Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty — Five

Michael POV

It was midnight already. Everything had been prepared already. Now was the time when we would have a proper funeral for our father. Never have I ever thought that a time like this would ever come. A time when I had to part with my father. A time when I would see his dead face.

But here I am now. Preparing myself to say my final goodbye and bury him.

It's weird to think that time could slip so easily and how could it change things. One moment everything was fine and nice and the next second everything is chaotic and the hell is breaking loose.

Everything that was happening around me had opened made my eyes and taught me a very important reason. Never underestimate time. It always changes. And it never stops for anyone. Sucking in its circle was its nature.

In a few minutes, we would address our whole pack. Give them assurance that everything was going to be fine. Console them, that the death of their leader was not the end of our world. Encourage them to help each other up and stay strong.

Even though I, myself, did not know if it was true or not.

James and I both had showered and changed into simple clothes. The shower felt necessary to clear up my thoughts. Still, I was not sure if it had worked. It really did not matter now.

Just before we left for the shower, I handed the whole work to Kye. To manage and to make this funeral as proper as possible, in such a short time.

Kye had made up on his work.

Not only, Kye had managed everything behind us, but he had also properly calmed our pack members down. There were no more panicked people around us. Nor did I see, even one person who was wandering around aimlessly. It seemed like he had guided all of them to the open field.

Good.

Finally, the time arrived. James and I walked outside to meet the crowd. Our anticipated appearance had a very expected and obvious effect. All the murmurs including the quiet sobbing around us, vanished in a matter of seconds. They all stopped in whatever they were doing to look at us, paying us all of their attention.

There were around hundreds of people. Including infants, kids, teenagers, young, adults and old. Both female and male. Most of them were standing with their families, consoling their loved ones.

I saw Logan and Parker among them too. Dr. Moore was there as well.

All the board members stood in a side, apart from the rest of the pack, in a single line. All eleven members were there except for Eason. Because he was still out. Kye was there too. When we caught each other's eyes, he gave us a curt nod and I returned my eyes back to the pack members without responding to him. Most kids had a curious look in their eyes, because of all the attention that was on us now. Most of them did not know what had happened. They were oblivious to the fact of what was happening around them. And I could not decide that if it was a good thing or not.

Right in the center of the field laid my father in his wooden coffin. My eyes took in his figure. The midnight moonlight shined on him, giving him a very supernatural look.

James and I both walked over to his coffin in unison. We both looked at him before we turned our back to him and looked at the crowd.

“Are you ready?” I asked James through the mind link.

“No.” He replied in a stiff voice.

“Good. Me neither.” I replied to him back.

“Today. We lost our Alpha. Our leader. And for me and my brother, our father. A person who did not just pushed our boundaries and made us the strongest pack than the rest but also brought us closer and made our pack, our Family, much stronger.” I spoke loudly above the crowd. All of them looked at us and heard me intentionally. Hanging by my every word, like their whole lives were dependent on it. I stopped and let James continue after me.

“A strong Alpha that helped Mrs. Johnson with her leaking roof, helped train and raise a kid like Logan and taught Us to be the best of ourselves. He helped the weak, protected our pack from the danger and prepared us for the worst. That sort of man, died today.” James spoke loudly and sighed in the end. A series of weak sobbing echoed around us.

“For both of us,” I gestured between James and I “he was not only our father but also a man that we had looked up to as an inspiration.” I said.

“He will be remembered by everyone as long as we live. However, we had to remember though that the time goes on and so should we. Therefore, now, the most sorrowful moment had arrived. Now, we all should come together and bid our goodbyes to this great man. Who dedicated his life for us.

The Alpha Samuel.” James said in a loud voice.

“The Alpha Samuel!” The Whole crowd shouted after James. We both nodded our head together to the crowd. A praise for a dead person.

Both of us turned around and knelt down on both of our knees in front of our father's coffin. With our hands on our knees, both of us bowed our head and whispered our prayers, quietly.

“In the name of Moon goddess, I pray that our father finds peace on the other side of the world. Where the moon shines and shadows flicker in the back. For every punishment that lay in his path disappears and may happiness takes it place. May Moon goddess embrace his soul with love, peace and respect.” We concluded our prayer. I opened my eyes and realized that my eyes were burning with tears. I swallowed deeply and pushed my tears back. From the corner of my eyes, I saw James doing the same thing before swallowing hard.

Both of us stood up and stared down at him for another few minutes. I touched the wooden coffin and said inside me.

“I will miss you, dad.”

Finally, when we were done with our prayers, we stepped aside and let the board members pay their respects as well. One by one all of them copied our actions and knelt down on their knees. With the bow of their head, they all whispered the same prayer before standing up and moving back to stand back on their place. Letting the next person do the same thing. After all the board members were done with him, all the pack members started to take their turns as well and paid their respect. They all repeated the same moves before speaking their prayers. Some women were crying, some kids were sobbing and some people did not show any emotion at all. All of them were trying to cope up with this pain in their own way.

Suddenly, a woman moved in front of the coffin and started saying the same prayer.

Janet.

My whole body stiffened with shock and a current of tension flew in my veins. I had not seen her in the last forty — eight hours and for some foolish reason, never guessed that she would be here as well, to pay her respect for the Alpha. She completed her prayer and stood up. Her face turned in our direction, and she gave us a look before moving back into the crowd.

How the hell was she still so collected even after getting punished by our dad to watching him dad?

“We have to do something about her.” James' voice entered my mind.

I couldn't agree more. However, right now we could not do that right now. Not only because of our father's death but also because now we need to start behaving like a real Alpha and start letting go of these petty things. Most importantly, the main reason was that she was already punished by dad. And our last fight was about the same thing. We had tried to steal his powers to punish her.

Which certainly did not go well.

“Yes. But not now.” I replied to him. My eyes still followed Janet's every move. She did not look at us again. Just walked back inside the group and stood among them.

“Right.” James said.

Finally, when everyone was done with their prayers, we walked towards the dad's coffin. Two guys from board members came to help us and picked up the coffin. We buried him with the coffin deep inside the dig up hole and stepped behind. We filled it with soil back again. Furthermore, we planted a stone and with the stone in its place, it was our final goodbye.

Our father was buried with as much as respect he deserved.

James and I both, along with the two board members headed back to the open field. I reached the place and heaved out a sigh of relief and pain, simultaneously. Now, it was just the two of us.

James and I.

A few droplets of sweat had formed over my brows. I reached out and wiped it out with my knuckle.

“Ahh…. “ A heavy male voice, that was filled with agony, screamed in the distance. Deep inside the forest. Everyone's head moved in its direction and suddenly, I started to hear footsteps from all directions.

Rushing towards us.

James and I exchanged looks before turning into our alert self.

At first, they were few but when I paid attention then I realized that they were not just three or four footsteps, there were dozens.

All of them heading our way with the speed of light.

“We are under attack!” I screamed out loud and then all hell broke loose. Everybody started running and screaming at the top of their lungs.

“Ah…” A guy cried out from my side.

“AHH….” A female screamed from behind me.

And then I was who were attacking us.

Hunters.

“Hunters are attacking us.” Someone screamed from among the running crowd. My wolf growled and I snarled.

James who stood at my side turning angry by seconds suddenly froze. At first, I followed his gaze and did not see anything

But finally I saw a glimpse of the reason behind his reaction.

Linda was among the hunters.

And she was hunting our kind.