Shane gave Siobhan a look, and she nodded. His voice was quiet when he spoke. “He’s gone.”
For a minute I thought gone meant really, really gone. Dead gone. Shane must have seen my panic because he immediately shook his head and backpedaled. “I mean he left the city. He told me he was sick of everyone he cared about dying, and he couldn’t stay here anymore. He said he was going to Pittsburgh to take a job with his uncle.”
I felt guilty knowing my death had contributed to Nolan leaving, but I knew it had more to do with Keaty and Brigit than just me. Nolan had lost as much as any of us, maybe more. And I wouldn’t begrudge him a chance to find happiness somewhere else.
I would find a way to let him know I was alive though. Even if I had to go to Pittsburgh myself.
I led Shane and Siobhan back to the rest of our group, grateful to see so many people I loved together in one place. I’d spent so much time while the city was crumbling thinking about those I’d lost, I had forgotten to count my blessings. Now here they were with me.
Conversations drew to a stop, and as if on cue a light rain began to fall. It seemed only fitting that the weather should be grim at a time like this. There was little joy to bring, even though the man we were here to remember had been well loved in his time.
No matter how crazy he’d made us all.
I leaned against Desmond, and he held me like I might slip away at any time. Members of the pack were in amongst the public, and I noticed the way they all took a moment to acknowledge Desmond and bow their heads to him in turn. I had died, and though they didn’t know it, I was also no longer a wolf. I had no claim to be the pack’s queen anymore.
Desmond was now the King of the East.
When we got married, I’d be Queen al
l over again. So much for getting away from my royal obligations.
I didn’t hear anything the priest said about Lucas. I watched the crowd and recalled the last time I’d been here. I had been the last person to see Lucas alive, and nothing anyone else said could take that memory away. I wished Genie could be here with me, since she seemed like the only person who might understand what it was like in that final moment, but she’d gone back to Louisiana as soon as it was safe to leave the city.
Though most funerals now were being held with empty caskets, in this case it wasn’t because Lucas’s body was in cold storage. They hadn’t found him yet, and they might not ever. He was lost in the rubble, but now I was finally getting my chance to say goodbye. A chance I’d thought I would never have.
Burying my cheek against Desmond’s blazer, I stared at Lucas’s empty casket. He’d asked for so much from me during our time together. Some of it I’d been able to give him, some had been too much. In the end though, the inflexible, bullheaded man who I thought would never be able to see beyond his own needs had been the one who made the ultimate sacrifice for someone else.
He’d given his life to save my sister.
If people wanted to talk about heroes, Lucas Rain was mine.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Six months later
The news station on the small wall-mounted television was muted, but the scrolling updates across the bottom said, New York Mayor Promises hundreds of new jobs in rebuilding efforts, and Pro-werewolf legislators propose bill for equal rights.
A few people milled around, speaking on their cell phones and checking the LED panel on the wall which announced whose number was due up next. The small crowd of my loved ones gathered on the wooden benches made the already hot space even warmer. Dominick sat on a plastic chair, holding hands with a handsome redheaded young man seated next to him.
Over the crackling speakers a Muzak version of the song “Chains” by Fleetwood Mac played at a low volume, turning all the other conversations in the room to an indecipherable buzz.
I was standing at the old wood counter, dancing nervously from foot to foot. This was my third time up to the desk, and the clerk was starting to get annoyed with me, but in actuality I was busy staring at the office across the hall, visible through a panel of windows. When Desmond opened the glass door and jogged across the hall holding only a newspaper, his tired expression matched those of the strangers around us who had been waiting hours. I suspected the lineup across the hall hadn’t been a party either. When he saw me, his expression lightened, but instead of coming to see me he gave me a nod before sitting down next to his brother.
“Did you need some reading material in case you got bored?” Dominick asked sarcastically, grabbing the paper. “What’s in the news?”
Ignoring the jab from Dom, Desmond said, “More of the same. Who should govern us? Can we govern ourselves? Can the vampires be trusted? Sounds like France is taking a progressive approach. They just legalized marriage between the living and the undead.” He glanced over to me and winked. My heart caught in my throat.
“The Republicans must love that,” Cas, Dominick’s boyfriend, said with a chuckle, squeezing Dom’s hand.
“Well, it’s a step in the right direction.”
“And what do our friends on the Tribunal think?” Dom asked.
Desmond shrugged. “Holden seems to be the most forward thinking of the lot. And he does well in front of the press.”
“Probably because he’s so pretty,” Cas suggested.
“Maybe. Either way, he’s gaining a lot of positivity towards the vampire cause. Which is more than I can say for your intrepid pack king.”