Page 16 of Bound by the Moon (The Ancients #4)

“Death has come to visit again.

Only this time, on the heels of a warrior’s passing, another has been reborn to us.

Death is not kind, or just, it simply is.

Death has given us both cause to mourn and rejoice today.

We have lost our own, Jameson St.

Marks. We have also gained one of our own back, Jack Reynolds. Today, we honor them both for their sacrifices.”

I hated that it wasn’t me addressing the pack, or my mother, but neither of us was in a place to do it yet.

My mother had asked Mikael to start off the ceremony tonight instead.

Eileen St.

Marks walked up to the edge of the lake then, to stand next to Mikael as I kept my position in the semi-circle my pack had formed.

“As the Alpha’s mate, it is my right to choose another to take his place with his passing.”

My mom choked up a little on the last word, but otherwise she was doing far better on the outside than I felt on the inside.

“Normally, I would say that our daughter, Jessica, should take his place.

She has a far greater calling though, as the White Wolf Ruler.

In her stead, I would choose Mikael De’Lune to take his place as master of this pack.

She leaned in, and kissed him on his left cheek, then his right before stepping back.

“All hail your new pack master. Mikael of the De’Lune Pack.”

Those who were still in their human form took a knee where they once stood in the semi-circle.

Those in wolf form, bowed down on their front two paws.

“St.

Marks Pack.”

Mikael corrected.

“The name will stay, as is, in honor of the leader who gave his life to save his people.”

My mate couldn’t have possibly honored my father in a better way than that.

The pack seemed to agree as a round of howls went up and joined into one singular voice.

When it was time to honor my father’s death, Ashley took Willow from me so that I could shift with the others.

No sooner had I shifted than Jack, who was standing beside me, also took his wolf form.

There was no question that he was something else altogether when seen in that form.

He was a wolf, and yet, he wasn’t.

The ethereal quality of his being was mesmerizing.

I stood there, just taking it all in for a moment.

His wolf was now white, and oddly translucent with shocks of blue lightning flowing through him.

The eyes that had been peering out of his human shape earlier were now something altogether different too.

They were solid white with one, tiny, round circle of brilliant blue.

It was a blue that matched the lightning that shot through his wispy being.

I don’t even know if I would have had words for what I was seeing, had I been human and able to communicate them.

Instead I just took it all in, knowing that he had no clue what I was seeing.

Something must have caught his eye, because his focus shifted from me to something just off over by the lake’s edge.

He nudged into me, and after a quickening jolt of electrified energy, I was able to see what he was staring at.

Jack was absolutely straddling the world of the living and the dead, and not just walking in both worlds, but connecting them.

Standing there, by the edge of the lake, I saw my father.

He acknowledged my look with a tip of his head before blowing a kiss in my direction.

“The white wolves send their blessing. They had enough juice to allow me to come say goodbye. Tell Mikael…”

my father, even as a spirit, was clearly humbled by the showing.

“Tell him thank you for me”

I tipped my head down to let him know I understood.

Then I nudged Jack towards my mother.

He seemed to understand immediately, and went to make contact with her then.

I’m not sure what my father was able to say to my mom, but when Jack finally pulled away from them, she let out the loudest, most pitiful mourning yelp I’d ever heard from a wolf.

The sound of my mother’s raised wolf voice carried over the mountains beyond our pack’s borders, and was quickly joined by a chorus of howls that were sent up into the night sky to honor my father, and my mother’s loss.

My voice carried with them, our extended family, voicing our anguish and hope all once. It filled my heart to bursting, knowing that my father had built a pack so strong.

We had faced so much as a pack in just a short time.

As a family, we had been dealt more than any one should ever have to endure in a lifetime.

Yet, there we were, enduring, and moving forward.

I took it all in, as we ran together that night.

The scent of damp earth and pine needles pervaded my nostrils.

The waves of energy that rolled off my pack mates, smashed into me, and broke off again in waves that reached out to the next in line. Each crashing wave of energy drove me forward that night. We ran deeper into the forest than we usually did, all of us needing an outlet for our anger, our loss, and our search for a hopeful future.

I knew we wouldn’t find the end of our hardships this night, but I vowed to the stars and moon above, and to whatever greater beings there were beyond us, that my people would find peace.

We would know a calm for a time, because we had earned it.

We earned it through hardship, and flexibility, through tolerance of others, and the ability to come together under the worst of circumstances and see ourselves through to the other side.

My vow to my people, spoken under the stars, would stick.

I knew it would, and I stopped mid-run and sealed it with a determined howl that was echoed back by the wolves of my pack.

They would rally under Mikael, just as the rest of our kind would rally under me.

I swore that I heard my father’s voice calling back in that cacophony of sound, and maybe I did.

I was sure he was enjoying this one last run with us, even if we couldn’t see him there.