Sage exchange a look. “I’m sold.”
“Same.”
We all look at King and Roseland.
King shrugs. “Wherever our omegas are is wherever I want to be.”
Roseland just stares at Kestrel.
“What?” she asks defensively.
“Do you have an idea of where you want to be?”
She blushes and looks down. “A house with a bed big enough for us all and a big tree, big enough to climb in…”
Roseland smiles widely. “Let’s go, then.”