Book 1: Chapter 94

*** Silas POV ***



Her breathing stopped. Aelia’s body fell slack in the lap of Finn, her head falling to one side. Finn screamed as Noah held onto him for dear life. Tears streamed down my face as I stared at what was my sister. Nate was curled up into a ball, wailing as he held her hand to his chest. My heart felt like it had been torn from my chest. A silver bullet straight into my heart. It hurt to breath, hurt to be alive. Eros howled within me, crying as only he knew how.

She was within my grasp. I finally had her. There were so many more things I needed to tell her, wanted to tell her and that I wanted to ask her. Force her to spill all her secrets that she held from us. Ask her advice on moving forward and how I was supposed to handle the pack. Now, she was gone. My baby sister was gone.

When my father said she died, I was angry. That anger drove me and helped me move forward. It’s what I lived on and thrived on. Seeing Aelia again, watching her smile, watching her be happy and mad and sad, she managed to break through all that anger. It was misplaced anyways. Now though, now I had nothing to hold on to. Nothing to keep me going or to mask the pain. My little sister was dead and it was because her body shut down on her.

Looking up at Nate, his eyes met mine. I wanted to reach out and pull him to me. I wanted to hold him, knowing the same pain in his eyes. My body wouldn’t move. I looked back at her face, Finn brushing it softly. He was whispering softly how much he loved her. Turning my head, I saw Charles standing under the awning of the bar. Sam was in his arms as he cried. There were even tears in Charles’ eyes. Our eyes met but he didn’t hold my look. Instead, he pressed his lips to the top of Sam’s head, trying to comfort him.

Thunder rolled above us as the rain continued to pour down. “We need to move her.” I finally found my voice but it sounded raspy and hoarse.

“She’s not going anywhere! She is where she belongs!” Finn bellowed but Noah took his head in his hands.

Noah shook his head. “Silas is right. Solaris is our Alpha Prince, First Named, our Rogue King and our mate. She died protecting her family and will receive a proper funeral.”

Finn dropped his head into Noah’s shoulder. “If I let her go…”

“She’s already gone, Finn. She’s already free from this fucked up world. It continued to fuck her over and over again but she always faced it, no matter what. She saved us time and time again. Now, it’s our time to set her free. We have to give the Moon Goddess with her soul.”

Taking a deep breath, I willed my legs to move. It felt like I was slogging through mud but they finally moved. My arms slipped under her neck and her legs, pulling her up off the wet pavement. Nate had stood up as well and grabbed my underarm, helping pull me up to standing. Once I was on both feet, the metal of her leg and anything else that was attached to her arm clatter to pieces onto the floor. Finn choked out another sob and I saw Noah grimace. Nate was shaking as he stood by me.

I looked down to Aelia’s limp body. It was lighter without the metal attached but she was impossibly light even considering the amount of rain that soaked through her clothes. Blood and mud had covered her but there was still enough of the blue uniform to know exactly who she was.

“Noah, I need you to reach out to the Alpha King. Please alert him of the death of the First Alpha Prince.”

“Right…of course…”

He got up, helping pick Finn off the ground. He threw his mate’s arm over his shoulder and turned, carrying him inside the bar.

“What can I do, Silas?” Charles asked, still holding Sam.

“Please…” The words caught in my throat. “Fuck.” It hurt and I felt myself falling a part all over again.

Nate put a hand on my back, holding me steady. A wave of peace and strength came over me. It was enough to allow me to swallow down the emotions bubbling up. Looking down at him, I nodded.

“Contact Ken, he needs to work out the funeral’s for our warriors who fell.”

Sam pushed away from Charles to stand before me as my Gamma. “There were none, Alpha.”

“What?”

“There were none from our pack. The army…they…they protected all of our pack. Not a single of our guys died.”

Another part of me broke. She really stuck to her word. That she would protect our pack no matter what.

“Injured?”

“A few. They have already taken care of up at the hospital.”

I took a strained breath.

“Send some of the less weary boys back up for the northern patrols. I want the rest of them to help clean up with the army.”

Sam nodded. “I can relay that.”

“What can I do, Silas?”

“Fuck!” I growled at Charles and pulled Aelia’s body closer to me. It was already getting cold, the rain soaking through more. “Stop fucking asking! You can’t fucking do anything! None of us can!”

All five of them turned to look at me as I started to break down. Dropping my head, I pulled Aelia’s body up so my head could fall into the crook of her head. I tried to hold it in, keeping it to a quiet whimper but it was too much. They turned into wails as I held her body, rocking back and forth ever so slighting. Nate came around and reached up, pulling me down so he covered me. He wrapped his arms around me as I shook through my cries. I felt his body shaking as well but he didn’t make a sound. After a moment, I took a shaky breath as I tried to calm myself.

“We have to get her home.” Nate didn’t sound like himself and I looked up to see Wren had taken over.

“Right.”

I was so floored because it had been years since I had seen Wren take over Nate’s human form. Usually, he refused to do so. Turning, I took one step at a time as I walked out of the parking lot. Body parts were scattered around and at one point, watching Aelia fight was both mesmerizing and sickening. It was then I realized she never really showed us her true power. Not only that but the power she showed today was literally at her weakest. After hours of a battle and the end of her life, her power was so immense that it could wipe out over thirty trained Hunters with a smile on her face.

Wren kept a hand on my back as we walked through the forest, only adjusting our trajectory a little North. I stumbled on a tree branch and tipped forward, only for Wren to catch me. His eyes looked into mine and he nodded but didn’t say anything. We continued on and the rain let up every so slightly. The treelined broke into the clearing Sam had designated her army to be stationed. From the looks of things, the battle was over. Some of the rogues were sitting helping each other with bandages or trying to keep the fires from going out in the downpour.

When we walked in, a few heads turned to inspect us. Once they did, all of them injured or not, stood with their fists over their chests. The whole camp rose to salute their Alpha Prince. It became hard to swallow again but I made my way to the tent that I knew had her emblem on it. Wren moved the tent flap and I walked in. There was still the light on and a smoldering fire in the fire pit. Walking over to the bed, it was completely made as though she hadn’t used it. As I placed her down onto the blankets, her body fully rested on the bed, my knees gave out. Kneeling at the edge of the bed, I let my forehead fall against the sheets.

“Silas…” Nate was back but his voice trembled.

Shaking my head, I didn’t lift it. Goddess, this hurt to fucking bad. I thought I knew what grief was. I thought I understood what mourning meant. I thought I had gone through it when my father made us stand out in the snow as he had her funeral. Maybe all these years I had been lying to myself. Maybe I hadn’t really thought she was dead because I never felt this level of pain. This was my sister. The one who never failed to have my back. How the hell was I supposed to go on without her?

Each tear made a soft thud against the carpet that was under me. My fists bunched up the blankets as I tried to ground myself to something; anything.

“She’s gone Nate…she’s actually gone…I…I can’t…” My words hurt as I tried to inhale but it felt like I was swallowing knives.

I felt Nate behind me but it wasn’t just his presence. The intensity of his pain rippled through me as well. We both were suffering, not knowing how to process the torment we were now feeling. After a few minutes of only the rain pounding on top of the tent, Nate roared. His foot slammed into the chair, making it fly across the tent and explode into pieces. Picking up the mirror, he threw it and it shattered on the floor. He leaned over to grab the fire pit and his hands held the metal rim but he stopped. Weeping over the hot coals, his clutched the metal until I realized his hands were burning.

“Nate! Stop!” Jumping up, I ran over to him and grabbed his hands. “Stop! You’re going to burn your hands!”

I tugged at his arms but they wouldn’t budge. He was locked onto the metal edge as his eyes were solely focused on the fire that was burning. Grabbing his face, it took some effort but I forced him to look at me.

“Let go, Nate.”

After two seconds of him staring into my eyes, his hands let go of the edge and I dropped my hands from his face. Taking his hands in mine, I turned them over. They were black. They would heal but it was lightly they would scar. I looked back up at him.

“You stupid wolf. Aelia would have never wanted you to hurt yourself. No matter how much pain we are in.”

His eyes were focused on mine and we looked at each other for a long time. Suddenly, he moved forward and slammed his lips onto mine.