Page 34 of Healer’s Reckoning (The Healer’s #3)

Ch apter 34

Ava

I wait until they climb out and close the doors behind them. They stand on both sides of the vehicle facing out. I’m so glad I showered before we left. It takes a lot of effort, but I’m able to slide into my black knee-length dress. I slide on black pumps and earrings, do a quick makeup job, and then work on a pulled-back hairdo that looks like I actually tried. Soon, I’m ready. My heart is racing as if I was just working out. I take a moment to steady my breathing before opening the door. As soon as I push on the door, Bryce turns around and puts a hand out. I notice that he’s not looking at me though. For the first time, I take in what he’s wearing. It’s definitely not clothes appropriate for a funeral. He’s wearing a black fitted t-shirt, black cargo pants, and black boots. My gaze snags on the gun at his hip, and then I turn slowly around and notice more than a few men standing nearby dressed the exact same way as Bryce. My eyes meet his. “Are these all your men?” He nods. “Security detail?” I ask.

“Yes.” He puts a hand on my lower back. “We need to get inside.” Several guys fall into place behind us and in front of us.

“I thought guns didn’t work on super naturals,” I say quietly as we walk towards the front door.

“They’re loaded with silver bullets. It won’t kill a vampire, but it will take them down and keep them down long enough for us to finish the job.” His words are low and fierce, and he doesn’t take his eyes off his surroundings. When we get to the front door, a shifter opens the door. I recognize him from Cade’s pack. I grimace. Maverick’s pack now. Several of Bryce’s men flood the lobby around us.

“I’ll lead you to the visitation,” the shifter who opened the door for us says, and Bryce nods. He doesn’t remove his hand from my back as we walk. He leads us through the building and out the back door. We walk for a few minutes and then enter an area that has seats set up. It’s the same area where we celebrated Maverick and Rose’s mating ceremony. That was such a different feel than now.

I turn to Bryce. “I’m good now. You can do your thing.” I don’t give him a chance to argue. I spot Rose near the front. After a moment of weakness, I force my feet to carry me forward in front of all these people to the very front. I hold my head high and try to pretend I’m not shaking like a leaf. I second-guess myself when I see she’s surrounded by members of her pack. But then she lifts her eyes.

“Ava.”

I walk straight towards her and sit in the empty seat next to her and hug her. She hangs on to me tightly, and I feel a lump in my throat. When she finally releases me, I meet her red eyes. Guilt hits me fresh. “I’m so sorry, Rose,” I whisper.

She takes my hand and squeezes it. “This was not your fault, Ava.” I want to argue, but I also don’t want to cause a scene. “It wasn’t,” she reinforces.

I stare at her because I don’t have a clue what to say. “How are you coping?” I finally settle on.

She lets out a deep sigh. “Not very well, but I’m trying to be brave for Paige.”

My heart tugs. “How’s she doing?”

“She refuses to leave Maverick’s side.” Her smile is sad. As if on cue, Maverick walks across the front carrying a little girl with her head on his shoulder. Eli follows close behind him, his eyes scanning the crowd alertly. Maverick walks right over to Rose and kneels in front of her. I don’t want to intrude on this private moment, so I start to stand. But a hand on my arm stops me. Rose doesn’t look at me, but she squeezes my arm. I know her well enough to know she doesn’t want me to leave. I settle against my seat but look away so they can have privacy.

“Okay, Love, you have to sit with Auntie Rose now,” I hear Maverick say in his low voice. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard him so tender.

“I wanna stay wif you.”

I hear the little voice, and it’s enough to slay me. I swallow hard and push any and all emotion away. “I’ll come get you as soon as I’m done,” Maverick says quietly. Then there’s rustling. I can see out of the corner of my eye that Rose has Paige now, and Maverick has his hand on her knee. “You okay?” His voice is so tender. “I love you. We’ll get through this, Rose.” He leans forward to kiss both of them, and I swallow and try to keep from becoming overly emotional. He stands up and walks to the front. I turn to make sure my friend is okay. Paige shifts and wraps her arms around Rose’s neck, and Rose holds her close. Paige lays her head on Rose’s shoulder and meets my gaze. I freeze, expecting her to condemn me, to know somehow that it’s my fault her parents are gone. She does nothing of the sort. Instead, she shocks me by reaching out her little hand. I don’t know what to do, so I meet her fingers with my own. She doesn’t say anything, and she doesn’t try to pull away, so I just hold her little hand.

I see movement and turn to see Bryce’s men close in on all sides around the people. Rose sees it too, but she doesn’t acknowledge it. I wonder where Bryce is, but I don’t see him within my line of sight and I don’t want to turn around. I can see they’re about to start the funeral. “Am I in somebody’s spot?” I ask Rose softly.

“I was saving it for you.”

I don’t say anything. I don’t tell her that I didn’t even know I was going to be here. I realize then that she probably doesn’t know about the attack at Bryce’s place and the fact that I’ve been out of commission. I eye Maverick at the front. I’m sure he knew, but he probably thought it best not to tell Rose. My respect for him just continues to grow. He checks on his girls one last time and then he steps forward.

“Thank you each and every one of you for coming today as we honor Cade and Amber’s lives.” That’s all he says before he turns it over to the officiant. The officiant steps forward, holding a Bible and begins the ceremony. The ceremony lasts a while and ends with a fire burning ceremony. It’s a very emotional time, and I feel wrung out when it finally ends. Paige fell asleep at some point during the ceremony. When it finally finishes, Maverick walks over to Rose and lifts the sleeping Paige out of her arms and onto his shoulder before he offers Rose his hand and pulls her to her feet, putting a hand at her back. Before they walk away, he looks down at me. “Thank you for being here for her, Ava.” With that, he whisks her away, and they make their way to the front where they greet person after person.

I sit there a while in shock that Maverick talked to me, let alone thanked me and called me my actual name. Usually, he just calls me Blondie. Suddenly, I’m really glad I came. My friend needed me today, and for once, I could be there for somebody. It feels good, really good. But now, I’m exhausted both emotionally and physically. I stand up and make my way to the back of the ceremony. I don’t bother getting in line to talk to Maverick and Rose; I want others to get their chance. There are so many faces I don’t recognize. The officiant called off a list of packs present, and I was shocked at how many had sent shifters to represent their pack. When I finally get to the back, several of Bryce’s men surround me. I look for him but don’t see him. There’s supposed to be a meal indoors afterwards, so I head that way. I don’t really pay attention to the men walking with me.

When I get inside, I head to the dining hall, hoping to grab a bottle of water. I notice more than just a few of Bryce’s men came with. They surround the huge dining room. I frown and look around for a familiar face. When I see Cody, I walk over to him. “Cody, aren’t you all supposed to be doing security?”

He gives me a confused look. “That’s what we’re doing.”

“Well, there’s like three people in here. Shouldn't you all be outside where all the people are?”

He looks over my shoulder, and I feel a presence a moment later and know it’s Bryce. “I think you misunderstood me, Ava.” I turn to look at him. “You’re the security detail.”

I blink. “Wait, what? I thought you were protecting everybody here for the funeral.”

Bryce shakes his head slowly. “My team is here to protect you.”

“Well, that’s ridiculous.”

He steps close and lowers his voice, which is pointless because everybody around has shifter hearing. “They took you from me once. They won’t do it again.” He doesn’t blink, and I take in the danger vibes coming off him right now.

“Yeah but all this? Just for me? Don't you think that’s a little overkill? I just—” I swallow my words because of the look on his face. “Never mind.” I turn around and find a seat to sit in, mostly because I’m exhausted. I wish we could just leave, but I want to be here for Rose. It doesn’t take long for this place to fill up. When Rose and Maverick come in, she sees me and turns to Maverick a moment. He looks up and sees me and nods. She comes my way and sits down a moment later.

“So, you have your own security detail?” she asks with a small smile. “That’s kind of—”

“Ridiculous?” I say dryly.

“I was going to say cool.” She turns around a moment and then looks back at me. “So, what happened?”

I paste a blank look on my face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure, you don’t. You show up here with a thirty-man security detail who are armed with guns with silver bullets. So, let’s try that question again.” She raises an eyebrow at me. I fidget a moment in my seat. “I can just get Maverick to tell me.” She points to her head. “But I’d rather hear from my best friend.”

“You’re going through so much, Rose. I don’t want to pile anything else on.”

“Yeah, but this has nothing to do with the funeral today. If anything, maybe it will get my mind off this incredible sadness for just a few minutes so I can breathe again.”

It doesn’t take any more convincing than that for me. I tell her what I know about the attack, which actually isn’t much because I passed out for four days. And Bryce and I haven’t exactly had time for a heart-to-heart.

She sits back in her chair, looking worried. “I’m worried about you.”