Chapter 178

Matt

I reached for Celeste’s hand and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. She returned the gesture, her eyes locked on the pyre in front of us. We’d buried the dead Schreibers out in the woods, our own we planned to honor in the old way.

Brodie succumbed to his injuries the night of the attack, his healing powers unable to contend with the silver powder the Schreibers used to tip their blades.

We found James’s body in the woods, a bullet hole through his head. His siblings, Andrew, and Kelly stood together, tears streaming down their faces. Ted hovered near them, his hand on Andrew’s shoulder. I could barely bring myself to look at them. I kept seeing the triplets together in that motel room, laughing over their pizza.

Seth and Jenna stood together. He’d taken a silver bullet to the leg, and he leaned on a makeshift crutch Enzo had found him. It was basically just a large stick, but it did the job. Despite the bullet being removed, it was the sort of wound that took a while to heal.

Then Nina stepped forward and said a few words about Brodie and James. I barely heard her. Beside me, Jack stood with his arm in a cast. I looked at him, and he met my gaze. He gave me a curious look, and I forced myself to turn back to the pyre as Andrew and Kelly lowered their torches. Brodie didn’t have any family, so Nina stepped forward with a torch instead.

A moment later, the pyre was burning.

We turned and slowly filed back through the trees, heading for the compound. Andrew, Kelly, and Nina stayed behind. It was tradition. They would stay until nothing but ash remained.

Henry was waiting for us at the cabin when we got back, a pinched expression on his face. He hadn’t been invited to the funeral. He wasn’t pack. The fact that Nina asked Jack and Fiona to come was a shock to everyone, but I was secretly glad. I owed Jack my life. I wouldn’t forget that.

Celeste was silent, her hand still clenched in mine.

We killed a lot of the Schreibers, but most fled when the tide turned. Freddy got away. It was only a matter of time before they tried something again.

A series of mournful howls rose from the trees, and Celeste flinched. She’d barely spoken since the attack, but I knew her well enough to know what she was thinking. She blamed herself for what happened, and for the deaths.

I put my arm around her shoulders and tucked her close to my side.

Fiona hovered near Jack, not touching him, but staying near him. She’d sat with him the rest of the night after we got the bullet out, watching over him as the rest of us went out to survey the forest–seeing how many we’d killed, and how many of our own we’d lost. We lost fewer people than I expected, considering the chaos of the fight. Still, if the Schreibers had sent their entire arsenal, we would have been screwed.

We got lucky. Freddy’s arrogance, or lack of accurate intel, saved us. That, coupled with the fact that Seth gave us an early warning. He was out in the woods, running the perimeter, when he noticed something was amiss.

“So, what now?” Fiona asked, turning to look at Enzo.

“We can’t stay here,” he answered. “We clear out in a few hours.”

She nodded.

“Where to?” Ted asked, his voice hollow.

“We’ll talk about it more when Nina gets back,” Enzo said in a tired voice. No one had slept since the attack. There hadn’t been time to. “She’ll give the orders.”

He turned and strode into the compound. After a moment, we all followed, piling onto the benches to wait for Nina. It was a depressing mirror to the first night we got here, worried about a potential war but not feeling its effects quite yet.

Across from us, Fiona sat beside Jack, her shoulder pressed against his. I raised my eyebrows at Jack when she wasn’t looking. Jack just narrowed his eyes at me and turned his head away, though I noticed he didn’t move away from her. Beside me, Celeste was too busy staring at her hands to pay attention to our little exchange.

I wanted to help her, but I didn’t know how. We hadn’t had any time alone together since the attack.

“Are you okay?” I murmured.

Jack looked over at us.

“Fine,” she said. “Don’t worry about me.”

Henry walked in a moment later, a hesitant look on his face. He’d fought with us too, proving quite useful with a gun, though people still didn’t really know what to do about his presence. He squared his shoulders and walked over, sitting down beside his daughter.

Jack glared at him, but Henry didn’t react.

“I’m sorry for your losses,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said quietly. I was the only one at our table who even knew James and Brodie. I barely spoke to James, but Brodie was a member of my team. We’d worked together for a long time, on the ice and off it. Still, he was always closer to Seth. We weren’t best friends, and even though I felt sorrow at the loss, I didn’t feel broken over it.

I glanced at Jack. If he had died, would I have felt differently? The sight of him jumping in front of me rose to mind, and I clenched my jaw. It was an idiotic thing for him to do. He was a human, and I was a werewolf. Still, if that bullet had pierced my head or heart, I would have been a goner.

Jack met my gaze and narrowed his eyes. He still looked pale, and winced whenever he moved, though he seemed intent on acting as if his wound hardly hurt. He’d only been awake for a few hours, but he was determined to act like he was fine. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“That puppy-dog look. I didn’t take a bullet for you because we’re besties or anything. I just reacted.”

“Uh-huh,” Fiona said with a roll of her eyes.

Jack frowned. “I didn’t.”

“We all totally believe you,” Celeste murmured.

His frown deepened, but he didn’t answer. He just shot me a dark look before turning away.

“So, you two are friends then?” Henry asked, sounding confused.

“No,” Jack and I said at the same time as Fiona and Celeste said “yes.”

Henry snorted. “I see.”

“Why are you even here?” Jack hissed, glaring at his father. “Go back to hiding in the woods or wherever you’ve been my entire life. No one wants you here.”

“I want him here,” Celeste contradicted softly.

“Then you’re a fool,” Jack answered. “He abandoned us. He doesn’t deserve our time.”

“I didn’t want to leave you,” Henry said, sounding sad.

Jack just rolled his eyes. “Say what you want, old man. You left us to fend for ourselves. I never got to be a kid. I never got to be a brother. I had to do your job for you.” He seethed with anger, his face slightly red. “I hate you.”

Henry looked down at the table. “I know.”

No one said anything, the tension gathering. We sat in silence for a while, staring into space. Eventually, the doors banged open, and Nina strode in, followed by Kelly and Andrew. They all had tear-stained faces.

Andrew sank onto the bench beside Ted, his shoulders slumping. Kelly sat on his other side, her eyes hollow.

Nina stood at the front of the room. “We’re leaving,” she said. “We can’t stay here and wait for another attack. I spoke to my father, and he’s sending reinforcements to Huntsville.”

“The ghost town?” Seth asked.

She nodded. “We don’t want to lead the Crescent wolves or the Schreibers to town. If there’s going to be a war, we might as well have it in a place that’s already abandoned.”

“Isn’t it super haunted?” Fiona asked.

“Ghosts aren't real,” Ted muttered.

Fiona frowned. “So, you have a werewolf for a boyfriend, but you don’t think ghosts could be real?”

Andrew gave a half-smile, though it fell away almost instantly. Ted didn’t seem to know what to say in response.

“Regardless of the ghost stories, Huntsville is the best place for a fight. My father’s troops are already headed there. We’ll meet them tonight.”

“This should be fun,” Fiona said in a low voice.

“Don’t worry,” Jack answered. “We’ll protect you from Casper, the unfriendly ghost.”

“Hilarious.”

Nina frowned. “Let’s go. We don’t have time to waste.”

Everyone jumped into action, gathering supplies. Twenty minutes later, we were in our cars, bumping down the narrow path away from the cabins. No one spoke. No one seemed to know what to say as the trees closed in around us.

We were headed to war.