Chapter Fifty-Six: Peace in the Violence

Sapphire Nightborne

The fires had died down as the pyres finished burning, the stale smoke lazily twisting and turning in the sky.

I glared up at is as the moon started to break through the clouds, my fingers flexing as I felt my claws start to elongate. I shook my head to calm myself, knowing that as Alpha Female I had to be present, both in body and mind, for my pack.

My eyes travelled downwards to talk to Xander, only to see that his gaze remained fixated on the large pyre in the front of them all, where his parents had now taken their place to talk to their daughter one last time before her ashes were taken to the forest.

“Go, Xander. I will handle everything here.”

He softly smiled at me before he gestured a warrior to help push him to his family, the ache in my gnawing at my chest as I watched him.

I took a deep breath as I passed various families, extending my condolences for their losses. I was prepped by Xander that extending condolences as an Alpha Female was much different than a Head Warrior. In the past, all I had to do was inform the families of the warriors under my charge that their loved one had died a courageous death in the face of battle, usually rather curtly than compassionately… death was an expected occurrence in our line of work.

Now, I had to empathise with the families, assure them that they would get through this while knowing deep down in my hurt that you do not just get over a death of someone that you love dearly. You simply learn to live with it, and try to continue with your life as it was.

I moved from family to family, hugging them and exchanging words of comfort, before whispering a goodbye to my fallen members, praying that they were at peace with those who had passed before them.

I continued this before I stopped at a pyre which only had one person sitting next to it.

“Alyssa?”

She whipped her head towards the sound of her voice before she realised it was me, her head sinking to a bow as she tried frantically to wipe the tears that stained her cheeks.

I quickly walked to her side, placing a hand on shoulder as we stared at Emery’s burning pyre.

“Thank you, Sapphire.”

I looked down at her, tilting my head at her words.

“For what?”

She continued to wipe her tears with the sleeves of her shirt as she looked back up to me.

“For giving Emery a proper burial, and not dumping his body in an unmarked grave… it is more than we deserve after what we did to your pack.”

I gave her a small smile before bringing my hand to stroke her hair.

“Your brother sacrificed himself to save the lives of countless of my pack, he deserves to be honoured for his actions.”

She gave a small nod of understanding as she turned her gaze back to her brother’s pyre.

“How have you been holding up, Alyssa?”

Her eyes never strayed as she answered me.

“Truth be told, I thought I was going to be on my own… I had lost everyone, my parents, my sister, and my brother. After what we did, maybe I deserved to live out the rest of my days alone,…but your pack opened up to take me in… the families of the warriors we killed and the people who Emery saved made sure I ate on time, and some even stayed in my room while I slept. I… I had never experienced anything like that back at Grimford.”

I gave a small chuckle after she had said her piece.

“This pack truly is something else, Alyssa. I had come here with the mindset that I would just be accepted because I was Xander’s mate… that I would tolerated at best, but this pack… they welcomed me with open arms and even adapted the ways they did certain things in order to make me feel more comfortable. I, too, learned how to be a better person because of them. The people here are ready to fight to the death to protect the people they love, and once they open up to you, they will do the same for you without a second thought.”

She remained quiet as she took my hand in hers, I squeezed it gently as we stood there silently before I broke it.

“Xander wanted to ask if you would want to lay Emery to rest with those we who passed, in our forest?”

Her eyes widened as she stared at in shock, her lips parted as she searched for words to say.

“I…I would be more than honoured for him to be buried with the rest of those who have given their lives to protect Shadow Mountain.”

I smiled at her before stroking her hair once more, turning to leave, my eyes searching for the next group of people that I wanted to speak to.

My heart sank slightly when I realised that it would be Amelia’s Pride. Taking a deep breath, I began to walk towards them.

They were huddled around the various pyres that they had laid their members on, holding on to their living members as they closed their eyes, lips muttering silent promises. My heart lifted slightly when I saw that some of Xander’s pack had their arms around the Werecats, who readily accepted their comfort instead of moving away.

They bowed to me when my presence was known, my wolves slowly dispersing to give us time to speak privately.

“Sapphire, how is Amelia?”

Desperation was clear in all of their eyes as they looked towards me for an answer.

“She is still unresponsive to us… but she is healing and according to our Chief Healer, has a high chance of fully physically recovering.”

I stressed the word ‘physically’ to make it clear to them that Amelia had more than just her physical wounds to heal from. The mental wounds that Damien had forced upon her may last forever and never heal… I did not want to give them false hope that their Alpha would make a perfect recovery and return to how she was before.

Ramira, the Werecat who has asked me the question and had bravely volunteered to check the situation outside the dungeons, gave a small nod to hint to me that she understood my words.

“Thank you for all you have done for us, Sapphire… your Healers, Warriors, and all your pack members.”

I gave her the same smile as I gave Alyssa.

“No thanks needed at all, Ramira. It is you we have to thank, for all that you have done us. Amelia is family and she considers you family, thus I will treat you as family… Shadow Mountain is as much as your home as my own.”

There was a sombre chorus of thanks, before Ramira quietly pulled me aside.

“I don’t know what to do, Sapphire. All of them are in fragile positions and are not sure of what to do next, and with Amelia unable to guide them and Kal…Kalma dead, there are turning to me for answers which I do not know.”

Her hands gestured around wildly, trembling as she spoke. Her eyes filled with fear as she searched mine for reassurance.

“Take a deep breath, Ramira.”

I held her hands in mine as I took a deep breath with her, hoping to get her to mirror my behaviour. I kept taking breaths with her till I could hear her heart rate return to normal.

“Amelia will return to you soon, she loves all of you way too much to leave you, but she will need someone by her side to handle the more… strenuous part of her duty. Ramira, the courage you showed during the fight in Shadow Mountain shows me that you care for others, that you are willing to die for them. Your pride needs that anchor now more than ever, it is not going to be easy, but I will be there every step of the way to guide you, until Amelia is well enough to return to lead you.”

She swallowed hard before looking at me with lost eyes.

“They are in so much pain, Sapphire. I…I do not know where to even begin.”

I gave her tight smile as I held her hands closer.

“For now, just be with them as they grieve. Be a pillar for them to lean on.”

Ramira turned to look at her members who hugged it each other close, some sobbing hard into the shoulders of those who tried their best to mask their emotional pain. She took a deep breath before turning to me, her eyes betraying her understanding of what she had to do.

“I will, Sapphire.”

I gave her an encouraging smile before turning her shoulder gently so that she faced her pride.

“And I will be here to guide you.”

She squeezed my shoulder before returning to her pride, my heart leaping into my throat as I realised who was the last family I had to talk to.

I took small steps as I walked towards Angel’s pyres. The remanent of her dark gold shroud glittering under the moonlight, displaying a stark contrast to the smoking black wood underneath it.

Ophelia held tightly onto Lucien as she gazed at her daughter’s pyre, her eyes were filled with grieve, but were dry without a single tear, as if she had already cried out every tear she could.

Jared knelt by Xander’s side as he clutched his hand, Chloe behind him squeezing his shoulders. She was the first one to see me and moved from her position, leaving me a path towards Xander.

He sighed softly as he felt my touch on his shoulders, bringing my hand forward to leave a kiss on the inside of my wrist. I placed a kiss on his cheek before walking to stand by his parents.

Ophelia gave me a forced smile, trying her best to reassure me she was fine, before pulling me into a hug. Holding me tightly in her arms while Lucien moved to stroke my hair.

I did not know whether it was the build-up of taking in everyone’s grief or the resurfacing of my own pain as I sobbed into her shoulder.

Her hands tightened around me, making shushing noises to try and come me down while Lucien continued to stroke my hair before rubbing my back soothingly to try and calm me down.

“I…I’m so sor---”

I did not get to finish my sentence before Ophelia pulled me away from her embrace, placing a finger on my lips as she gazed at me sternly.

“My daughter made a choice, Sapphire, doing what she believed was right…if you apologise, you disregard her will.”

I bit my lip before giving her a rueful smile as her words mirrored her son’s.

I felt Xander’s hands wrap around mine as Chloe placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Jared had come to stand by us, a soft smile on his face as Lucien placed his hand on my cheek.

“The Lykos family protects our own, Sapphire, and Angel honoured that. She may have left us in the world of the living, but never will she leave our hearts. We have to honour what she would have wanted and push through. We will get through this together.”