Chapter 284

I closed my eyes and leaned against the end of the shower. I was over this night, and I still had to dig a few more feet before I could bring Carl over.

"You are planning to use Brandon to get closer to Vince. You have been laying the groundwork for months, letting him closer, talking to him more." She sat on her haunches and glared at Nix.

"What's your point? We need to get close to him so we can do what we have to," Nix snarled.

"That is my point. We are doing what we have to do. We will use my ex-mate to get what we need to figure out who is behind the attacks on the packs, so that our father, Toya’s father, can come out of hiding, so that our mother can be with her mate."

"And?" I tilted my head back and stared up at the moon, glared really. She was above me, staring down at me and, in that moment, laughing at me.

And maybe that is exactly what Rowan is doing.

I sighed. "But what if he's not?" The question hung there.

Megan looked between us again, only this time, her gaze was softer. "Then he's not, and he has moved on, found his fated mate, and we will do the same." Her words were soft, but firm. "I gave up my mate for this that happened in another life because you two were right, he didn’t deserve us. But the same can be said about Rowan. If he doesn’t deserve us, then we move on. We are still young. We have a whole long life ahead of us."

"I still love him." Another truth I didn’t want to admit.

"I know, and that's okay. Just like you told Carly earlier, the pain won’t be easy, and it won’t fade for a while, but it will get easier." Megan, in all her wisdom, turned around and stalked off into the forest, leaving Nix and I alone with ourselves.

I kept my gaze on the moon. "She’s right, you know."

Nix sighed as she laid herself against the barrier. "I know…I just don’t like it."

I laughed then, because what else could I do? "Yeah, I don’t like it either."

"We will have to speak to him eventually," she whispered.

"Yeah, but it doesn't have to be today, or any time soon." I started to dig again. "I think we have our own things to focus on and work on still."

She sighed and laid her head down onto her paws. "They are the same person."

"Yepp." I spent the next thirty minutes finishing the grave, and then I hopped out of it. I dropped the shovel by the pile of dirt, waiting to be backfilled, and I went to pick up Carl.

"I don’t know how to be a mom," Nix’s voice wavered, and I smiled.

"Neither do I." I walked back through the bodies and found the rogues roughly tossed into a pile, wood tossed around him. "Rowan was busy."

"He wanted to do everything, but I told him you would want to put Carl to rest," Toya came from the shadows of the cabin. "So he did this, but I warned him to leave if he heard you coming."

"And he listened?" I stared at the bodies at my feet, my heart cracking a little more.

Toya sighed. "He did, but it had less to do with my words."

"What do you mean?" I looked up, and she just shook her head. "You’re going to have to figure that out yourself. Carl really thought of everything." She jiggled a jerry can, dropped the hose at her feet, and walked over, pouring the gas over the bodies.

"Yeah." I waited as she lit a pack of matches and then tossed them on the pile, igniting the bodies and the wood. "This is going to take all night."

She hummed. "The girls and I are going to take shifts, keeping the flames burning. I already talked to them about it."

I turned to her. "Thank you."

She walked over and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "We are best friends. You don’t have to say thank you." She kissed my temple. "Go lay our friend to rest. I have things handled here."

I nodded and pulled away. I turned and lifted Carl from the ground, walking him back to the giant oak, and jumping into the hole. I laid him down and did my best to wipe the blood from his face. I fixed his hair and his shirt. I was about to stand when my fingers brushed a small paper sticking out of his shirt pocket.

I pulled it out, and there was a hastily scribbled note. I thought I had more time. I dumped everything into a bowl on the counter.