I growled in aggravation and pain as I watched my little brother curled up in my mom's arms like he was two again. I couldn't believe that this had happened. Everything we had done was to protect Cecilia, and she'd ended up sacrificing herself to save my brother. One of us should have been paying attention. One of us should have noticed that Jackson needed some help.

Now look where we were. Cecilia was dead, Jackson was completely broken and the pack had no idea what to do. It was up to me to pull everyone together and get us all through this. I turned away from the sight of my broken brother and faced the pack.

"Everyone go home. Get back to your families. I'll take care of all of this."

They bowed their heads as they all walked away, back towards the pack house. Then I turned back to my mom and brother. "C'mon, Jackson. Up you get," I told him, lifting him by the arm and pulling him away from my mom. "It's time to get you home."

I had to hold most of his weight on the way back to the pack house, but I couldn't blame him. I didn't know what I would do if I lost Alice, but I knew that it would completely destroy me. She would be my first stop after I got Jackson in bed.

My mom stayed by our side all the way up to his room and she took a seat at the edge of the bed when I got him laid down. "I'll stay with him," she whispered. I nodded in understanding and took one last look at my brother as he curled up on his bed. He just looked so lost. I knew that mom would take care of him and I turned from the room.

Where are you? I asked Alice. I needed to see her right now.

Our room, she responded, the sorrow obvious in her voice.

I raced down the hall to our room, needing to see her and comfort her. Cecilia was her friend and I knew she'd be mourning her loss as much as any of us. She was huddled against the backboard of our bed, hugging a pillow. Her eyes were red and puffy, tears still leaking down her cheeks.

"Oh, sweetheart," I murmured, crawling across the bed to pull her into my arms.

She curled into me, sobbing. "This is all my fault," she sobbed.

My heart nearly stopped at the fact that she was feeling guilty. "Alice, this is in no way your fault. Do you hear me?" I asked, tilting her face up to look at me. I needed her to see how serious I was.

"It was," she sobbed. "Ceci wouldn't have left the house if I would have stayed with her."

"Shh," I whispered. "There's no one to blame here except for Bane Drabek and he's dead now. He got what he deserved and we can't go back and change what happened."

"How am I supposed to face Jackson after this?" Alice sobbed. "He's going to hate me."

"He's not going to hate you, honey," I reassured her. "We just have to be here for him. He's going to need us to get through this."

Please don't forget:

Vote•••Comment•••Share

Thank you!!!