Chapter 107

Danny’s POV
“What is this place?” Claudia asks Oliver, looking through the gates at all the headstones. “Our Cemetery” he says unlocking the gates. “It’s very secluded from the rest of the castle; I’m surprised we haven’t been here before” I tell him. I can’t remember anything about it. In any lifetime we have been through.
“I’m surprised, you don’t remember; it might be because you don’t remember anything after you died” Oliver says as we reach a part of the cemetery and he stops in front of a double headstone and I hear Claudia gasp. I look over to it; my eyes going wide; “Is this where we are buried? All of us?” I ask him; reading the headstone. It reads, one after the other; Elsie and Teancum; Veronica and Harold; Elouise and Liam; Heather and Patrick.
I look down the row of headstones; there are ones for the rest of us; including Ezra and Miranda. “This is where we will bury Tracey, with Miranda, Cecilia, Yvonne and Lucy” Oliver says, moving in front of the headstone.
“We are all buried here?” Claudia asks again, another tear rolling down her face. “As I look at Rick’s and Cynthia’s headstones. “There is no Theresa or Jared” I whisper.
“My great grandfather, Nathanial made a point to bury you all in the castle cemetery. We feel you deserved this respect. Theresa and Jared didn’t deserve it and they were cremated and their ashes were placed over there” Oliver says, putting his arms around Claudia’s shoulders; before pointing to a small wall at the back of the cemetery.
“When do you want to do the grave site burial?” I ask him. It will have to be later today. We made plans for us to have the funeral sometime today. “I was thinking around 2pm; is that ok with you?” Oliver answers me.
“2pm will be fine. I will inform the rest of the pack” I tell him as Claudia leaves the cemetery. **“Leave her be. She needs time to heal. Mandy told me they feel guilty she wasn’t there when it had happened, because she took Parker away from Jason to be with Phyliss at the time”** Jesse informs me.
**“It’s not their fault. Anyone of us could have been killed; including Jason or me”** I tell him, a frown appearing on my face. We know how she feels; if we were closer to Tracey, we could have stopped her from being killed too.
“We should get back” I say to Oliver and he nods his head as we both walk out of the cemetery in silence. “Is Claudia, ok?” Oliver asks, locking the gate behind us.
“Not really; she is having a case of survivor’s guilt. She feels if she was there when Tracey was killed; she would have been able to save her” I inform him, looking at her figure heading towards the packhouse. “I should notify the pack” I say to him and head towards the packhouse myself.
*“We have a funeral for Tracey at 2pm. It will be held at the castle cemetery, located south of the castle grounds”* I say, opening a mind link to both the west and east pack members. *“Do you want a wake for her as well? I can do up some refreshments with Josie”* Joslyn asks me.
*“Yes; that will be a lovely gesture”* I tell her and shut down the mind link and open another one to Isabella. *“Can you meet me at our room? Claudia needs a friend to talk to”* I ask her. *“I can meet you there in 20 minutes”* she answers me and shuts down the mind link immediately after she answers. She must be with a patient.
“Snow Blossom; I have Bella coming over to talk to you in 20 minutes” I call out, coming into our room. “Snow Blossom?” I call out again; walking into the bathroom. She isn’t in there. I come out and look in the closet. *“Snow Blossom?”* I mind link her.
*“I’m with Isabella. I know I needed to talk with her”* she answers me and shuts down the mind link. **“That’s who she had with her”** Jesse chuckles, coming forward into my mind. **“At least she is talking with her.” **
“Danny” Todd calls out entering my room with Joanna. “Sorry to intrude; we wanted to know if you need a hand with the funeral arrangements” Joanna includes.
“I would like that” I tell the pair as they sit down on the sofa. “Joslyn said both her and Josie are going to make some refreshments for after the funeral. She will be buried at the cemetery with her other…” I add, trailing off and look out of the window.
“Her other bodies. Is that what you were going to say? How many lives have you lived?” Todd asks me. I know he is curious; I am not in the mood to talk about it and he can sense that.
“Sorry; I should wait before asking all these questions” Todd includes, looking at Joanna. “It’s ok; I know you are curious about it. This is our 5th lifetime; Jesse and I have been together. His name is actually Jessibah and slowly over the years he stuck with Jesse as I was calling him Jesse from the moment, I got him” I explain to him.
“I can give a eulogy if you need me to. One from when she came to our pack and Connor has offered to give one from when she was a part of the Sapphire Moon Pack” Joanna says, a tear running down her cheek.
I nod at her; “That would be lovely. Thank you, Joanna,” I tell her.
“I have a few antidotes when she first met Jason. She is such a practical joker” she laughs and covers her mouth, gasping. “I mean was…” “No, you were right the first time; is. Jason probably wouldn’t tell you; when they first met as Ezra and Miranda; she used to do practical jokes on him all the time. In fact; her and Elsie used to have a feather and when Ezra or myself fell asleep near them; they would put maple sap on our hands and tickle our nose; ear, cheeks; whatever with this feather. It got to a point Parker and Jesse kept watch as we slept” I chuckle at them and Joanna starts to giggle with me.
“Is that the same as shaving cream on someone’s hand and we get them to smudge it over their face” Todd chuckles with us. “Yes; but maple sap was much stickier” I continue laughing as Claudia and Isabella come into the room.
“What’s so funny?” Claudia asks me. “I was telling Joanna and Todd how sticky Maple Sap is” I laugh and she scrunches her nose; concentrating on what I was saying. I can see the light bulb go off in her head and hers and Isabella’s eyes glaze over as she explains what I am talking about; before both ladies start to giggle too.
“How are you going?” Todd asks Claudia. “I will be fine. I have been speaking with Bella. It will take time to process everything that happened” she informs him, before sitting down on the sofa. “What are you doing here?” she adds, looking at him.
“They offered to help with the arrangements” I explain and she nods. “Do you need me for anything else?” Isabella asks. “No; thank you for talking to me” Claudia answers.
“Danny; I want to thank you for how you responded to Jacob yesterday. He was thrilled you asked him to protect me” Isabella smiles. “Anytime” I smile back at her and she heads out the door.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you. Matthew said he put Penelope, Michael, Josiah and Alexis in the same cell. Alexis and Josiah were screaming at Michael and Penelope telling them they were going to track down those that fled before the fight had started. They didn’t have as many people as first thought; maybe 600; if that” Todd exclaims.
“Not to deject from what has happened; I’m glad. Our casualties would have been far worse if they hadn’t” Claudia pipes in. Her and Joanna are still hurting from Tracey’s death and are putting on a brave front. Joanna gets up from the sofa and gives Claudia a hug.
“We will get through this together” she whispers to her.
“We should get going, we need to prepare for the funeral this afternoon. If you need anything else; just mind link me” Todd says, giving Claudia a hug, before him and Joanna walk out the door.
“We should get ready too” I tell Claudia. “We can do this. When I was speaking to Isabella; I was explaining it was me you would be burying in most of the other lifetimes; except the last one. We buried Chelsea first and it was way after Marcus was killed. She was explaining to me; as we are all chosen wolves, we will lose each other in the end. But to think of the bigger picture; we will always be together. Jason said the same thing, the night he bought Serenity back” Claudia explains, giving me a half smile.
“If it’s ok; can I use that for the funeral?” I ask her and she smiles at me. “Of course,” she tells me.