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“Meg, I urge you not to look in that box, it will do nothing but cause you heartache and pain.” A sob tears out of my mom but before I can wrap her in a hug Davina yanks her forward and wraps her arms around my mom’s sobbing form. I just stand there and stare at the two of them, I never thought Davina had an ounce of compassion in her body, but I guess I was… wrong. “He was a good man Meg, he loved you so much and you both raised three amazing children together. Keep the memory you have of him and don’t tarnish it by viewing the contents of the box.” My mom begins to scream and thrash in Davina’s hold, but she tightens her arms around my mom. Tears fill my eyes as the reality of what she is saying finally sinks in. I hear my sister begin to cry and face her only to find my brother and Sky holding her between them, Cole’s gaze meets mine and I see the unshed tears in his eyes, and it guts me. I was so angry at my dad and banished him, but I never wanted him dead, I feel her approaching me from behind, but I know as soon as she gets near me, she will force me to face my feelings and I can’t afford for that to happen. I move past my mom and Davina and head to Vince; he meets my gaze and whatever he sees in my eyes has him nodding and motioning for me to follow him out of the house. We head out back toward the woods, as we clear the first line of trees the scent of blood assaults me, it’s my dad’s blood, but I can also scent someone else’s blood mixed with his.
“Who else Vincent?” He doesn’t pretend to not understand what I’m asking, he doesn’t stop to answer, he keeps trudging forward and says.
“Shelley and Dela, the three of them are gone.” My heart sinks for Jess, I know her, and Cairo are pissed she lied, but at the end of the day that was still the woman that gave them life. I snort, what a hypocrite, here I am condemning Davina, and yet I pity my mate and her brother for losing a woman who done the exact same thing my bio mom did. We come to a halt in a clearing and there in the middle sits a large cardboard box on top of a tarp, I can see the blood has seeped through the sides, and the scent of the rotting flesh is worse than smelling the vamps. “We moved it out here so no one else would be able to scent the blood, we didn’t want to cause a frenzy amongst the pack and my kind.” I nod my head; no words will come out of my mouth no matter how hard I try. I just stand there and stare at the box, as the minutes tick by the blood-soaked edges start to trail off the tarp, but I still can’t bring myself to open the lid.
Do I want to see?
Will it be real if I don’t see it with my own eyes?
Questions keep running through my mind and before long the sky begins to turn dark, Vince still doesn’t move or say anything, which I appreciate. We hear a branch break and we both spin around; I scent the air and my shoulders slump.
“You both shouldn’t be here.” I say as Cairo and Cole come into view.
“I want to see it with my own eyes.” I reach out and place my hand against my brother’s chest as he attempts to walk past me, he growls but I brush it off. I know he is hurt and angry, he is lashing out and if need be, I’ll take everything he has to throw at me.
“Colton, if you see it, then you can never unsee it, is that what you really want?” Before he can answer Cairo speaks.
“He isn’t alone in that box, is he?” I meet his gaze and nod. “Have you seen it?”
“No, I’ve been sitting here staring at it trying to work up the courage to finally open it.” I drop my hand from my brother’s chest and turn to face him, it breaks me to see the defeated look on his face. “Go home brother, let me take care of this.” I can see he wants to argue and it fucking hurts me to do this, I bring Corbin forward and let him take the lead and give an alpha order so I can spare my brother the pain of seeing what’s in that box. “Go home, stay with mom and Callie and don’t leave them until I get there.” His eyes widen, I expect to see anger in his eyes, but instead all I see is appreciation. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me in for a hug.
“Thank you, brother.” I pat his back and release him; I watch until he disappears inside the dense trees and turn toward Cairo.
“How did you know it wasn’t just my dad in the box?”
“Because I know Jacob would want to hurt my sister, and the best way to do that is to kill Shelley.”
“Does she know?” He shakes his head.
“She suspects it, so I told her to stay with the others.”
“Thank you, I don’t want her to see this, she has been through enough.”
“Agreed!”
“I don’t mean to break this up, but the blood is turning… ripe and the scent will travel to the vamps. We need to get rid of it now, before they come searching.” I release a long exhale and nod; Vince is right I can scent the change in the air. Ro and I move in unison toward the box and pause in front of it.
“On the count of three we both take the lid off?”
“Deal.” I answer, we both begin to count.
“3…2…1.” We both flip the lid off, and I fight the gag that wants to break free as I stumble away from the box, I see Ro retching out of the corner of my eye. I try to take in deep breaths through my mouth to try stop myself from gagging and throwing up. I’m so disoriented and lightheaded that I don’t even see her pass me until the sound of her growl snaps me out of it, I spin around to see her standing there gazing into the box. Cairo is quicker to react than I am he hauls her away by her arm and tells Vince to get rid of the box, I follow after them as Cairo begins to drag Jess back toward the house.
Chapter
Forty Eight
Jessica
I sit here and stare out the window of Meg’s lounge room, but not really seeing anything. Zeke, Ro, Sky, and I have all gathered here with the Reeves family, even Davina and Vince, but they like me are standing alone and away from the grieving family. My brother has asked me more times than I can count how I am going or how I am feeling and honestly–– I don’t know. I have no idea how I feel about what I saw, of course my heart hurts for Creed and his family for the loss of their father but that’s… it. Seeing Kane like that is horrific, but to see the woman who gave birth to me like that is unimaginable.
Shelley, Kane and Dela had no eyes, their teeth were pulled and made into a necklace that was wrapped around the tops of each of their heads, but the most disturbing part was seeing their eyes in their mouths. Their faces were battered and bruised. My anger begins to spike just thinking about it again.
We will avenge their deaths.
And then what Sheba? We keep fighting and killing people because they hurt us?
No, we get revenge and then we stop.
