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Each shifter had been placed to spend eternity beneath plants and in areas they liked the most. They’d be remembered and honored each time one of the living went for a walk. Changed forms. Hunted or just ran free.
They’d been returned to the earth as it was meant to be.
Kodiak lifted his head to gaze at the last stars in the sky. He raised his arms.
The ceremony, so ingrained, would be his first to give. Yet as the words bubbled up, they felt right, if loaded with the sorrow of the pack.
“We give thanks to those who served us and protected us with the best of their skill,” said Kodiak. His voice rang clear and strong.
“We release them to the spirit world. The marks of their paws will remain forever in our hearts as we move forward into a new future.”
Kodiak motioned to the pack. Several members—those who’d lost someone important and special to them—strode forward, and each one stood in front of a grave.
Tamaska stayed just to his side, respectfully close but also out of the way.
And he hoped either Fern or Ash had explained the ceremony to her, otherwise it might be confusing. But her presence warmed him. He took a breath and recited the prayers for the dead.
“The moon reminds us
Of those who came before
Building the pack
We will forever
Remain strong
Thanks to the heart
Of our members
Who now walk in the spirit world.”
All around him power swelled. It was soft yet harsh, something born of them and nature, like the souls of the dead returning to the world they ultimately came from.
He let it flow through him, to give him strength to finally give the final prayer.
As Kodiak recited it, the others joined in, their voices soft in the early morning air.
He’d always felt this power at times of passing over, but with so many, the surge tingled in his fingers, given more substance from the prayer.
“Gone now
We remember
We continue to fight
And uphold our laws
Until it is our time
To join them.”
Kodiak pickedup a small clay bowl at the head of the nearest grave. He glanced down at the bloodstained, white cloth where his former leader lay underneath.
He lifted the bowl for all to see. The others copied him, raising the brown pots above their heads.
Olcan had gone long before his time. Kodiak vowed once more to make the vampires pay for their attack. To make sure his entire pack realized his intention, he made his own promise.
