CHAPTER FORTY
We rested on the train until the sun rose. Though, resting may be too kind of a word. We sat, and we stared. Some closed their eyes. Many cried silent tears. But we waited for final judgment when we would find his body in the rubble…alert or a living corpse. The truth would be known soon.
I stepped out into the light that burned my eyes and made my way down the train stairs. I didn’t look in the direction of Theron and Poppy.
Both sat sidebyside on the grass near where the blast had died down. One side was green where they sat, on the other was black. Like if they passed over that line of healthy grass, they would become ash as the building now was.
The group moved forward together, our shoulders brushing one another’s. No one moved for more space or slowed their walk. We needed that touch to remember we were alive.
Theron and Poppy stood before we reached them, and they led our group onto the charred earth.
Here, we split apart in silent agreement.
We would cover more ground.
Theron cleared his throat, and called, “Godric! Can you hear me?”
My lips pinched, and I kept silent. I knelt and peeled back furniture from the ground and tossed it to a flat area. I repeated this process until I reached the black ground.
I swallowed down the sob and moved on.
I didn’t want to be the one to find him.
Another heart could handle it.
“Big man, I need you. Answer me!” Poppy shouted.
Finn called, “God!”
I shook my head and tuned them all out.
My focus was on moving charred boards and rocks to another location. Then I dug and shoved. My nails broke and regrew, dried blood painted the tips of my fingers. The muscles in my back burned, and my lack of sleep kept my vision blurred.
The shifters worked much faster, as is to be expected.
Dust shadowed Theron into a wild thing.
Poppy held a miniature lion stuffed animal that had somehow survived the fire.
Finn swayed back and forth on his legs and landed hard on his butt. He placed his head in his hands and sobbed. He stated loudly, “I found him.”
The mad dash began, everyone scrambling over rubble or tripping on broken goods.
I stopped behind my white tiger and placed my hands on his shoulders. I leaned into his back and peered down to see if Godric was grinning up at everyone or if his eyes were closed in permanent slumber.
“No!” Poppy’s blood-curdling scream would live with me forever. She dropped next to his body and shook his bare shoulder. “Wake up, big man. Wake up.”
Godric’s bare form was covered in soot.
He slept peacefully. His eyes closed…forever.
I sat hard behind Finn and wrapped my arms around his sobbing form. The gentle rocking motion I made us do helped him as much as it did me.
Theron choked on air.
Then he tipped his head and bellowed.
Earth shattering.
He was a father soon to bury his beloved son.
Down, down in the earth. No one would know he was there except those who loved him and still lived. And when the time came, and everyone was gone, he would be no more.
Poppy shook his shoulders again, lying over his body. The wetness from her face streaked the gray to black on his chest. On a sob, she coaxed, “Godric, come back to me. I can’t do this without you. Forever, big man. We are forever, remember?” Her dainty hands shook his shoulders harder. “Please. I’m begging you. Don’t leave me here alone.”
I tipped my face down on my white tiger’s shoulder and allowed my pain to emerge with everyone else’s. My tears freefell down his skin, sliding over his shoulder.
Finn turned his torso and grabbed me around the waist, yanking me onto his lap. We held one another. I wouldn’t let go, and he wouldn’t let go. Together, we shed our pain in shuddering sobs.
We reached out and touched others every so often, letting them into our embrace. No more words were spoken by anyone. The full gravity of Godric’s death pulled us all under into that ugly darkness of despair.
* * *
I used Poppy’s key and unlocked then held the door open to her house—only hers now.
Theron turned to the side and maneuvered into the foyer. His son was in his arms, still warm and breathing but a living corpse. A true monster had stolen his soul.
The son he carried was only a shell.
Wolfe sidestepped through the entrance as well, his arms full of an incoherent woman who continued to cut her hand in hopes it would quit healing instantly.
The men had talked about it.
Mr. Wood would be staying with her for a time. She may not be able to permanently die, but she would try to kill herself again and again. In her mind, she was facing forever alone.
Finn took the key from my hand and set it on the floor by the door. My white tiger pulled me outside and hugged me close. He whispered in my ear, “I want to go home. Leave with me.”
I peered up into his blue eyes. “You don’t want to stay here for a while?”
“We did that last night on the train. Now, I need my mate in my bed so I know she’s safe in my arms.”
I pressed my lips against his jaw. “Take me then.”
We stepped on the golems still piled high and littering the yard. Now, there would be no Mr. King to help clean up the mess. It was now only Ms. Poppy Carvene’s duty.
“We should come over tomorrow and clean this outside area up,” I murmured.
“I agree. We’ll do it first thing in the morning.” He cleared his throat pointedly. “Then, if you wish, we can stop by your parents’ house to pick up more of your things?”
“Are you asking me to live with you?”
I didn’t have to anymore. The immoral man wasn’t after my soul. He was after the aberrations’. He had one now.
How many more souls would he steal?
“Yes. I’m horrible at this, obviously. But I would like you to move in with me.”
“I will.” I paused. “As long as we can change some of the palettes inside your home. You are a bit obsessive over the color of blood.”
“We’ll see.” He didn’t deny the blood issue.
“That’s a yes.” I bumped his hips gently.
“Nice catch.”
“Thank you, my white tiger.”