Another cough racked her body and Curtis helped her sit up. After a few minutes the coughing eased and she smiled up at me. I felt my heart crack at the beautiful smile she gave me. She knew she didn't have long and instead of feeling angry she was smiling at me like there was nothing wrong. I loved her even more in that moment.
"How are you?" Curtis asked, his eyes taking in the slight bruises on my neck.
"I'm good," I responded, shaking off his concern. Discussing my attack wasn’t something I wanted to do in front of my mom. I wanted her last days to be calm and I wanted to keep her as happy as I could. I didn’t want to fill her last days with worry over my welfare.
Any thoughts of what her death was going to do to me I pushed to the back of my mind. I couldn't worry how I was going to deal with it; the point was I had to.
I heard Blake arrived this morning,Curtis said to me through the mind-link. He shot me a side-glance, looking for a reaction to that news.
I'll talk to you later about him,I replied, keeping our conversation just between the two of us.
Curtis gave me one last look before he gave my mom a brief nod and left us alone.
I stayed with my mom for an hour. The need to spend every moment I could with her was cut short when the guard informed me through the mind-link that Blake had left his room and he was looking for me.
"I have to go," I said to my mom abruptly, standing up and pressing a brief kiss to her forehead.
"Bye, baby," she said meekly. I gave her one last smile before I left.
I'd managed to get out of the medical center before I saw Blake striding purposefully toward me.
"I've been looking for you," he said with a frown.
"I had things to do," I informed him coldly as I walked past him.
I didn't trust him and I hoped it was only a matter of time before his true reason for being here came to light. The sound of his footsteps following behind me didn’t surprise me. Then Kyle walked up to us. Now I had two of them to deal with and I couldn't help feeling frustrated.
"Hi, Cinderella," Kyle greeted me with a charming smile. My eyes narrowed at his slightly friendly greeting. What was he playing at?
I glanced to my side to see Blake stiffen beside me and he shot a glare at Kyle.
"Hi," I said automatically, still trying to figure out what was going on.
"So what are we doing today?" he asked, rubbing his hands together.
"My father's funeral," I stated, not feeling as chipper as Kyle seemed to be.
That wiped the smile off Kyle's face and a somber mood settled over us. It seemed that no one wanted to see my father again, even if this time he was cold and lifeless. What also didn't help was the tension rolling off Blake. There seemed to be something going down between him and Kyle.
I turned to face Blake and he pulled his glare from Kyle and settled it on me.
"Stop it," I instructed him. "I have enough to deal with today without having to worry about the two of you beating the crap out of each other. If you can't put your differences aside today, then I suggest the both of you make yourselves scarce."
Blake pressed his lips together and frowned before throwing Kyle a side-glance. Kyle gave a shrug of his shoulders. I gave them both one last look that told them I was being very serious, before I walked away.
After today I would never have to look at the face of the monster that had tormented me my whole life. Even though he was dead, it wasn't going to be easy facing him again.
The morning sped by as my pack made preparations to bury their previous dead alpha. I was surprised that, for the rest of the day, Blake and Kyle stopped whatever had been going on between them long enough for me to bury my father.
They both stood beside me as I looked at my father for one last time before his body was lowered into the ground. We didn't use coffins. The bodies of our dead were buried simply, just wrapped in a plain white sheet.
I watched with mixed emotions as the grave was filled with sand. Even after my other pack members left I remained, still staring at the last resting place of the man I'd called Father all my life. It wasn't sadness that kept me from walking away. It was anger mixed with relief that kept me standing there. I'd hated him my whole life. I should have found justice in the fact that he wasn't alive anymore, but there was none. The only way I would have felt justice is if he'd died by my hands. After everything he'd done to my mom and me, I should have been the one to end his life. But that wasn’t how things had worked out.
The sun was about to set when I turned to walk back to my room. I ignored the two silent shadows that followed me.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Keri
