Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
There are too many faces pointed at me with fear or pain in them. But this is when my mate moves into the doorway from outside and the look on his face as well as the faint smile and relaxation finally on Patsy’s face gives me strength to keep going, singing through to the line about dreaming he’d come to live years together with me.
As always, I end abruptly before the last line.
Patsy squeezes my hand, a little more strength in her grip than a few minutes ago.
“It’ll be okay,” she tells me and closes her eyes. “I’m gonna rest a while now,” she adds.
“Okay, Patsy.” I touch her cheek before getting to my feet.
***
Not even an hour later, Roger grimaces before he takes his last breath and his heart beats the final time. This happens while I’m holding his hand, mopping his forehead with a cool cloth.
We were too late. This is what that poison does. This is what having a cruel, egomaniac leader does to a village. Dying people young and old, people who can’t have babies, people forced to drink, cook, and bathe with polluted water, people living in fear – unable to even connect with parts of themselves for fear of punishment.
Living like this makes people do what they don’t want to do, makes them into people they’re not.
Me, shooting and poisoning strangers. Malachi being hauled up into the sky because he becomes part of the negativity infecting a pack. Women, sold for their bodies, forced…
I weep uncontrollably, looking at the look of pain on Roger’s face. He didn’t have to die. He didn’t deserve it, certainly not in pain like this.
I’m still bawling when Grey is suddenly moving my hand so Roger’s drops. I stare at it as Grey lifts me and carries me outside, sitting down on a chair, rocking me, purring for me.
Fresh air would be nice, but the air here isn’t fresh. It’s foul. It’s tainted. Like all of us.
“He t-taught me to read and write,” I whimper. “He taught all of us until a few years ago when he started going blind. He…he… was so kind. He would bake cupcakes for us once a month and h-he could draw anything. He drew every one of us a picture of ourselves when we graduated with that hand … that that just went lifeless in my grip.”
“I’m so fucking sorry, baby,” he whispers, rocking me.
Roger is gone. Kimmy is in terrible condition. Patsy’s not doing great and Jillian, another elderly lady in the pack isn’t much better than Roger was a few hours ago. It’s doubtful she’ll make it through the night. Patsy’s now looking like she’ll sleep, but Jillian has been crying out in agony, keeping a lot of people from getting sleep. Nobody’s complaining. Kimmy had been crying a lot, too, but finally settled about a half an hour ago, which meant the other four children who may not have consumed as much as Kimmy have been able to fall asleep.
Kimmy was born missing her right arm. She’s frequently sick. She’s developmentally slower than other kids her age. And as much as he’s done to ruin us, I’m still having problems wrapping my mind around the fact Wyatt ordered her and so many others to be poisoned to death.
It’s a slow, painful death taking this poison he had me serve to some of the alphas in Arcana Falls. I’m so grateful that they only had one dose. And that I gave them less than I was told to administer to them. Glad most of all that they were strong alphas so could recover.
I speak, “I’m so, so angry at my brother that I think if he walked in here tonight, I’d take my fingernails to his face and claw his eyes out. I’m not sure anyone could stop me from strangling him to death, even if I had to die while doing it. That’s how much I hate him, that’s how much I want him to pay for doing this to everyone.”
“I know, Blossom,” Grey says.
His expression is tight. His eyes are flaring with emotion. I know he feels me right now. Feels my pain and sorrow. I feel both his anger and my own. I hate this. I hate it all so much.
Gus and Linc carefully move Roger out of the building, and I watch them carry him toward the back.
“He would want to be buried, not burnt,” I rasp. “He’d want his body to feed the creatures underground.”
“They aren’t burning anybody,” Grey says, rising and setting me on my feet. “They’ll get buried. You should get some sleep, Blossom.”
“No,” I deny. “I don’t think I can.”
Nobody has been allowed to leave but the non-sick were allowed to have their beds brought into the mess hall. It would’ve been too tight for everyone, but then Grey and Jase walked the men from that back corner down to the beta training barracks.