CHAPTER SEVEN-COMING HOME
687 Words
I opened my eyes in the in-between place,and i see gray mist everywhere.The distant stars made me sure that i am at the space where souls go when they're not quite dead but not quite alive.And there was Arthur, standing in the fog.
"Alice?" He sounded confused. "What are you doing here?"
"Coming to get you, idiot." I ran to him, grabbed his hands. They felt solid here. Real. "You can't die. I won't let you."
"The shadow..."
"Is gone. The demon's gone. My father sacrificed himself to free me." My voice broke. "Everyone keeps paying for my choices except me."
"Alice..."
"I love you." The words rushed out. "I've loved you since I was sixteen. I loved you through exile, through Jeffrey, through every moment I pretended I could be anything but yours. And I'm not losing you now."
Arthur cupped my face. "I've waited five years to hear that."
"I've waited five years to hear that. Waited through every night wondering if you had found happiness. Hoping you had even though it killed me."
"There was no happiness without you. Just survival." I pressed my forehead to his. "Come back with me. Let me love you the way you deserve,no more secrets, no more hiding."
He kissed me in a soft and sure way "Take me home."I gripped his soul and pulled and we gasped awake together.Arthur's eyes flew open and the black veins had faded from his skin. His hand found mine and squeezed tight.
"You came for me," he whispered.
"Always."
The pack crowded into the healing house,checking on us, celebrating, crying with relief. Arthur sat up slowly, still weak but alive.I helped him stand and looked at all the wolves watching us.
"Arthur Gary is mine," I announced. My voice carried through the room. "No more secrets,no more shame. He's my mate and my choice."I saw Arit at the back of the crowd. His jaw was tight but he nodded in acceptance.
Elder Miriam smiled. "Then let it be known that Apha Alice has chosen her mate."
The whole pack howled and the sound echoed through the territory with joy and relief and new beginnings.Arthur pulled me close. "No more hiding?"
"No more hiding," I agreed.
The seer smiled and whispered in my ears "Let's plan Alpha Henry's funeral" and said "yes,we should."
The funeral was set to hold on the fifth night after he died and everyone got dressed in the black wolfy clothes.Elder Miriam and other elders lined up as if to auction and chant his appraisal to the heavens and joined me "The new Alpha" at the forefront of the Alpha's funeral yard to lead the line to the ash room where the past Alphas were laid to rest.I led the council of elders with tears and deep thought and reflection.I resonated on how my father lived and how he died and deeply I wished there was a chance or opportunity to sit and talk with him even if it's just for the last time.It was time to see my father and say my last words to him as the heiress.
When I saw my father's body,I bursted into loud tears because I just think I could have had longer memories with him.But on another thought,I said to myself "what if I had tried more to stop him,would he have died this early,should I have tried to find other options?"
"Alpha Alice,we are waiting for you"Elder Miriam said,cutting in on my thought
I quickly wiped my tears and light up the candle to fill the planks around his body to lit up the fire,as we watch his body burn,my legs were shaking out of fear.After watching the body burn,I packed the remains into the sacred pot and placeit next to his ancestors while the elders chant the sacred words.I led the council of elders out to where the members of the clan were standing,waiting for the report that he had been properly laid to rest.
"Alpha Henry has joined his forefathers successfuly so all hair the Heiress"
"Long live the heiress"
"Long live the heiress"
"Long live the heiress"
- Writer
