by C. B. Haight
She felt his gentle touch as he brought her head to his lips. She heard his whispered plea, “Please, Collett. Please, I love you. Come back,” but she could not heed his call. Her last breath shuddered out on a sigh, and Cade gave into sobbing as only a broken man could.
He didn’t even register the sound of footfalls behind him. He didn’t notice Cynda falling to the ground beside him to cry out her denial upon seeing Collett’s sightless eyes, or see Rederrick drag Cynda up to envelop her as he shared her grief. He definitely didn’t feel Jarrett’s supporting hand on his shoulder or notice the bitter regret evident on his brother’s face. For Cade, there was only pain—horrible, heart wrenching pain.
Nate watched Delphene, with Cody still cradled in her arms, quietly make her way to where the group gathered to mourn. He scanned what was once a peaceful place, but was now a bloody battlefield. He saw no sign of the demons that had rained down upon them so recently.
It was over, but not one of them felt victory in their hearts. Nate’s eyes paused on Jeffery’s body, which still lay where he fell. He looked to Cynda, sobbing into Rederrick’s chest.
He felt the air around him stir, and he watched Delphene carefully lay the battered Cody on the ground. He could see sorrow in her wolfish features. Nate turned his attention to the grieving Cade and then hung his head in lamentation. He thought, No, there was no victory here.
Minutes passed. No one moved. It was so startling, so final. The secrets that plagued them regarding Collett’s powers, her past, and her connection to The Faction’s demented leader would forever remain a mystery.
After a long time, Jarrett met Rederrick’s gaze, and his new friend acknowledged him with a tight nod. Without speaking, they understood each other. Rederrick whispered into Cynda’s ear. “Come on,” he urged. Sniffling, she clung to him tightly as they began the long walk back to camp.
Nate left them and walked across the uneven ground to Jeffery’s body. Shaking his head and bending down, he lifted Jeffery’s shell up over his shoulder to carry him back so there could be a proper burial. He noted Delphene was also heading down to the camp with Cody in her arms once more.
Poor Cody, he thought. Despite the fact that The Faction’s leader was gone, it was disheartening to realize they weren’t even certain the kid would live. The sacrifices they made to save him may not even pay off. Lost in his own sadness, it was difficult for Nate to see any justice in the situation.
The twins were left alone to mourn. Two brothers brought together by one woman, who had irrevocably changed their lives. Cade continued to rock his wife and allowed his emotions to consume him. He tenderly caressed Collett’s peaceful face, and pressed his lips to her forehead.
No, he thought guilt ridden. Not this way. Not so soon. We should have had an eternity together. It was my job to keep her safe.
He stayed like that for a long time. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t move. He felt a sharp, crippling pain cut at him as if the blade had gone through his own heart. Even breathing was painful, and all Cade could do was hold her.
Jarrett retrieved their gear without Cade even noticing. He grabbed a coarse blanket that was for first aid purposes and laid it over his brother’s shoulders. There was still no response from the grief-stricken man.
After donning his second pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Jarrett made sure to pull out his sunglasses to cover up his own suffering. He then stood over Cade, silently protecting and supporting his twin like never before. He waited, and he would continue waiting for as long as Cade needed.
Jarrett knew better than anyone the bitterness of having a life stolen from you. He imagined that, for Cade, the loss of his wife was debilitating.
The men stayed upon the peak for a long time. Hours later, Jarrett looked up and saw the blackness of the night sky begin to lighten through a heavy fog that blocked the sunrise. Always darkness, he thought. He’d endured centuries without caring, without hope, and now he could feel again—because of her. Jarrett cursed.
Cade looked up with raw pain evident in his eyes. Jarrett knew this would be the darkest day in his brother’s life, and that more would follow. He regretted that lasting happiness eluded them both as if it was not meant for them. He said nothing to reassure his twin, because he knew personally there were no words to ease the deep ache.
Jarrett tilted his head to the pack sitting between them. “Let’s take her back.” Seeing the pack for the first time, Cade turned back to Collett and laid her down with a reverent gentleness. He barely took his eyes off her as he eased into the new shirt and pants provided. He thought he could believe she was sleeping—wanted to believe it. However, the violent wound through her shining armor and the crimson stain on the ground below her wouldn’t allow him the delusion.
Cade bent to pick up the discarded blanket to wrap her in, but was distracted by an odd sound coming from Jarrett. He looked toward his brother as a strong wind descended upon them. The waves began crashing more violently below, and the fog thickened around them as the sun continued to rise.
The brothers watched as an ethereal, white mist formed all around Collett’s body. The armor she wore glowed subtly before fading away. She was left in virginal, white clothing marred by crimson blood that soaked her chest.
In the next second, mist spread over her entire form, and she began to dissipate, fading away to be pulled into the swirling wind. As soon as Cade realized what was happening, he dove for her and tried to pull her back into his arms, but his hands merely passed through the vapors.
Collett was gone. The brothers could only stare in disbelief as she was completely taken from them. The only evidence she had ever existed was a magnificent, silvery sword and a copper medallion once worn with pride.
Epilogue
One week later-
It all tasted bitter to him, the flowers, the music, the people. None of it was comforting or helpful. All of it was wrong. It was a beautiful service, but there should be no service. She should still be here with them. Cynda and Rederrick had made the arrangements, even insisting on a coffin for proper closure and to keep suspicions to a minimum. It hardly mattered to him. Let people think whatever they wanted. She was gone, and he felt sure nothing would really matter again.
He half-heartedly listened as Rederrick spoke of love, sacrifice, God and Heaven, but none of it helped. He only hurt more. His friends were all there with him, standing under the canopy of a darkened sky with a sad, drizzling rain pouring out from weeping clouds.
Jeffery’s mother and a few of her friends stood together. A few members of The Brotherhood also came to offer support. They included Rory, who’d been undercover with The Faction, and Darrin from Dallas.
Ashley stood in the comfort of Nate’s embrace with tears streaking down her cheeks, and James held his mother’s hand on one side while Tracy grasped the other. Delphene, loyal and strong, stayed close to Jarrett, whom had remained with Cade since he had lost the best and most important thing in his entire life.
Cade could only stare absently at the empty, golden coffin next to the shiny, black one that held Jeffery’s body. There were no words that could possibly ease the empty ache in his chest. He closed his eyes, trying to compose himself and remain strong.
He felt someone squeeze his shoulder. He turned his head and saw Jarrett holding out a white rose. His brother was the only one who didn’t offer him empty words, and the only one Cade believed understood. The twins had finally forged the bond that Collett wished for them.
Cade looked down at the rose as Jarrett tilted his head toward the caskets, indicating it was time for final goodbyes. He’d been so lost in thought that he didn’t even realize Rederrick had finished speaking. He looked back to his brother and wrapped his fingers around the fragile stem of the flower. “I’m not ready,” he whispered.
“I know,” Jarrett replied sympathetically.
Cade looked around to his friends and then moved toward the coffin. He ran his fingertips across the smooth, shiny surface. Th
en he brought those fingers to his lips and, kissing them, he transferred the kiss back to the golden casket. He stared at the engraving of the unity symbol from Cynda’s and Jeffery’s conjured medallion for several minutes. He decided the symbol was wrong; it should have two missing links in the circle. Their group was broken, and there was a hole in his heart.
With a trembling hand, Cade lay the first of two dozen white roses upon Collett’s symbolic tomb.
He watched Jeffery’s mother move up next, and with tears streaking her face, she bent and kissed her son’s coffin. Then mimicking Cade, she placed a purple rose on the black and silver casket. Cynda did a good job with planning every detail, he thought. Jeffery would have liked the colors. He looked at the white rose again and knew Collett would have liked them as well. He felt pain overwhelm him once more.
He swallowed hard, choking back the grief, but he missed a single tear that escaped before doing so. It made a path down his roughly whiskered cheek before he realized it was there and wiped it away. Finally, after several minutes, he stepped back so Cynda could follow him. He watched her place a rose on each casket, and then Rederrick did the same.
Others shuffled forward, repeating the gesture, each laying a single rose upon Collett’s coffin and then one on Jeffery’s. Tracy stepped forward next, then Ashley and James, each one of them met his eyes with compassion and sorrow displayed within his or her own. Their mourning did not lessen his.
Cade couldn’t help thinking that Jenny should be present too, but she still lay comatose. She was another victim of an unknown monster.
After everyone took their turn paying their respects, Jarrett stood alone. Behind dark glasses, his eyes roamed over the people around him. He still couldn’t believe how recent events had led him here. He was surrounded by people that actually cared for one another, cared enough to protect and die for each other. Strangely, he was now a part of that team. He also finally understood the sacrifice that Rowena made for him all those years before. She died so he could live, not merely survive as he’d been doing for centuries. She would want him to live, and he realized Collett had wanted the same for him all along. No, not only me, he thought. She wanted that for all of them. Collett had selflessly given her own life so they could have theirs.
Awkwardly, he stepped forward, and like Cade, he held only a single white rose. Jarrett took another hesitant step, feeling uncomfortable but not out of place. He reflected on all he had learned these last few weeks. In witnessing Collett and Cade’s love and devotion for one another, as well as the loyalty and dedication within the family as a whole, Jarrett finally found the inner peace he’d sought for so long. For the first time, he was a part of something good. Unfortunately, the cost of his discovery was much too high.
Looking down at the golden coffin, he laid the perfect white rose atop the others. “I didn’t hate you. I hated me,” he uttered softly. “Thank you for everything.”
With his sensitive hearing, Cade was the only one who heard his brother’s confession, and he understood its meaning perfectly.
When Jarrett looked up again, their identical gazes met. Cade inclined his head, and Jarrett mimicked the gesture. Staring at each other through dark glasses, they knew everything had changed. For they weren’t simply men working together to seek vengeance against a common enemy anymore. They weren’t only lycanthropes with common ancestry either. They weren’t even merely brothers. In the most difficult trial they ever faced, they found understanding and forgiveness. They found each other. For the first time since birth, Cade and Jarrett bonded, and they were finally friends.
“It’s not over,” stated the dark haired Selena who watched the funeral unfold from a distance.
“No,” agreed the other woman softly.
“Can it be done?” Selena questioned.
The woman in white smiled wistfully as she watched the two brothers and knew their thoughts. “Now it can.” Her smile widened as she watched the scene play out before her. In a gesture of brotherhood and trust, Jarrett placed his hand on Cade’s shoulder. “Yes, it definitely can,” she said with confidence.
Looking over to the tree where the woman in white stood, Selena watched as she faded away. “I hope so, for everyone’s sake,” she muttered to herself.
Turn the page for a sneak peek at book three in
The Powers of Influence:
The Truth of Victory
Only a few days after the private funeral of one Jeffery Garrison, in which the police department had not been permitted to attend, Detective Hall pulled his unmarked car up to a beautiful house situated within the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Fairly new to Colorado, he still found himself struck by the majesty of the mountains here. He was new to the department, having recently arrived from Texas. He couldn’t quite get used to the cold either. As he parked the car, he couldn’t help but admire the grand estate owned by Rederrick James Williams and his wife, Cynda Esther Williams.
He came here in search of the truth.
His new partner, Detective Peterson, shook his head and whistled. “Damn. You got to give the guy credit. He sure knows how to pick a good spot.”
“Stay focused, buddy. This house and the polish on it means nothing. It’s just another way to pull the wool over our eyes. There’s something off about their story, and I intend to find out what.”
“You sure you want to do this? I mean, the guy's a lawyer. You may be asking for trouble,” Peterson asked sincerely.
Hall considered the question, and his gut twisted. He knew he was toeing the line here, but the whole situation smelled to him. He wanted more, and he wasn’t quite ready to let it go yet.
“I’m sure. We’ve got ourselves one body, one kid who took a worse beating than I’ve ever seen in all my life, and one housekeeper that has yet to wake up from a coma. There’s more to this than they are telling us, and I want to find out what.” He didn’t mention to his partner that he had attended the funeral and seen two coffins. You didn’t tell your new partner things that could get him fired if he knew. Looking into the funeral had been against orders. But the whole damn thing stunk of lies. Two caskets for one body was simply evidence of that.
“Could be as they said, a drug deal gone bad. The captain buys it.”
Hall shook his head. “Well, I’m not buying it.”
“Alright, it’s you neck. You want to stick it on the chopping block, I’m your partner, I’ll try to keep the ax from coming down on ya.”
They got out of the car and made their way to the front door together. It wasn’t long after they knocked that a tall, young man in military dress came to the door. He had chestnut brown hair, and though he was lanky, he was clearly in shape. Detective Hall’s mind automatically recognized him as James Randall Williams, the youngest of Cynda and Rederrick’s three children. He began mentally ticking off facts he knew about James.
Twenty-two years old, almost twenty-three. Some sort of an electronics whiz. He was a sergeant in the U.S. Army and brother to two sisters, Tracy and Ashley.
James answered the door with a smile that Hall noticed faltered, ever so slightly, when he saw who was on the other side.
“Mr. Williams,” Hall said with a nod.
“Detective. What I can do for you?” James questioned kindly enough, but there was a clear edge in his tone.
“Can we come in for a minute?”
“Of course you can,” Cynda said coming into the foyer. She touched James on the arm. “James, go get some coffee for these gentlemen, will you? Then let your dad know Detective Hall and Detective Peterson are here.”
The two officers stepped over the threshold as Cynda opened it wider and gestured them in. They followed her into the parlor where she sat primly upon the edge of her couch in a way that Hall had to admire her class. Peterson took one of the winged back chairs and practically flopped on it.
“I appreciate your time, Mrs. Williams.”
“No problem, I assure you. What can I do for you?”
&n
bsp; “Actually, I came to see Cade Werren. It’s my understanding he stays here with you.”
He saw a sharpness to her sea green eyes, but then it was gone. “Well, he does, on occasion, stay here.”
Ah it is a problem, he thought.
“What do you need Cade for?” she asked, adding the right amount of sweetness to her tone.
“I just have a few routine questions for him. Is he here?”
“No, he’s not,” came a deep, menacing reply from the entrance to the parlor.
Hall turned. He first thought it was Cade speaking as Hall had only met him once before. However, when he looked closer, he knew it wasn’t. He met angry, golden eyes belonging to the most intimidating man he ever saw. He kept his expression plain, not giving away a thing. Standing, he offered his hand, “Excuse me, I’m not sure we’ve met.”
“We haven’t,” Jarrett said rudely and walked across the room to stand behind the couch where Cynda sat.
James brought in a tray and handed the detectives each a mug. He lifted a cup of tea for his mother and then sat with her on the couch.
Eyeing Jarrett carefully, Hall took his seat once more.
“Detectives, this is Jarrett. He’s Cade’s brother,” Cynda explained, trying to keep things easy and normal.
“Ah that’s right, Jarrett Hunter,” Hall said easily, feigning ignorance.
“That’s right,” Jarrett replied.
“Strange that you two would have different last names, seeing as you’re obviously twins,” Peterson injected.
Tilting his head, Jarrett actually grinned with arrogance. “We were adopted.”
“Ah, detectives,” Rederrick said. He came in and shook both of their hands companionably. “What can we do for you today?”
“We were just discussing that,” Peterson told him.
“We would like to have a word with Cade Werren,” Hall added.