(Sur)real

Blake’s words sent a chill through me.

The Others swirled around us in a frantic frenzy as a strip of weak darkness appeared in the center of our circle. I didn’t know what it was, but it felt hungry. We needed to hurry. Ignoring Blake’s ominous comment, I clasped Charlene’s hand as Michelle did the same. Immediately, a string of light drifted from Charlene, the end floating toward the dark line, and Charlene’s grasp tightened on mine.

“The Judgement can’t be made alone. There’s a reason we’ve Claimed mates. Thomas, hold Charlene,” I said. “It’s starting.”

Thomas wrapped his hands around her from behind. Light ignited in the canyon. Strings from every werewolf floated from their centers to an Elder and from the Elders, a single thread floated to Thomas. I couldn’t see what emerged from Thomas’s chest, but I saw the thread from Charlene turn into a cable.

The rest of my sisters’ chosen companions stepped forward and held them.

“Mimi!” a childlike voice screamed.

“Uncle Gregory,” another voice yelled as a wolf howled.

Michelle jerked, as if hit, and tried releasing my hand.

“Do not let go!” I yelled. “Everyone will die if we fail.” I was relieved when Isabelle and Emmitt both held tight to Michelle as well. She wailed and screamed as did the children.

Winifred, who still stood with the werewolves protecting us, snarled and leapt into the Urbat, the fighting starting anew.

Blake laughed. “I’ll make this choice even easier for you, Michelle. I’ll kill all the werewolves so there’s only one way you can vote to save your brothers.”

My heart hammered and my palms grew sweaty as the dark strip grew wider, and the Lady stepped out.

Bethi swore.

The Lady looked right at Charlene.

“Only you can bring balance. Feel your sister’s connection, just as you can feel all the connections through Thomas. Use it.”

Everyone around us stopped. Urbat and werewolf alike. I could feel Charlene’s influence in my mind, touching my link to Blake because of her physical connection to me. I wanted to weep as I finally understood why the Lady said I must remain Blake’s until the end.

“The time for Judgement is at hand,” the Lady said. “How will you bring balance to the three races?”

Tears ran down my cheeks, and my hands trembled.

“I will give the werewolves courage to continue on until the next Judgement.”

I turned my head toward Charlene.

“I will give them Strength,” she said.

“I will give them Hope,” Gabby said.

“I know you want me to say I’ll give them Wisdom, but how? I don’t feel wise. I feel bat-shit crazy, thanks to you.”

The Lady stepped toward Bethi and smoothed her hand along her cheek.

“Daughter, you are more Wise than you know.”

Bethi exhaled slowly.

“God, that feels good. I will give the werewolves my Wisdom. Thanks for giving me back my sanity.”

“I will give them Peace,” Isabelle said.

Michelle made a small sound between a sob and a hiccup.

“I will give them Prosperity. They deserve it.”

The Lady turned to me and held out her hand. Behind her a shadow slipped from the darkness.

“What the hell is that?” Bethi asked. The Others moved around me, caressing my skin. I shivered.

“The Judgement has been heard. Payment must be made,” the Lady said.

I nodded and turned to Jim.

JIM…

My heart ached as Olivia looked at me. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Not yet. Not ever.

“I can’t pay alone,” she said.

The pale hand she held out trembled. Finally, I understood my purpose and why the Lady had chosen me. Because, I’d always had the courage to do what needed to be done.

“Good,” I said. “I wasn’t ready to let go of you.”

I touched my hand to hers. The grey things that floated around her moved toward me.

CHARLENE…

“No!” I wailed as the grey things reached out toward Jim. At the same time I yelled, I grabbed my son’s will.

His abrupt stop surprised Olivia. She turned toward him, obviously confused. But only for a moment.

“Charlene,” she said, looking my direction. “Don’t do this. If we don’t fulfill our end of the agreement, the Judgement can’t take place.”

I looked at my baby boy. Then at Emmitt and Michelle and the rest of the people I loved.

“I understand. Just, not Jim.” I exhaled slowly. “And, not you, either.”

Thomas gave my shoulder a squeeze.

I am with you, he sent me. Always.

I knew he was. He always had been and always would be.

“Olivia, take care of our boy,” I said.

“Mom, no,” Jim managed to gasp out, a testament to his strength of will.

“Jim, honey, every Mom wants to stay and see their babies have babies. But, sometimes, we just can’t. I have to go. I love you. I love all of you. This started with me; it should end with me.”

Before either of them could protest, Thomas scooped me up in his arms and ran. Just like we did our first summer together. The memory held me as we sped into the void.

Through Olivia, I reached out and found the one will that had driven the werewolves to near extinction. As the void closed around us, I shattered Blake’s will and Thomas kissed me hard.

OLIVIA…

The Others swarmed around Thomas and Charlene and took their first payment. Jim yelled and rushed toward the void just as the veil sealed itself. A blast of something rippled outward and knocked all of us onto our backs.

Breathless and stunned, I stared up at the cloudless blue sky. Only a few wisps of grey floated there.

I blinked, and the grey disappeared. I blinked again as my skin prickled. Color. I could see color. How?

I sat up and looked around. Really looked. People. Their dust coated and bloody faces. Their expressions.

A man fell to his knees near me. His big, memorable shoulders shook. Not far from him, a girl rolled to her side then scrambled to a white-haired man lying next to her. The way she moved was familiar, too.

“Sam!” she yelled, shaking the man. “Sam!”

I knew that voice. Gabby. Further away, someone wailed, a keening sound the made the hair on the back of my neck stand up straight. A woman with white hair released two small boys and ran toward the fallen man. The way she moved. The power and control. I knew her.

Winifred cried so uncontrollably, I had to look away. In that glance, I saw the rest of the group I’d come to know in just a few short days.

Beside me, Isabelle stood and looked at the Urbat getting to their feet. Some of them growled at her. None of them made a move, though.

“Blake’s dead,” she said. “Judgement is over. Go home, assholes.”

“And don’t forget, the humans know you exist now. Good luck with that,” Bethi said, sitting up.

I moved toward Jim, still on his knees, and reached out to set a hand on his shoulder.

He jerked at my touch then set a hand over mine. Two little boys came barreling his way. He caught them in his arms and held them tightly until they wiggled their way free to run toward Michelle.

“Dad! Paul!” Henry yelled. Like all the other werewolves, he was bleeding from different spots.

He rushed forward to another young man, who leaned over a still body.

“Gregory?” Jim surged to his feet and rushed forward, leaving me alone.

I looked around, studying this group of people I’d only known a few days. Gabby and Winifred cried over Sam. Michelle and Emmitt sat on the ground and hugged the two boys. All four of them cried. Luke had an arm wrapped around Bethi’s shoulders while she gave the retreating Urbat an angry scowl. Isabelle leaned against Carlos, her nose bleeding.

“Let’s go for a walk,” he said, softly.

“No. I might need it.”

“You won’t,” I said.

I glanced at the fallen middle-aged man near us. While the others cried, I wanted to smile. For the first time since as long as I could remember, he wasn’t in my mind. Blake was gone. Dead. Finally.

“Without Blake, the Urbat have no clear leader. It will take them time to regroup. But it won’t help. The werewolves will prosper this time around.”

“You sure?” Isabelle asked.

I nodded, and she leaned closer to me.

“Holy shit. Your eyes are blue.”

“Are they?” I asked, unable to stop my grin.

“What does that mean?”

I shrugged slightly, my grin fading.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I wasn’t supposed to live. Do either of you feel different?”

Bethi looked at Luke then jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

“I’m not tired!” she shouted. “Fuck, yeah!”

Isabelle chuckled and shook her head before looking at me.

“Nothing’s seeping in. I can still feel your emotions. Bethi’s joy. I can pull it if I want, but it’s like I actually have control now.”

I glanced at Michelle.

“Michelle, do you see anything?”

She glanced up over the head of a small boy, and her gaze grew unfocused.

“Stock market numbers. Tons of them. There’s no pain with them, though.”

“Jim?” Gabby called. “There are people coming. Humans. A small group.”

I looked around at all the dead.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“We embrace our future,” I said.

MICHELLE…

We sat in the front row. Winifred stood by Sam’s closed casket, her hand resting on the wood. Lined around him were the boxes of ashes for every werewolf we’d lost. There were so many. Charlene and Thomas had neither a casket nor an urn. They had a large picture on a board. They stood together, smiling at the camera as two wolf cubs ran around their legs.

I felt Emmitt’s pain and wrapped my arms around him.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I know you are.” He turned to pull me against his side and put a hand on my stomach.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“A little.” Learning I was pregnant just after the fight had brought too many emotions. Mostly regret that Charlene and Thomas hadn’t known.

“Good,” he said. “I want this to be the first of many.”

“Says the guy who isn’t kissing the toilet every morning.”

He kissed me softly.

“Excuse me,” a man said, close by.

I pulled back, blushing. It probably looked horrible, kissing at a funeral. The man didn’t look like he was judging, though. His face bore some new scars along his neck. He held out a hand to Emmitt.

“My name’s Anton. I knew your mom and dad a long time ago. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you for answering the call,” Emmitt said.

“I made the mistake of not joining your father’s pack years ago. I don’t want to make the same mistake with you. If you’ll have me, I’d be proud to belong.”

That had been happening constantly since the fight ended. Grey seemed surprised that Emmitt accepted each request. I didn’t understand why. Emmitt had been groomed for a leadership role since the day he was born.

I moved away from them, as they took a moment to speak about the pack, and joined Isabelle and Bethi on the other side of the room.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

“Not bad,” Isabelle said. “Winifred is blocking the worst of it. When she lets it slip, though…” She shook her head.

“And Gabby?”

“I’ve been stealing,” Isabelle admitted.

Paul and Henry entered. They held the door for a man I barely recognized. Gregory wore a patch over his missing right eye and had tucked an empty right sleeve into the front of his suit jacket.

I swallowed hard at the sight of him and still couldn’t believe he’d survived what the Urbat had done to him in an attempt to discover where we were.

He walked right up to me and wrapped me in a partial hug. I gently returned it.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, starting to cry again.

“Don’t,” Gregory said. “Mary had no regrets. You can’t have any, either.”

OLIVIA…

From the back, I listened to Michelle ask, “And you?”

“If I were a selfish man, I would regret not going with her. But I’m not. I’m looking forward to these two finding Mates and having some grandcubs for me. Speaking of that, I hear congratulations are in order.”

I wondered if Jim had any regrets. He hadn’t spoken to me since his mom and dad slipped into the void.

“The family would like to invite everyone downstairs for a light meal,” an older lady announced from the arched opening.

My stomach rumbled at the thought of food. I felt someone nearby and looked up at Jim. He held out a hand to me.

“Let’s get something to eat,” he said.

I tentatively accepted his touch.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I wasn’t sure.”

“About what?”

“What would happen now that the Judgement was done. Now that I knew my purpose was to die with you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“When I first saw you, the pain of the oath almost killed me. Something changed. My thinking. I knew we were meant to be together for a reason. After that reason disappeared…” He swallowed hard. “I wasn’t sure what would happen if I thought of you as a Mate.”

“And?”

He smiled slightly.

“I’ve acknowledged my interest and lived. I’ve thought of your teeth nipping my neck and lived. I think it’s safe for me to say this now. Olivia, would you like to go on a date with me?”

I smiled and nodded.

HENRY…

I walked down the steps behind Dad. Something smelled amazing. What was it about grief that made a guy so hungry?

Dad cleared the doorway, and I looked ahead at the spread of food. A girl stood behind the table. She had sympathy in her eyes as she handed Aden a cookie. My heart skipped a beat. Then another. A tug started in my gut, and I inhaled deeply and stepped around Dad to get to her. She looked up at me with soft green eyes that reminded me of the forest.

“Hi,” she said. “Would you like a plate?”

I inhaled deeply again. Human.

“Yes please.”

“Henry?” Grey asked, standing close to me. I hadn’t even noticed him in the room. “Is everything okay?”

“Things are…different,” I said, unsure what else to say as she handed me a plate.

“Does anything smell good to you?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s weird, though, right?”

Are you sure? he sent me.

Very. How can I feel the pull for a human? I sent back.

Grey glanced at the girl. I did, too.

I don’t know. The girls said things changed for them with the Judgement. Maybe things changed for us, too.

A look of pity filled the girl’s eyes, and she reached out to touch my hand. A small shiver raced up my spine.

“It’s not weird,” she said, unaware of the conversation I’d just had with Grey. “Grief affects people in different ways.”

“Would you like to sit with me?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said with a soft smile.