Secrets From the Grave

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “What happened in Florida wasn’t your fault, Ally,” Asher began. “The Witches Council are the ones who did it. You know that.”

  I met his eyes again, my heart aching. “And then there’s you guys.” I shook my head. “You want to know how I feel? What I feel most is guilt. I feel horrible for kissing all of you. I feel guilty for standing here wanting to kiss you even though I shouldn’t. I feel like I’m being torn apart. A person is supposed to feel this way about one person, not be in love with five! I feel like I’m going to lose everything and everyone that means anything to me! And get everyone killed in the process! There! Is that enough?”

  “You don’t have to feel guilty about kissing anyone! We all know what’s going on now,” he pointed out.

  “Yeah, ‘cause you guys wanting to kill each other over a simple shoulder touch is normal?” I turned away and ran my hand down my face. “What the fuck have I done?”

  “Ally,” he snapped. “You can’t help the way you feel. I get that. They get that. We’re all just trying to deal with it.”

  I looked up and met his ocean eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  He stepped closer and ran the back of his fingers over my jaw. His breath moved my hair. “Ally, you said you’re in love with me.”

  “I…uh… yeah…” I couldn’t think, my face burned as panic started to take hold. What did I just do? No one need to know that!

  He leaned down. His lips were a breath from mine when he whispered, “I’m in love with you too.” My breathing hitched just before he pressed his lips to mine. Stunned, it took me a moment to realize what he had said. Love washed through me as I kissed him back. My fingers found his waist as he held my face still. One kiss led to another, and another.

  He pulled back a little when we were both breathless. “I’m so tired of not kissing you.” His lips took mine again, kissing me harder. He swept in and made everything else disappear but him. His lips, his hands on my neck, his body pressed into me. That was all there was. His hands moved down my back, leaving a streak of tingles as his hands stopped at my ribs and pulled me closer. His fingers flexed, sending a wave of shivers over me. I made a small sound that had him holding me tighter against him. His palms moved to the back of my thighs before he hooked the back of my knees and lifted me off the floor. He sat on the window sill, his hands setting me to straddle him. Lightning shot through me as our bodies met. His lips trailed from my lips down my jaw to my neck as his fingers stroked up my thighs. My fingers curled in his shirt, my hips shifted against his. He groaned against my pulse before his hands slid to my hips. Aching, I moved against him again, a breathy moan escaping from my lips. Vanilla and cinnamon surrounded me while his lips found mine again, scattering me even more. Every move he made, every touch, every stroke was soft, and gentle. Even as his fingers slipped under the hem of my shirt, and spread out over my waist. I shook against him as his hand moved up my ribs stoking the heat higher. I didn’t even notice until the top of his thumb brushed the underside of my breast sending fire down every nerve I had. I suddenly remembered where I was, what I was doing and, judging by how amazing he felt, what would happen if we didn’t stop. It wasn’t the smart thing to do. Oh, no, no… I stiffened. He noticed.

  Before I even had a chance to tell him to stop he slid his hand back down out of my shirt and to my hip. His kiss slowed. My grip on his shirt eased. He kissed me softly one more time before easing back. He rested his forehead on mine as we both tried to catch our breath.

  “Why do you have to feel so good?” he whispered.

  I couldn’t even put two thoughts together as I slid my arms from around his neck, to run my hands down to his chest.

  He groaned quietly in the back of his throat. “Oh, you need to stop that...” I laid my cheek against his shoulder, my nose near the crook of his neck. His arms wrapped around me, his hand stroking up and down my back.

  We were quiet for at least a minute, simply feeling each other.

  “I know everything is a mess, we’re in the middle of a fight, and we almost lost Ethan,” he said, his voice soft and low. “But is it horrible of me to be happy, like this, with you?”

  I grinned. “No, I don’t think so.”

  He pressed his nose into my hair and took a deep breath. “Good.”

  We were quiet for another couple of minutes, long enough for me to realize how much the brick window sill was hurting my knees. “I need to move.”

  His hands went to my hips a heartbeat before he stood, setting me on my feet. When he didn’t let go, I looked up, and met his warm ocean eyes. “I know you didn’t say you’re in love with just me.”

  I started to chew on the corner of my bottom lip as my stomach knotted.

  His eyes ran over my face then met my eyes. “The guys want to talk.”

  “When?” I asked, my chest aching. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and checked the time.

  “Now.” His fingers squeezed mine. “We’re supposed to meet in Ethan’s room.” He kept my hand in his as we went down the stairs.

  “What do you mean talk?” I asked as we reached the fourth floor.

  “Everyone has some questions about how this happened,” he explained as he led me down the west hall. “Some of us just need to understand.”

  My stomach knotted. “No fist fights?”

  “No fist fights.”

  We were in the middle of the hall when he stopped, squeezed my hand then let go. At the sixth door, he didn’t bother knocking, he just opened it. The guys were spread out around the room, standing, sitting on the floor or dresser.

  Ethan was in the queen-sized bed, sitting up against a pile of pillows. His color was better than earlier. He grinned. “Beautiful, please save me from these mother hens and get me out of here?”

  I shook my head. “Nope, you died. You stay in bed for now.”

  The guys chuckled. Ethan cursed.

  I smiled as I walked over and felt his forehead. “How’re you feeling?”

  “I’m fine. Tired and bored but fine,” he grumbled as he took my hand off his forehead and kept it in his.

  “Can you guys not?” Isaac asked, his voice rough.

  I pulled my hand from Ethan’s as I sighed. I didn’t think the cease fire would last long anyway.

  “Don’t make her feel bad about trying to make me feel better,” Ethan muttered. I closed my eyes and tried to figure out what to say.

  “If you’re not willing to discuss this calmly then there won’t be a family meeting,” Miles stated. “So, stop the little comments.”

  Isaac sighed. “I just want to know how this happened.”

  I wrapped my arms around my stomach and turned to face all of them. Every one of them were watching me. “I didn’t know how to...” I admitted. “How do you tell someone that you kissed them and four of our best friends?” My eyes met Isaac’s. “Including your brother?”

  Isaac’s eyes softened.

  “I was terrified to tell everyone. If you would believe me. What you guys would think of me…” I shook my head. “I can barely believe it and I’m the one…”

  “I get it,” Ethan mumbled.

  “But…” Isaac hesitated. “How do you feel about everyone? You never said…”

  I took a deep breath, fighting the tightness in my chest. “I have feelings for everyone, the same feelings for everyone.”

  Zeke cursed, Asher was silent, Miles watched the others carefully, Isaac started pacing, Ethan closed his eyes and leaned back against his pillows.

  “I didn’t mean for it to happen,” I tried again.

  “We know,” Zeke muttered.

  “You wouldn’t do that, Red,” Isaac added. “This just…”

  “Sucks,” Ethan finished for him.

  There were several minutes of silence.

  “You’re going to have to choose,” Isaac stated.

  “Is… Is that what you guys want?” I swallowed hard, my heart hammering in my chest. “Do any of you really still…�
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  Voices started shouting in the hallway. Louis stuck his head through the door as I started toward it. “They hit the wolves, I need hands.”

  Everyone started for the door.

  “You stay here, Lexie!” Louis ordered before turning and running out the door. I stopped in my tracks. Isaac slammed the door behind them leaving me alone with Ethan.

  “Come here, Beautiful,” Ethan called.

  I turned and went back to his side. He reached out and snagged me around the waist. The next thing I knew I was in bed on the other side of him, my legs over his thighs.

  He smiled down at me and brushed my hair out of my face. “It’s going to be okay, Beautiful.”

  “How?” My eyes burned.

  His face softened. “Because we’re a family. Nothing’s going to change that.” I hoped he was right.

  He grinned. “Now, I want to see you smile.”

  I gave him a small smile.

  “Not good enough, Beautiful,” he said, his hand moving to my ribs. He started tickling me. I squirmed, laughing as I tried to get away.

  “Come on, give me a smile.”

  I squeaked as his fingers found a sensitive spot. “I’m smiling, I’m smiling.”

  “Good.” He stopped tickling me. He threw a couple of pillows across the bed then laid down and pulled me into his arms. I rested my head on his arm and looked up at him.

  Those chocolate eyes were on me. “Stay with me for a while?”

  “Always,” I whispered.

  He pulled me closer until my head rested on his chest. “Ojalá pudiera guardarte.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing, Beautiful,” he said softly. “I’m just tired.” I snuggled against him, it wasn’t long before he fell asleep still holding me. I laid there, listening to his heartbeat, wondering if the guys were okay.

  Asher

  The werewolf pack of New Orleans was based out on the edge of the swamp. I expected to take a boat, but Louis drove us through the swamp on a well-used dirt road in one of the safehouse’s SUVs. Everyone hung on for their lives.

  When we finally arrived, what we found was chaos. Cabins were still on fire, a couple of kids were screaming, injured were everywhere and… bodies. Wolf, human. They were left where they fell.

  “Holy shit…” I said, not even realizing it.

  “Help to get the fire out, help the wounded if you can!” Louis ordered us as we slid to a halt. “First aid kits are in the back! Hand them out, help where you can!” Everyone dove out of the SUV and ran around the back. The stench of smoke and burnt meat filled the air. People crying, others raging. The other cars arrived as I grabbed a bag and ran for one group of bloodied people.

  Before anything else, I pulled on a pair of gloves as I dropped to my knees beside a woman dressed only in a bra and shorts. Her shirt was on man’s torso, trying to stop the bleeding.

  “Puncture? Burn? Or laceration?” I asked as I opened the bag.

  “Burn and shrapnel,” she said, her voice shaking. “They hit the propane tank with a fireball.”

  Shit. I opened a large eight by ten pad and put it over the bloody shirt she was using as a bandage and pressed. The guy jerked and grunted in pain. She looked up at me. “Are you human?”

  I nodded, my heart pounding.

  “Keep your gloves on, no matter what,” she told me before turning to shout over my shoulder. “This one needs to go!”

  A couple of large men hurried over with a panel of canvas. They started to move him over to the makeshift stretcher.

  “Keep pressure on his side,” I ordered.

  The woman got to her feet and took my spot. “Focus on patching them up enough that they can be moved. They’ll shift and heal but we need to get them out of here to shift.” She left with them.

  It was just the start of a very long hour and a half. I moved from injured to injured, helping where I could. Stopping the bleeding when I could, stabilizing limbs when they were broken. Zeke and Isaac used more canvas to move people to the vehicles to be taken wherever they were going.

  My hands were holding pressure on a gushing abdominal wound when the man gasped then grew still. My heart stopped. Shit, no, no, no! He wasn’t breathing. “I need the defibrillator!” I knew they had one, I’d seen it back on the SUV hood. People ran as I started chest compressions. Hallis handed it to me before he went to the man’s head and started giving him mouth to mouth. I tore open the case, shoved the rest of his shirt out of the way and placed the patches on the man’s chest, and started the machine. “Hands off!” I shouted. Hallis stopped giving mouth to mouth as the machine checked the man’s heartbeat.

  “Shock advised.” The machine announced in a mechanical voice. Come on, come on! What’s taking so fucking long?

  “Stand clear. Shock ready.”

  I made sure Hallis was clear and hit the button.

  “Shock administered. Begin C.P.R.”

  We moved back over him. I started chest compressions again. One, two, three… Come on man. A woman cried out, sobbing somewhere. Five, six, seven… “Come on!” I didn’t know how long we tried but it felt like an eternity.

  Louis finally stopped us. “He’s gone. He lost too much blood.”

  Both Hallis and I sat back on our heels and looked down at the man we couldn’t save. Louis was right. The man had staggered into the area with a large piece of shrapnel protruding from his stomach. Blood covered him.

  “I’m sorry, David,” Hallis whispered as he closed the man’s sightless eyes. A woman screamed, her sobbing becoming hysterical.

  My eyes burned. I looked around. There was no one else needing help, just a crowd of people watching me. I got to my feet and walked out of the ring of people so I didn’t have to see his soul appear as it had for the others. I didn’t know where I was going, didn’t really care. But a hose caught my eye. I pulled off the gloves and began washing my hands. There wasn’t any blood but, it didn’t matter. I took deep breaths as memories poured through me. Mom’s cold skin when I checked her pulse that morning. The way her body was relaxed, more so than I had ever seen her. Jessica’s scream after I told her. Stopping her as she tried to run to Mom’s room. Holding her as she cried. It all came flooding back.

  “You did everything you could,” Miles said from behind me.

  I sniffed and shook my head. “It didn’t make a difference. It never does.”

  He put his hand on my shoulder as I fought for control. “It did to the ones who lived. To their families.”

  “Why did I come out here?” I muttered. “I never manage to…”

  “Sixteen,” Miles stated.

  I turned around. “What?

  Miles’s eyes met mine. “Sixteen. That’s how many you saved today. And that was only the severe injuries. I’m not even counting the ones who only needed a bandage until they could shift.”

  Sixteen? I had lost count after five.

  “You always wanted to be a paramedic, you’re good at this. Why become a chef when it’s your second choice?” he asked.

  I shook my head, not knowing how to explain it to him. Yeah, I had wanted to be a paramedic before Mom died but Mom passing had changed things. Changed me. I wanted a life where I didn’t have to watch people die in front of me. “Things change, Miles.”

  His eyes were understanding. They held no judgement or criticism. I finally got why Ally talked to Miles about everything. He only listened and offered advice. I wanted to be more like that…

  We headed back to the square in silence. We heard the shouting before we even reached it. When we stepped through the buildings, we found the others and joined them.

  “Calm down!” Hallis shouted. “Everyone knows that the standard protocol during an attack is to tell the kids to run. They haven’t come back but that doesn’t mean they’re in trouble. There’s a lot of smoke in the air, they might not be able to smell or hear that it’s safe.”

  The crowd calmed.

  “Now, form groups. We’ll have
to spread out and look for them to bring them home,” Hallis ordered. Everyone started splitting up. Hallis gestured to two giant wolves then came toward us. “Boys, we need your help too.”

  “What do you want us to do?” Isaac asked.

  “Search the houses for kids or pups. Then go west out of town. With all this smoke we can’t track them and we don’t have enough people here to cover the area,” Hallis explained.

  “Isn’t there a designated evacuation spot?” Miles asked, pushing his glasses up his nose.

  Hallis turned to him. “No, because the whole point of sending the kids off is to keep them safe. And if we don’t know where they are we can’t give up that location.” He turned back to the rest of us. “If you see a kid, or a pup, tell them ‘tell me, star, have you seen the white wolf?’ Saying that, and having these two with you will help them trust you enough to come back here.”

  Everyone agreed, then started searching the houses with the giant wolves padding next to us.

  Dread filled my chest as we started walking through the avenues of the small town and looking around the unburnt buildings. I was about to move on when a small barely-there whine caught my ear. I stopped and looked around. There really was nowhere to hide here. No trees, no brush. Nothing. But on the front of every house there was a porch; some were small, some were large. But only one of them had a hole between the porch edge and the dirt. Slowly, I walked over and got down on my hands and knees. With my luck, it’ll probably be a rat. I peeked through the hole. A small form was huddled at the back of the hole under the porch. The light sneaking through the slats showed how small it was. Its eyes glowed in the dim light. It whimpered and tried to get further back.

  “It’s okay. Hallis told me to say ‘tell me, star, have you seen the white wolf?'” The pup stopped whimpering. It slowly came forward a little then stopped. I got the message. “I’m going to go look for the others, head back to the square when you’re ready.” I pushed myself to my feet and left the pup under the porch. The kid felt safe there. I wasn’t about to yank the poor kid out of there. One of the wolves stuck their muzzle into the hole then backed up. The little pup peeked out. When it saw the wolf, it whimpered and whined as it scrambled out of the hole and under the wolf’s legs. The adult wolf sat and licked the pup’s head and ears. We figured the adult had this and started moving again.