“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Lucy sobbed, hugging him tightly, and I brushed her hair behind her ear.
“Lucille?” I asked, and she looked over at me and smiled sadly before shaking her head. So my suspicions had to be correct; Lucy was no longer a hybrid but a vampire, her wolf now gone.
“Is he alright?” Lucy asked, looking over at Aamon behind us. I glanced over my shoulder at him before looking back at Lucy.
“He should be,” I told her, hoping that was true.
“You said you had a car?” I heard Reika ask, looking at Melana, who nodded, and I growled.
“It was Lucy’s idea, I swear. I only scratched it a little,” Melana said.
“There better not be a scratch on it,” I growled at her.
“Depends what you consider a scratch.”
I growled, and Lucy laughed, the sound making my heart swell, and I reached for her just as Melana removed Emily, who was still clinging to my back.
“I know, sweety, I know but I know where your mother is. I will take you home to her,” Melana told her as I pulled Lucy in my lap, inhaling her new scent and enjoying the feel of her safe in my arms.
Chapter ninety-seven
Lucy
Aamon transported us back when we discovered Ace’s car was a wreck. We all sat in the hospital’s waiting room while everyone received treatment. The markings on Rayan’s arms told us some bond had been put in place, but only time would tell if it could be undone. Aamon paced and muttered to himself. He was beside himself with grief, and I prayed Asmodeus could bring back Avery and his daughter for him.
“Ryker?” I heard my grandmother’s voice, making me look up to see Ace crash into his mother. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
“He will be fine, son. Your brother is strong.” My grandmother, Aria, hugged him. My grandfather came jogging through the doors. He looked around, and I watched as my mother approached him. She talked to him, and he followed her into the room where my stepfather was. How our lives had been turned upside down in a matter of days. Tyson came over, sat next to me, and grabbed my hand before kissing it.
“He’ll make it. I know he will,” he said, and I leaned against him. Now we had to wait. Wait to see if the pack would wake, if Ryker would make it, or if the king would fall.
“Lucy?” came Rayan’s voice as he stepped out of the room in a hospital gown. I opened my arms to him, and he sat on my lap. I kissed his little head and hugged him close.
“How do you feel?” I whispered to him.
“What if he doesn’t wake up?”
“He will,” I told him, and he looked up at me. He was so strong. How he endured what he did without giving in was beyond me. His wolf was close to the surface, but thankfully he never shifted; he might have had his wolf earlier than expected, but at least he didn’t complete the transition.
“But what if he doesn’t?” Rayan whispered while leaning his head on my shoulder.
“He will. He has too much to live for. He will make it,” I tried to reassure him when Luna Alicia walked out. She was deathly pale and could barely stand. Melana was holding her arm, and my mother rushed over to help Melana get her in a seat. She could be another to be lost if Avery didn’t return and sever the bond… so many lives sitting on the brink.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Alicia says, and Emily, who was sucking her thumb, came over and climbed in her mother’s lap, glancing around nervously. Rayan stared at her before looking down at his arm; the markings etched by the witch glowed under his skin.
“Thank you for bringing her back to me,” Alicia whispered to no one in particular before turning to my mother. “The King?”
“Stable for now, and the bond is getting stronger. I can feel him. He is in there somewhere. He’ll come back to us,” my mother murmured, looking back at the room where Ryker was with my grandparents.
Gosh, I hope so. We had lost enough to Kade and his minions.
***
One Week Later
I carried the salad bowl out the back of our packhouse; rows and rows of tables lined the fields as all the packs gathered. It was Jacob’s funeral today, and a memorial wall was erected in honor of those lost since Kade came about decades ago.
It was funny to think that one misunderstanding by my great-grandfather had brought about nearly a century of terror, ruled by one man even decades after his death. But for once, everyone was hopeful this was the end, the end of one lifetime and the beginning of another.