“It’s a long story; one for later,” Thaddeus says as he grabs Amara from his father. I notice Theo looks away like he can’t see his daughter like that, like he doesn’t want to remember her that way. I hear bones snap and see Tobias shift into a black wolf, taking off after his wife.
“I will take Ryland,” Theo says, passing my daughter back and trading places with Orion, who still has a tight grip on Ryland’s arms. Thaddeus takes off, leaving only Orion, Ryland, Theo, and myself.
I look down at our baby and pass her to Orion. “I am scared I will drop her,” I tell him, and he takes her, his hand holding the back of her little head as he tucks her inside his shirt against his chest.
“Let’s go home,” Theo says, looking at what’s left of the building and burning surroundings. I can hear sirens in the distance getting closer, see the flickering of the blue and red lights coming from the town.
Evelyn
I can’t understand; nothing to me makes sense. I just can’t fathom something as tragic as this happening to her. Never, in my wildest dreams, could I picture Amara being gone. It doesn’t feel real, like a bad dream I am yet to wake up from.
When we get home, Thaddeus is nowhere to be seen, yet I can feel his heartbreak, his guilt. Nothing compares to the agony of his tortured soul. No amount of pain I have ever endured measures up to the feelings that swirl within him.
“What’s taking him so long?” Imogen says while pacing around the living room.
Her tears look like they are permanently etched into her grief-stricken face. Looking at my daughter squirming in my arms, I can’t imagine the heartache she is feeling. I have only been a mother for a few hours and know without a doubt I will lay my life down without hesitation for the baby in my arms. I will give up everything and everyone for her in a heartbeat.
“He will bring her back, love,” Tobias whispers, pulling on a pair of pants Orion has handed him.
Theo stands staring out the window, lost in his thoughts. The air in the room is cold and empty despite being overcrowded. There is nothing but silence as we all wait for someone to wake us from this nightmare that I feel we are forever trapped in.
Ryland is sitting on the bottom of the steps, his guilt gnawing at me as I look over at him. Orion keeps giving him worried looks and approaches him. His wounds still aren’t healing, blood drips onto the floor and stains it. The smell of his blood has lost all appeal to me; I am numb with shock.
The shrieking of our daughter’s cries is the only noise to be heard when Orion walks over, holding his arms out, and I place her in them. He walks into the kitchen, and I hear him rummaging around for formula to feed her hungry belly.
Moving over to Ryland, I grip his arm, pulling him to his feet but he shakes me off. My temper flares at seeing him wallow in guilt. I understand his pain, yet she didn’t die saving him for him to drop dead from his stubbornness.
“Amara didn’t give up her life for you to bleed out on the floor. Now get up,” I snap, my voice harsher than I intended as I try to contain my emotions. Imogen and Tobias’ heads snap over to me, where I stand at his feet.
“Evelyn is right, dear; no one else needs to lose their life today,” Imogen says, her voice shaking as she walks over to him and grabs his face, forcing him to look up at her. How she holds it together and doesn’t blame him is beyond me. I wish I could be as soothing as she is despite how much she has endured today. “Amara wouldn’t want you in pain; let your mate help you.”
“She died for me, Ma; I can’t live with that,” he whispers, and places his head in his hands and starts crying. His body heaves as his words reverberate around the room, hitting him harder at the realization.
“I have lost one child already; I won’t lose another. Now, get up and get cleaned up while we wait for Thaddeus to return,” she tells him.
Orion walks back out with our daughter in his arms; I can hear her hungrily slurping on her bottle, gulping it down. Imogen looks over at him.
“Don’t let her gulp it; she will bring it back up,” Imogen says, and no sooner than she says it, she spews over the front of the blanket she is wrapped in. Orion stares down at her, his face worried as Theo walks over to him.
“Here, I will feed her. Hun, go find her some clothes and a diaper. Orion, go help Evelyn with Ryland,” Theo orders.
Orion hands our daughter over, grabs Ryland, forces him to his feet, and hauls him up the stairs. Tobias and Imogen follow, but turn into the nursery, and I can see they need the distraction over everything that has happened; something to distract them from the pain. That is our daughter, but I’m not going to say no to them; they know what they are doing more than any of us.
Turning the shower on, Orion helps me strip off Ryland, and I push him in the shower, but he stands there, staring off at the tiled wall.
“I broke him,” Ryland says, making me look at him, and I realize he is talking about Thaddeus, whose emotions are so strong that they are almost suffocating us.
“He just needs time. She was his sister,” Orion whispers, and I notice he, too, is trying to keep himself together; he is just better at hiding his true feelings.
“I just don’t understand how it’s possible; aren’t you all immortal?” I ask, hating that I can’t understand any of this; maybe understanding would make it easier.
“She burned herself out. She used all of it when the bomb went off. After it went off, I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t burning until I looked up and saw her standing there taking it all, absorbing it, so it didn’t touch me.” Ryland chokes, and collapses on the ground in a heap, his head goes to his knees as sobs wrack his body.
“Amara’s magic is tied to her immortality; Thaddeus’ isn’t. His is different. Like mine, it has a life force of its own; Amara’s burned out, and so did she,” Imogen says, leaning against the door frame. Guilt hits me that she overheard us talking. She must have read it on my face as she shakes her head, her eyes teary. “It’s okay, Evie; I know you have questions. As sick as it sounds, I am all too familiar with death. I just wasn’t expecting it to be my own daughter’s,” she says, looking up at the ceiling, willing her tears to go. “This is going to destroy him,” she says, shaking her head, and I realize she is good at shoving her emotions back now that she is over her initial shock. She is stronger than I ever could be if our roles are reversed; I would prefer death than to be without my child.
Imogen’s phone rings and she glances down at it in her hand; a hiccuped sob leaves her lips. “I need to take this; it’s my sister,” she says, and I can hear the unspoken emotion she is trying to hide as she continues to look at the screen. She answers it but says nothing as she looks to the ceiling, fanning her eyes with her other hand, taking a deep breath.
“Hey, sis,” is all she says as she struggles to find the words to tell her sister her niece is gone. Imogen walks out, leaving us.
Thaddeus
I run.
I don’t know what else to do. My little sister is lying limp in my arms as I cradle her. Her bubbly, carefree, happy self is no longer with us. She saved him, gave her own life to save my mate because she knew I couldn’t live without him.
But how does she expect me to live without her? She is my baby sister, we fight and bicker, but at the end of the day, she is always there. She is my first friend, and was my only friend growing up. We are each other’s rock. She knows all my secrets, and I know she will keep them safe; nothing I ever do is unforgivable to her. She loves me despite my many flaws, despite the pain I cause her, she still loves me; loves me enough to throw her life away for me.
I sit on the mountain with her, which overlooks my home. My parents are there with my daughter and my mates, yet I can’t bear to see the heartbreak on their faces. How do I face them, knowing I am the reason for her death? All my mistakes and grievances are coming back to haunt them and me, yet my sister paid the ultimate price.
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