They went to the burial site in Beth’s van. Axel drove with Beth in the passenger seat and Lia, Lauren and Mike at the back. The journey was spent in relative silence, as they were all dreading the tears and howls they knew would happen at the funeral.
Lauren was left in silence to think about everything that had happened in the past few weeks. She seemed to have grown several decades older since she’d first heard about the captured werewolf in the woods from Eric. So many things had happened since then, good and bad.
Her heart lurched again as she thought of the first time she had seen Aidan: an injured lone wolf in a cage full of police dogs. Her heart had gone out to him since then. Now she knew that all that had been a ruse by him to get to to her, but it didn’t stop her smiling with nostalgia as she thought of that time.
She knew Aidan had gone through a lot since his father Bit him and left him for dead. Her own change had been better in every way; she’d had Beth and Axel to help her through that painful part of her life, when she felt like she would not live through the bone-cracking pain. But Aidan had been a scared and lonely ten-year old with no one to tell him that all he was going through would pass soon.
She’d had life so much better than him, and she could understand his desperate attempts to become a full human again.
Soon they pulled up to the site of the burial. The funeral was going to take place at the pack’s lair, where Beth, Axel, Lia and Mike had met with the Alpha. Lauren looked from the window of the van and saw that the place was already full of people, lounging around and talking in low tones. She strained her eyes to look for any sign of Aidan but she saw none.
Axel found a parking space and turned off the ignition, opening the driver’s door. The others followed suit and stepped down from the van. Lauren looked around and for a moment all thought of Aidan left her head as she took in the sight.
The lair had been completely transformed from what Lauren was used to. The hearth that had always been there since she joined the pack had been moved, and draperies were hanging from the trees around, connecting each branch to another. The draperies were a glossy black the colour of the late Alpha’s fur. Wicker chairs in equally black colour had been set up with an aisle in the middle.
“Whoa.” She heard Lia exclaim behind her. “I could have sworn this wasn’t our lair.”
They moved forward with Axel taking the lead to the wicker chairs, where they sat, waiting in earnest for the funeral to start. Lauren looked around at the people: they seemed to be staring at her and whispering. Quicky she averted her eyes and turned to Beth.
“When will Aidan be here?” She asked. “Do we even know if he’ll be here?”
Beth patted Lauren’s hand and opened her mouth. But before she could speak, her eyes wandered to a group of the people hanging around and she stopped abruptly.
Lauren followed her gaze. There were three men who had disbanded from the other people and were approaching their seats. Lauren had only a short while to marvel at how impressive they looked before she heard Lia whisper “That’s the Council of Alphas.”
The three men reached them and Lauren was able to get a full view. The first thing she noticed was their impeccable looks: they were decked out in black three-piece suits and towering menacingly over them. Beth stood up nervously and stretched her hand out towards the men.
“Good morning, gentlemen.” She said, forcing a smile “Beth Norman.”
The man in the middle looked at her with something close to disdain and ignored her outstretched hand. Beth’s smile slipped from her face and she lowered her hand in bewilderment.
Lauren felt a stab of anger at his treatment of Beth and stood up, her eyes glowing with barely concealed rage. She felt Lia pulling at the hem of her dress but she ignored it, her attention on the vivid blue of the man eyes.
The man smiled briefly when he saw that he had her attention, then stretched his own hand to her. “Lauren Sommers, I presume?”
She returned the handshake, still glowering “None other.”
“Alpha Lyall, Head of the Council of Alphas.” The man said as he released her hand. “I was hoping to catch you here at the funeral. I’m glad I’m finally meeting you.”
“I can’t say the feeling is mutual.” Lauren muttered before she could check herself. The force between them was almost physical, and everyone around could feel the emotion almost flowing from Lauren’s tense body. They watched as the Alpha’s jaw tightened in anger, then he smiled again, a smile full of warning.
“We’ve all heard about your father’s experimental activities with humans, how he turns them into beasts, most especially how he kidnapped you and lured several werewolves to their deaths.”
Lauren frowned “How-”
“News travel fast among werewolf communities.” Alpha Lyall explained “Not much can escape the ears of the Council of Alphas.”
“Well, I didn’t know you lot existed before now, but as a prestigious Alpha that I’m sure you are, you should know better than to reject a handshake from a polite young woman.” She gestured to Beth. “I am sure you have a lot to learn in the ways of courtesy from her.”
“Lauren!” She heard Beth whisper but she ignored her, her eyes still on the man. His eyes hardened with rage and Lauren momentarily thought he would attack her, but in the space of a second the rage died in his eyes and he stepped back, giving her one last look of contempt before walking away with his entourage.
☆
The rest of the funeral went by without any more stand-downs between Lauren and the Council of Alphas. Infact, the Head Alpha avoided her completely; all but ignoring her existence. She’d shot him several glares of disdain but he had not even looked in her direction.
Beth had given her a quiet talking-to about disrespecting someone so highly placed, but she had barely listened. Anyone who treated anyone of her family members like crap would have to answer to her, highly placed or not.
The funeral had taken place like any other normal one, save for the absence of a priest or any other religious head to say some prayers. The coffin of Alpha Jacob had been placed before an open grave, and a few people had come forward to say some words about the dead werewolf. Lia had said some words too, about his bravery and kind, open heart, about how he’d found her in the woods that surrounded Beacontown, bitten by a werewolf and left for dead, how he’d saved her from dying and helped her to overcome the pain that came with her first full moon.
Soon Lia started to shed tears, and Beth had to go and move the girl from the front before she burst out crying. Axel had asked her if she had any words to say and she had shaken her head. She still found all the words empty and without meaning. Words don’t bring back the dead.
Lauren’s eyes roamed around in boredom as another person came forward for a speech and her eyes caught a tall, very dark-haired person. Her heart lurched as she recognised Aidan. He was standing on the other side of the aisle, a few feet away from the seated people, his eyes on her.
She murmured a hasty explanation to Beth and Axel and stood up from her seat, moving towards him. He was dressed in a white shirt, open at the collar, and black pants. His hands were dipped in his pants’ pockets and he was regarding her with an unreadable expression.
“I didn’t think you’d come.” Lauren said but Aidan did not spare her a reply. He grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the funeral site, towards the surrounding woods. She looked back at Beth, Axel and Lia in alarm, but they were focused on the ongoing funeral.
Aidan continued to drag her deep into the woods until she groaned impatiently, pulled her hand away from his grip and stopped, folding her arms in defiance. He turned and looked at her, his brows furrowed.
“Let’s go.” He said, offering her his hand.
“I’m not moving an inch until you tell me where we’re going. I mean it.” She snarled at him.
He sighed and closed his eyes “Lauren, you know I can carry you If i want to, right?” She didn’t answer, only continued to glower.
The Aidan she used to know would have made good on that promise of carrying her or at least made a joke about it, but this Aidan only sighed in defeat and looked at her with sadness in his eyes.
Her heart broke when she saw the look in his eyes and she slowly unwrapped her arms, walking closer to him. She raised her hand to his face and caressed his face. His eyes welled up with tears.
“Lauren,” he whispered hoarsely and the tears fell from his eyes. She quickly pulled him forward and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned down to place his head on her shoulder and sobbed quietly. Lauren patted his raven-black hair, feeling the tears come to her own eyes. She had never seen him this broken before.
Slowly he cried all the tears he’d been holding back, then released himself from Lauren’s shoulder, sniffing. He took a white handkerchief from his pocket and dried his eyes, then handed her the handkerchief too. She collected it and did the same.
He looked at her as she gently dabbed at her eyes, trying not to smear her mascara. “You look beautiful, by the way.” He said.
She looked down at her chiffon dress and laughed sadly “Yeah, I guess.” She looked up at him and caught a look of longing in his eyes, but it was so fleeting that she thought she must have imagined it. She then placed her hand in his, smiling up at him.
“Come on,” she said, pulling him further into the forest “It’s been two weeks. I guess we have a lot of catching up to do.”