I carried Jay's body down the winding stone steps of the family crypt myself, cradling her like a child, though she was neither small nor fragile. But death had rendered her weightless in spirit, and only the cold burden of her flesh remained.
The lights shone against the ancient carvings on the walls, the names of Alphas and Luna's long buried, their souls dust and memory.
I placed her gently on the stone slab reserved for matriarchs, her white hair fanned out like a halo, her face serene beneath the veil of final sleep.
Why did this have to happen? I couldn't bare it anymore.
"Guard her," I told the two sentinels at the entrance. "No one enters. No one touches her. Not even the wind."
''Yes, Alpha,'' They bowed. "For the Queen. For the Alpha."
I didn't answer. I turned and walke
