He nodded and we exited out of mine and Nolen’s room, down the stairs that I had wandered for so many years, to the first floor and the pack of grieving wolves. A lot of them had grown up with Nolen in charge and didn’t know anyone else other than our family. I patted each of them on the shoulder as Sawyer and I followed the wolves carrying Nolen to the pyre.
They’d dressed him in our burial robes, with his hands crossed over his chest. The yin and yang wolf tattoo had faded over the years but still reminded me of us and the way our wolves fit. Kulai grieved in her own way. She hadn’t spoken to me since that night his soul was taken from him and me.
Olli, Fin, Markus, Harley, and Lucas carried him down through the pack square, everyone on the streets paying their respect to a fallen alpha. The walk was long as we made our way to the wooden tower. Rosalind and Everleigh behind us with their mates, and their children behind them. Three packs followed behind us, paying their respect to an Alpha that the land didn’t know it needed. An alpha that changed the view of so many leaders. I could only smile at the people he brought together, even though it happened to be his destiny, as the Moon Goddess Selene had written for his life.
They placed Nolen on the pyre, warrior wolves circling it holding torches, ready to send their alpha to be physically with our Goddess Selene. The elder went up in front of all of us as they circled around the pyre. He raised his hands to the sky, to the moon now above us.
“We are all here tonight to see this alpha off to be with Selene, our Goddess. To send him to be with the rest of his family. Tonight, might be a time of sorrow for us here, but he is rejoicing with his family that has gone before him. We will celebrate tonight the life and trials of one of our beloved alphas. He has definitely changed our world for the better.”
The elder nodded to the warriors surrounding the pyre and they touched their flames to the wood, setting it ablaze in the night sky. The flames climbed the wood, engulfing the entire pyre, along with Nolen’s body. The smell of human flesh and hair burned into my nostrils. I felt a small hand wrap around mine, and when I glanced down, I saw one of my grandsons. He was named after Nolen, and he looked just like him. Giving his little hand a squeeze, I smiled at him as tears streamed down my face.
This was his legacy.