Chapter 14 The Funeral
The Funeral
JESSICA
TWO WEEKS AGO:
Whitemore Plantation
“You’ve grown quiet. What are you thinking about?” Anders asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
I sigh. “I was thinking about the first time I met Alpha Agnus.” I shake my head. “I was so upset with her when you came to take me. I felt like she ratted me out.”
He laughs. “We chased you all the way from the clinic that night. You definitely gave those guards a run for their money, including me.” He smiles.
“I finally decided to knock on her door to let her know we were searching for you, but she was already on the porch. She said that she dreamed about you and wanted to get to know you a little more, so I should return the next evening after dinner. I tried to protest, but she dismissed me. I explained that I would return under the Alpha King’s orders.
She basically flipped me off and slammed the door in my face. ”
I giggle. “Sounds like her.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t remember why, but that entire day turned to shit.
We couldn’t pick you up until the evening anyway.
When I returned, she explained that your name was Jessica and that I needed to raise you with the guards.
She mandated that I bring you back regularly so she could spend time with you.
She said that the two of you had become friends, and she liked your company.
” He raises his eyebrows. “I thought she lost her mind. Then she told me, ‘Don’t repeat the same choices of others. History doesn’t have to be something we only learn from books.
We also need to learn from those closest to us.
’ With that said, I brought you back to the clinic, as I was ordered to do, and had a long discussion with the Alpha King about what happened next. ”
I frown. “What did she mean by that?” I ask.
He runs a hand down his face. “I didn’t know at first, but then I realized… much later.” He falls silent and turns to look out the window again.
Why is he acting so odd today? I clear my throat. “She always played by her own rules. I mean, her funeral is by invitation only.” I chuckle.
He smiled. “I know. I was invited. I would have been insulted if my own grandmother didn’t invite me to her funeral.”
My head whips up to meet his gaze. “Grandmother?”
He lowers his chin and nods. Anders doesn’t explain further as we enter the Whitemore territory. My head still whirls from confusion and, well, plain curiosity. Stepping out of the car, Anders instructs both Ean and Odyssey to stand guard at the pack hall’s main entrance.
Miller greets us. “I think we’re ready to start. You are the last to arrive.”
I smile apologetically, and Miller mirrors the gesture with kind understanding in his eyes. I hand him the package of brownies. “As requested.”
He grins. “Oh, yes, these were her favorite. Mine as well.” He squeezes my shoulder. “I remember the first time you made these, the first time we all met you.”
I nod. “I made these for dinner every time I visited after that.”
“A great tradition, one I will always treasure,” he whispers hoarsely.
Sissy approaches and stands next to Miller. “Jessica.” She hugs me and, pulling away, grabs both of my hands in her own. “Come. Alpha Agnus requested that both you and Anders sit in the front, opposite Marisol, Morgan, and Peter.”
Anders simply nods. It makes sense that he would sit with the family, now that I know Alpha Agnus was his grandmother, but I’m just a friend.
Sissy guides us to the rest of the group, and I walk over to Marisol to offer my condolences.
She envelopes me in a hug. “Thank you.”
Not sure of what else to say, I gently squeeze her hand.
Morgan and Peter stand on either side of me. Peter pats my back, and Morgan pats my arm. “Our Aggie loved you so much,” Peter shares.
“I loved her, too. She was like a grandmother to me. I have a lot to thank her for. She was a large part of my life. I am who I am partly because of her influence. I hope you all know how much she loved all of you. She talked about you all the time. If I didn’t know any better, I would never know you were her stepchildren. She always thought of you as her own.”
Marisol dabs away fresh tears and replies, “I always thought of her as my mother, too.” Peter and Morgan nod in agreement. Peter, the youngest of the three, spent the most time with Alpha Agnus. His eyes mist with the sheen of unshed tears as well.
Miller addresses the group, “Shall we start?”
Marisol nods, and I find my seat next to Anders. The funeral progresses exactly as Alpha Agnus planned—short and to the point.
When it ends, Miller clears his throat. “She requested that all five of you be present for the reading of her will.”
He looks at each of us in turn, and we all agree. Of the three stepchildren, no one objects to Anders’s presence. Do they know?
We follow Miller to Alpha Agnus’s home and gather in her office.
Miller sits behind Aggie’s office desk and begins to read aloud from a stack of documents.
“As the direct female descendant of Alpha Agnus Whitemore, Princess Jessica Langhlam will succeed me as Alpha of the Whitemore pack, and as the Alpha, she will become CEO of Whitemore and Parker Corporation.”
Blood drains from my face. My throat tightens. I shake my head in protest before I find the right words.
Miller lifts his hand to stop me and continues.
“I am reading verbatim from Alpha Agnus’s will.
” He takes a deep breath. “Jessica, I see you starting to protest. Don’t overthink this.
Despite your feelings of incompetence and unworthiness, you are the next Alpha.
I read your tea leaves many times over the years.
I spent time with you, and in my own way, I prepared you for this role.
This is your divine path. Miller will provide you with the appropriate documents for the plantation business, including my notebook.
Morgan and Peter will give you information regarding all of the accounts and legal paperwork of the corporation.
Take a deep breath, Jessica. Everything will work out in the end. ”
Miller hands me the worn notebook and scans over the paper. He glances at Anders. “Well, uh, there are a couple more things you need to know.”
Anders stands directly behind me and places a warm hand on my shoulder.
Miller swallows. “You are aware that the Whitemore plantation borders the entrance of the seventh territory. What you are not aware of is that Alpha Agnus is the title owner of the seventh territory. She has been protected for many years through the royal decree that her mother before her established with the Alpha King at the time. Now that Alpha Agnus passed, the royal decree does not protect you as her successor.”
Miller holds eye contact with me to verify my understanding.
“Not only are you the Alpha of Whitemore pack and CEO of her company, but you are also the landowner and ruler of the seventh territory, also known as Quartz territory. Because of the LS laws regarding female Alphas, you must be mated before your twenty-fifth birthday to maintain your position as Alpha of the seventh territory.”
I stare blankly ahead, no longer distinguishing details or people, as my mind tries desperately to process what I hear.
Miller glances at me again. “In other words, to keep the pack and the territory protected and to prevent a direct challenge for your position, it is required that you are mated before your next birthday.”
The room remains silent. My birthday is in less than eight weeks.
I close my eyes shut, and my hands tremble.
The fucking panic begins to take over, rising from my chest. Tears well behind my eyelids.
I can’t do this. I don’t care what she thinks—I wasn’t prepared for this role. And mated?! I can’t…
Anders’s warm hand squeezes my shoulder. “Breathe, Jessica.”
I suck in a shuddering breath, open my eyes, and look up at Anders. Shaking my head. I turn to Morgan, Peter, and Marisol. “Why me? This isn’t right. I think she made a mistake,” I whisper.
“She’s been coaching you for this role since you met her,” Marisol says with an earnest smile.
Miller nods his head in agreement. He didn’t even like me when we first met. Why is he agreeing to this?
“I’m sure you have questions. We are here for you, and we will help you. But Alpha Agnus has foreseen that you wouldn’t need much of our help as you settle into your role and become mated.”
Peter and Morgan offer additional encouraging statements, but they fall on deaf ears. One burning question flips over and over in my mind, and I need an answer now. I ask Anders, “What does she mean, I’m a direct descendant?”
“You haven’t told her?” Miller snaps.
Anders clenches his jaw and then looks away. “You are the last surviving female of our family bloodline. According to our pack traditions, Alpha status is passed down from female to female.”
Our family bloodline. Our family. Aggie is Anders’s grandmother. “That means, you and I…”
He finally meets my eye, his shining with sorrow. “You’re my daughter. I—”
Waving away any more of his words, I storm out of the study. I need air. My heart pounds loudly in my ears. I can barely keep any thoughts straight. All this time. All this time! Both Anders and Alpha Agnus knew who I was to them, and they never said a damn thing.
I pace near the edge of Quartz Lake. How the hell did they keep this a secret? If I ever thought my life was in danger before, this—all of this—puts my life, as well as the lives of the pack now in my charge, at so much risk.
Loud thunderclaps echo overhead. The sky darkens, casting a sinister shadow over the lake’s cool facade.
I wipe at the tears streaming down my face. To my surprise, I discover I hold Alpha Agnus’s notebook, the very same notebook I saw her write in since our first meeting after she studied my empty teacup. I don’t even remember taking it from Miller.
I frown. Her tea readings were always accurate.
I witnessed her predictions come true myself.
But as many times as she read my tea leaves, I often wondered why she never told me about my path, my future true mate, or anything really.
I never pushed because, sometimes, I didn’t really want or need to know.
Over time, with all the stupid shit that happened in my life, I convinced myself that I didn’t need tea leaves to foretell my divine path or my true mate. I made my own path. If she couldn’t tell me when she was alive, then to hell with it.
I toss the notebook into the lake and watch it sink slowly down into its bottomless end. Angry tears continue to fall.
No, I don’t need tea leaf readings or visions from a woman who is no longer here to answer my questions. And I definitely do not need nor want to read about the lies and secrets kept from me all these years.
I reach into my pocket for a tissue I stuffed in there earlier, and my phone tumbles out, landing on my foot. I pick it up, wiping dirt off the face against my dress. When I flip it over to inspect it, Emily’s contact information flashes on display. The phone rings.
“This is Emily—you know what to do.”
My heart breaks, shattering into a million pieces.
I clutch the phone to my chest and stifle my sobs with a hand over my mouth.
Emily… was my ride or die, my person. She knew when to give it to me and when to take me out of my head.
She never held back what she thought, and I loved that about her.
I didn’t deserve her. I was a horrible friend, always caught up in my own shit.
But she was always there for me. In times like this, I would have called her first.
I am such a selfish bitch. Here I am, wishing she was here to talk to when it’s my fault she’s gone.
Guilt, regret, anger, and loneliness harden into my chest. She is the very reason why I can’t be Alpha.
My best friend in the whole world died at the hands of monsters, and I couldn’t protect her.
I couldn’t stop it from happening. Still clutching my phone to my chest, I fall to my knees and scream.
Lightning streaks the sky, and thunder booms, my scream lost in the sound.
My mind spins out of control. How am I supposed to protect a pack? How am I supposed to protect a territory that caused the deaths of so many innocent shifters? How many more people need to die because of me?
I can’t do this. I’m not strong enough. I just want to fall apart.
Then, I hear it—a voice. My phone falls from my grasp, as if someone slapped it out of my hand. As I reach down, I realize I accidentally dialed someone.
“Jessica? Jess! Is everything okay?”