A Love That Lasts Forever

Chapter Seven

Caleb stood in the open doorway, one hand rested on the door frame as he looked past to the room before him. He was standing between the living room and the dinning area, one foot on the threshold. His feet suddenly feeling like lead. He thought he was ready but was now having second thoughts.

"You don't have to do this." A voice whispered in his ear. He felt a hand, soft and small, touch his shoulder reassuringly. He recognized the owner of that voice and hand at once. Rusty.

The red haired omega who, in just over a day, had become the closest thing to a friend Caleb had in Black River.

Caleb shook his head but his words caught in his throat. Hot tears welled up in his eyes and for a moment he thought he might actually turn and run away. "I can do it." He whispered back. "He was my mate. It's an honor to do this for him."

Rusty nodded, then took Caleb's hand and, when he was ready, led him slowly into the room.

The room looked so decadent. Though Caleb had never been inside Quinton's house before he could imagine what the room was supposed to look like, judging from the rest of the house. Someone had taken great care with the place. It wasn't a huge mansion like what Seth Bowden and his mate shared, but it wasn't tiny either. It was a family home and one that Caleb suspected had seen it's share of pups running through the rooms.

The decor wasn't something you'd expect from a bachelor though. It definitely had a woman's touch. The designer was probably Quinton's mother. Caleb didn't know much about her, only that Rhys was still an infant when she passed to the Moonlands. Their father passed when Quinton was seventeen and Rhys just twelve. Had the house been kept the same since their mother had passed, twenty-one years earlier?

Maybe some things were different. Furniture perhaps. Things that needed replacing over the years more than likely, but Caleb couldn't imagine that much else had been changed. Pictures lined the walls showing the normal progression of age for both boys from infancy till graduation. The older photographs of Rhys had been hung by his father and then, probably, Quinton.

In the living room, above the mantle was a large family photo. Mother and father seated side by side, a five year old Quinton at their feet, and a pudgy, raven-haired baby with large blue eyes, cradled in his mothers arms.

The baby of course was Rhys. Caleb could see that at once. It was astonishing, looking at the image of his mate as a pup. He was almost indistinguishable from Rhylan. The two could have been twins.

Caleb walked past the image, around an oval shaped, mahogany coffee table, past the couch and into the other room. The dining room. This room should have been fully furnished like the last room but all the furniture had been moved out. In it's place, a grey, steel, folding table had been erected and covered with a white sheet. A pillow had been placed at the head of the table, and then Rhys's body laid carefully on top. His head resting on the pillow.

Another sheet covered him up to his neck and his eyes were closed. He could very well have been sleeping if he wasn't so still. Caleb walked slowly to Rhys body and gently placed a hand over his heart. He remembered the first time he'd done that. It was in the motel room and Rhys had been terrified that Caleb was a witch, controlling his mind.

Caleb tried to force a smile at the absurdity of the memory but the smile refused to come. He remembered feeling Rhys emotions when he'd touched him. All he could feel now was the cold, stillness, of death. He gasped, pulling his hand away sharply, placing it over his own heart. No. It was too real. Too final. What on earth ever made him think he could do this?

He wanted to run suddenly. Not to anywhere in particular, just away. As far away as he could get. Someplace warm, and pure, and filled with the scent of fresh flowers and honeysuckle. Someplace where the sun could warm his skin and maybe, just maybe, Rhys would be waiting there for him and he would know that it had all been a mistake. Rhys wasn't really gone. He was alive. Maybe he'd been searching for Caleb this whole time, wondering where he was.