Afterlife

by Dannika Dark

  “Where is their pride?”

  “Uh, that’s the thing. They’re not from a pride. They’re wolves.”

  Sambah stopped at the back of the van. “Why not give them to a pack? There are many—”

  “We tried looking into that, but there aren’t any with the capacity to take in this many. And fewer that we would trust.”

  “How many are we talking about?”

  She flung open the back doors. “Fifteen.”

  Sambah craned his neck and peered inside. The children looked warily at him, uncertain of where this trip was taking them, only that they were leaving us. Then he noticed the kids in the back of my truck. “That is a lot of children.”

  She turned her back to the kids and walked out of their view. “This was King’s final request. I wasn’t sure at first, but I did a background check on you. Squeaky clean. I wouldn’t be here unless you were our only hope of keeping them together. But there’s something else you should know,” she said quietly. “These kids might grow up with problems due to trauma. They’ve been through hell, and I don’t know what kind of special care they might need.”

  Sambah straightened his back and looked upward for a moment. “Then they’ve come to the right place. This is a house of healing. I have more money and more room than a man could dream of.”

  Blue and I shared a look before she spoke. “You’ll take them?”

  “You sound surprised. Did you think I would turn away orphans?”

  “I wasn’t sure you’d want them.”

  “Why? Because most of them are white?”

  “No. Because they’re wolves. I don’t know how they would fit in with a group of lions, but we don’t have any other options. I got a good feeling coming here, and King swore they’d be safe. Can you give me your word that no one in this pride will ever hurt them? That includes you. They need protection.”

  Sambah held her gaze and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I give you my word on my son’s grave that I will never let any harm come to them. When they grow up and choose to leave, they will still be a part of this family.”

  “If I find out otherwise, I’ll gut you like a fish. You know I’ll do it.”

  He stepped back and bowed. “I would expect nothing less.” Sambah clapped his hands. “Come, children. Gather round.”

  Kids poured out of the van and from the back of the truck. Some clung to each other, fear and uncertainty flickering in their eyes.

  Sambah bent over and gave them a warm smile. “My name is Sambah Freeman. Can you say that?”

  All the kids repeated after him like zombies, and he laughed.

  “Yes, but you can call me Father. This is your new home, and I don’t want any of you to be afraid. I am going to take care of you from now on. You’re a part of a great big family with many traditions. We can decide later if you want to sleep in the same room or spread out. But for now, why don’t you join my brother, and he will show you to the kitchen.”

  “Oh, they just ate,” I said.

  Sambah slowly pivoted. “And did they have pudding?”

  That was enough to stir up their excitement. Some of the kids were practically bouncing like little pogo sticks.

  Sambah whistled with two fingers, and Joba emerged from inside. He was dressed in royal blue and looked every bit a prince. It made me wonder if the hierarchy in prides was the same as packs.

  Joba gave his brother a loaded glance.

  “Meet your new brothers and sisters,” Sambah said. “We won’t ask them any questions about where they came from, and I know you’ll inform everyone else of the same. They are a gift from King, and a new beginning for us all. Please have someone feed them pudding, and I’ll be there shortly.”

  Joba arched his brows, clearly in disbelief, but only laughed when he looked at all the inquisitive faces. “Come, little ones. Who likes chocolate?”

  Each one demanded that they liked it more than the last. Two of the older girls carried the babies, and it was the first time I felt like they were going to be okay. They had a lot to figure out, but they would grow up with all the advantages and hopefully receive special care from the best Relics.

  “I can’t thank you enough,” Blue said, closing the van doors. She leaned against the back, her scars on full display beneath the white tank top. “I was losing sleep over it.”

  Sambah adjusted his brown tunic and directed his attention to me. “You said you would see if my son had a message.”

  I looked to Blue, who answered for me. “I spoke to Wyatt this morning, and he relayed everything. King said he didn’t appreciate you enough, but he hopes that these children will. He really wanted them to come here. He said it was in the fates, and maybe that’s why he was compelled to stay behind. He loves his dear father and always will. That’s all he said.”

  Sambah essayed a smile, his eyes glimmering. “If King believes this will strengthen my family and help the children, then we will honor his spirit. Even in death, he was a good man. My heart sings with joy. I think we will celebrate tonight.”

  Blue gave him a look I couldn’t discern. “You just found out your son was murdered, and now he’s left this world. How can you look so happy?”

  I wondered if he might be insulted by that comment, but Sambah searched her eyes respectfully.

  “You can’t let the pain of death steal away the memories of life,” he explained. “That will take you to dark places you never knew within yourself. Perhaps you know those places already. King is not the only child I’ve lost. I’m an old man, and I have outlived seven of my children. Four were little and the others grown. It was more painful to lose the small ones. You dwell on the things they’ll never experience. But as parents, we must honor their souls as they have rejoined their great ancestors on their next journey. Holding on to pain only allows it to fester. It brings nothing. You close off your heart and won’t be able to give back to this world. And what becomes the purpose of your life? You are nothing but a dead tree, struck by lightning but still standing. Hollow inside.” He took a deep breath and looked between us. “This is a day for rejoicing. My son has joined his ancestors in the afterlife on their next journey, and he has bestowed us with the greatest gift and responsibility.” Sambah shook his head and laughed. “Wolves. King always had a sense of humor. He got that from his mother.”

  Voices inside the house overlapped in song. The beautiful melody amplified in the quiet space of the woods.

  Blue inched toward him. “No offense, but when I first saw this place, I never imagined so much warmth and love would be inside such a cold exterior.”

  Sambah tilted her chin up with the crook of his finger. “I find that hard to believe.” He turned away, heading to the door.

  “Mr. Freeman?” I called out. “Would you mind if we brought them a visitor sometime? He made friends with them.”

  Sambah waved. “Come by anytime, Raven and Blue. You are always welcome here.”

  Blue gave me a startled look. “Fates. That was easy as hell. I didn’t think he’d jump on it so fast.”

  “King sealed the deal. Did he really say all that? Or was it part of your plan to get on his good side?”

  Blue’s expression went flat. “I would never lie to someone about their dead child.”

  “Sorry. Didn’t mean to suggest you would. Hey, why don’t we grab some barbecue?”

  “Maybe we should just go home.”

  “I know for a fact you loved that place we went to with my dad that time.”

  “Oh, that place? Hmm.”

  I waved at Christian, who was listening from inside the truck. “I still need to meet with Ren and talk to him about all this. He won’t want to do it on the phone, so I’ll invite him out for lunch.”

  “Are you going to tell him about Graham?”

  I shook my head. “I’m a good liar, but Ren’s also a really smart wolf. I need to dance around the truth, but maybe if he gets a few beers in him, he won’t notice I’m dancing.”

 
She smiled and headed toward the driver’s door. “Let me call Viktor first and tell him how things went. He’ll be relieved to know the pride took them in. I think he wants to meet with Sambah to personally thank him and check on the kids.”

  “Okay then. We’ll meet you there.”

  Blue looked over her shoulder. “Raven? Do me a favor.”

  “Sure. Anything.”

  “Don’t order any hot dogs.”

  Chapter 31

  We met up at Skulls, my father’s favorite barbecue smokehouse. Despite being a workaholic, Crush usually took Sundays off, so I invited him to join us. Crush never turned down barbecue. I figured with him there, it would break any tension I might inadvertently create with Ren.

  Instead of sitting inside the crowded restaurant, we lounged on the back patio beneath a wooden pergola. Christian and I ordered beers and a large tin of ribs, which he wasn’t keen on eating.

  “You know you can’t leave here without eating,” I reminded him. “They have spies. Didn’t you learn your lesson from last time?”

  “I can’t say I’m hungry.”

  Ren threw him a frosty gaze. “You can’t trust a man who doesn’t eat.”

  Christian turned toward him, straddling the bench to my right. “Is that so? Does that mean you don’t trust a man who doesn’t take a shite? In that case, pass me the potato salad, because I’ll have none of that coming out of my arse,” he said, gesturing toward the tin of meat.

  I spit out my lemonade when Ren dropped the entire tin of potato salad in front of Christian, some of it spattering onto his shirt.

  “I’m glad you came,” I said to Tank, who bumped shoulders with me.

  “Wouldn’t miss it.”

  My father’s friends were the closest I had to family. Now that I knew they were Shifters, it cast a new light on them. Some of their rituals made sense, as did their protectiveness and loyalty. Had I never become immortal, they couldn’t have kept their secret for long. Not without giving me their anti-aging cream. Even though I’d only invited Ren, when barbecue was involved, it became a family affair. Familiar faces filled the patio space, and kids raced around in a game of tag.

  Ren licked sauce off his fingers. “Where’s your old man? I thought he was coming.”

  “He said he’d be here, but there was something he had to do first.” I looked across the table at the orange soda and empty plate, suddenly worried. What if something had happened to him?

  “I’m in love with this place,” Blue said around a mouthful of dinner roll. “We should do this every single week.”

  “My kind of girl,” Ren said. “Raven knows how to pick good friends. Well, mostly.” He met eyes with Christian before returning to another conversation.

  “Little gobshite,” Christian muttered.

  I touched my chin against my shoulder and lowered my voice. “Don’t start shit with these people. You’re out of your league.”

  “Is that so? I’ll have you know I can bend steel.”

  “And I’ll have you know that half of them carry impalement wood and have no problems tossing a fanghole into one of the firepits.”

  “You come from a twisted family, Miss Black. What do they have against me other than my Breed? Don’t they know you’re my sweetheart?”

  “Yep. But they don’t think we’ll last.”

  Without warning, Christian rose to his feet and slowly peeled off his shirt. He stood there in nothing but his black jeans, black boots, and black raven tattoo.

  It got quiet.

  Real quiet.

  Christian sat back down. “That settles that.”

  Blue snickered from the bench across from him. She seemed different today, and I wasn’t sure if it was Christian’s blood, the alcohol, or getting a second chance at life. In any case, she was drinking in more than the alcohol.

  “Boy, you should have heard what Sambah said to me,” she said, eyebrows arched high.

  I lurched over the table and lowered my voice. “What? I thought you left right after us.”

  “I did.” Blue reached for a container of baked beans and dipped her spoon in. “But while I was on the phone with Viktor, Sambah came out, thinking something was wrong. We got to talking, and I asked about you-know-who.”

  She meant Graham, but we weren’t going to mention him by name in present company.

  I glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “What did he say?”

  She finished eating a spoonful of beans, a half grin lingering. “He didn’t tell me what they did to him or how he died. All I know is that they buried him on the property.”

  “That’s surprising because?”

  “They made his grave a permanent outdoor urinal.”

  Christian choked on his potato salad.

  “I think they put flowers or a bush or something on his grave,” she went on, barely bottling her laughter. “So the only way they’re allowed to water the flowers is to piss on him.”

  I had to credit Sambah for his creativity. I sat back in my seat and nibbled the last good meat off the bone before pushing my plate away.

  “Are you going to waste that?” Christian asked. “There are starving children in the world, and there’s still meat on those bones.”

  “I don’t like fat and gristle.”

  Ren reached over, took my plate, and stripped the meat clean off the bone, making me grimace.

  “Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph. Is that your da?”

  I turned toward the sound of a motorcycle rumbling on the street to my right. Crush was facing us at the stop sign, and I actually stood to get a better look over the rosebushes. “Holy shit. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “What?” Ren launched to his feet to see what had grabbed everyone’s attention. “That motherfucker actually did it. Sorry, Raven. I can’t promise what my boys will do to him.”

  My dad sat on his big Harley, a black bandana tied over his head like a cap and his black shades on. He looked proud as hell, which wasn’t unusual whenever he rode his bike around. But what was unusual was the sidecar with the dog inside.

  Blue sputtered with laughter. “Oh fates. Is that dog wearing goggles? What do they call those? Doggles?” She reached for her beer, still laughing.

  Crush spotted us and waved as he turned the corner to park out front.

  I sat, a stunned feeling sweeping over me. Crush had unwillingly accepted a pet and then taken it to another level.

  I patted the table in front of Ren, who had also sat back down. “Does everyone know he has a pet?”

  “They do now.”

  After another minute, Crush sauntered onto the patio and took off his shades. “Everyone, this is Harley. He’s my partner.”

  Someone wolf whistled.

  Crush snapped his fingers. “I’ll remember that the next time you bring in that piece-of-shit Kawasaki for me to fix again, Leonard.”

  “It’s Lenny, you asshole,” the man yelled back over all the laughter.

  Harley should have been tempted by the smell of delicious meat, but he looked up to Crush with anticipation and seemed to read his body language. Crush didn’t give him any commands. Instead, he rounded the table and I stood to give him a hug. It seemed like each time we hugged, it was as if we hadn’t seen each other in years. And I loved it.

  “How’s my Cookie?” he rumbled in my hair.

  I jerked back. “A sidecar? You couldn’t just leave him at home?”

  “Where I go, he goes.”

  “The years you’ve spent building a reputation, tarnished in seven seconds. You’ll never live it down. You’ll always be the guy with the doggie sidecar.” I tugged his goatee.

  “Don’t give me your sass.” He passed Christian and patted Blue on the shoulder after rounding the table. “Glad to see you.”

  She touched his hand before shoveling more beans into her mouth.

  Crush couldn’t sit quietly. It was always a symphony of grunts, audible sighs, popping knees, and cursing after striking his elbow on t
he table. He tugged the tray of meat in front of him and filled his plate. Harley circled behind his chair and lay down.

  “That’s a big-ass dog,” Tank remarked. “You better feed it something, or it might eat you up.”

  “He prefers eating Shifters,” Crush fired back, his remark receiving laughter. He sized Christian up. “Do I have to stare at his nipples while I eat?”

  Christian folded his arms on the table. “Do you have a problem with fit bodies in supreme condition?”

  Crush narrowed his eyes, and when I saw that look on his face, I wasn’t sure what would happen next. My father stood up, eyes locked on Christian, and stripped off his Doobie Brothers shirt.

  I facepalmed. “Oh Jesus. Make it stop.”

  “Nobody wants to see that,” someone heckled him.

  I tapped my dad’s plate to get his attention. “At least take the goggles off the dog. People are laughing.”

  He pulled out his pants pockets before sitting. “I’m all out of fucks to give. They’ll have a laugh and get over it. Either that or they’ll get a dog bite in the ass.”

  Ren straightened his back and belched. “Raven, you wanna take a walk while these two make out?”

  “Sure.” I wiped my mouth and then followed Ren to the short chain-link fence. There were roses on the outside, and we rested our elbows on the fence and leaned forward to look at them.

  “So what did you call me here for?” he asked.

  “I’m closing the case. You can stop payments.”

  He cupped a yellow rose in his hand. “What did you find?”

  “Nothing. Well, not nothing. Blue and I questioned everyone. We were careful about it.”

  “Yeah, I heard you’re paying for dead alphas.”

  “It’s not what it looks like.” I turned to face him, one arm resting on the metal. “We thought it would be a good way to show that the higher authority is trying to work things out with the Shifter community.”

  He mirrored my position. “Uh-huh. Why just the alphas?”

  “We can’t afford to pay everyone. Some of the people we spoke to weren’t that receptive to our questions. You know how that goes. We had to think on our feet. Alphas are valuable, so we limited it to them. It made our job easier. Don’t worry, we have someone paying up.”