"She's gone, Eleanor." Slowly, her grandmother pulled the sheet up to cover the tiny girl's face. Around them the sobs and sounds of weeping seemed to magnify as the final gesture made the nightmare a reality for the small wolf pack. Susan howled her grief, and her pack answered her cries. Gently, Tobias picked up his mate and stood. When he looked down at her, his eyes were lifeless as if all his joy had left with his daughter's last breath. "Thank you Doc."
"What? But I..." Ellie couldn't understand. Why was he thanking her?
"Because of your help, she wasn't in any pain. If you hadn't come, her final days would have been filled with confusion and fear. Thank you for her peace." His voice broke, and he couldn't speak anymore. He turned and headed toward the house to be alone with his mate in their grief.
Ellie felt detached. Clinically, she knew she was in shock, but she also knew she couldn't afford it. Not right now. She stood and looked around. "We need to move the children as quickly as possible to the hospital and get them hooked up to the monitoring ma
chines."
When Grant started to wrap an arm around her, she stepped back. She looked up. "I can't. If you touch me, I'll fall apart, and I can't right now."
Grant nodded. "What do you need?"
She looked down at the sheet-covered body. "Ellie, I'll take care of her," her grandmother said.
"Thank you." She swallowed against the knot in her throat and turned to Grant. "Can you help organize the warriors to get the children moved while I start checking vitals?" She took a deep breath.
"Of course." She could tell he was fighting the urge to hold her. "We'll be okay Ellie," he said softly.
She looked at the Garcia's back door. "They won't be. They never will be okay again."
She walked away because if she stayed much longer, she would throw herself into her mate's arms. Squaring her shoulders, she started helping the scared children around her.
*****
Grant watched as his mate walked toward the first cot and immediately started to calm both the child and the parents.
Marjoram stepped beside him. "I need to ask a favor."
"You don't have to ask."
"Don't be so quick to answer." She turned to stare at the Garcia's house. "I need you to speak to Tobias and get him to agree to an autopsy."
Grant stared down at his mate's grandmother. "Now? Is that absolutely necessary?" he demanded.
She nodded. "Yes. The sooner the better. The longer we wait, the more information we lose." Her eyes drifted to her granddaughter. "Right now, she is focused on the living. She's running from what she knows she has to do. She can't face the Garcia's pain right now or she'll fall apart." When she looked up at him, her eyes shined with tears. "Please take this burden from her. As a wolf and an Alpha, the Garcia's will listen to you where they might shut everyone else out."
He would do anything to spare his mate this task. "I'll do it."
"Thank you, son. Watch her closely; when everything around her stops and she's able to hear herself think, she will break from this."
"And I will be there to hold her together," he promised.
"You're a good boy Grant."
"Thank you Marjoram."
"You better call me Gram."
"Thank you, Gram."
*****
After arranging for Keegan to organize the warriors' help with moving the children, Grant found himself standing at the Garcia's back door. It wasn't even a few days ago he had stood here after spending the night with Benji and the Hamilton boys. It felt like a lifetime ago. He looked over his shoulder to where Adora sat quietly with Benji, rocking him back and forth. For one so young, he had been touched by death too much.
With his stomach churning, he knocked on the door. When it opened, Tobias looked at him, his shattered soul evident in his eyes. "Alpha?"
"Can I come in?"