Shadow Shifter (On Hold)

Chapter 19

Kora's POV

"Thank you." I said for the thousandth time as people began to leave the funeral. My mom and dad were the first to leave after mom broke down crying into my dad's shoulder, mourning the death of her only son.

Soon after, everyone else started to trickle away leaving only me, Aakansha and Sean.

"I'm so sorry, Kora." Aakansha hugged me tightly, then moved over as Sean kissed my forehead, not saying a word as they both walked away.

That left me alone, by myself.

I hadn't cried yet, trying to hold in the tearing of my heart at the loss of my brother, trying to keep everything together for everyone around me. If I broke down in front of everyone, there was no way I would be left alone anytime soon. Now, there was no way I could hold it in any longer.

The concrete walls holding in my tears came crashing down as I fell to my knees and ran my fingers over the cold letters on his headstone. The stone underneath my fingers felt like ice, screaming death and the pain I was feeling. My chest contracted as I breathed in a shaky breath, bringing the tears back again.

I don't know how long I sat there, just crying the pain away and screaming out to whatever would listen. Eventually, the tears dried up, leaving me heaving dry sobs. The sky around me started to darken, bringing the sunset close to the horizon painting the sky with oranges, purples and pinks.

As I watched the sun set over Damon's headstone, I felt a warm hand rest on my shoulder without a word. I knew who it was, the sparks ran down my arm within seconds, comforting me. But as soon as I let out a shaky breath, the emotions came rushing back, crashing into me again like a ton of bricks. I whirled around and wrapped my arms around Sean's neck as I cried into his shoulder.

"Shh.." he said, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist, pulling me close into him, resting his chin on the top of my head.

After a few minutes, I felt exhausted enough to simply collapse in his arms, but Sean didn't say a word the entire time, just letting me cry.

I slowly looked up, wiping my eyes and met his sad gaze.

"I'm sorry." I said, looking down at his drenched shirt. When I looked back up at his face a stray tear escaped from his eye, rolling down his check before I wiped it away for him.

"Don't be." He said as he kissed my forehead, sitting down. He pulled me into his lap just in front of Damon's headstone facing the sunset.

"It's ok. Everything's going to be ok." He whispered into my hair as he wrapped his arms around me while we watched the sun set under the horizon, taking the colors down with it as my eyes fluttered closed.

--------------------

Sean's POV

I couldn't help but cry with her. The longer her small body shook from her sobs in my arms, the harder it became for me to hold everything in for her before a lone tear found it's way past everything and ran down my cheek, but she brought her hand up and wiped it away before I could hide it. I tried my best to stay strong for her right now, but my heart ached for her and her wolf now that my wolf howled with hers.

Once I found her out crying by her brother's headstone hours after his funeral had ended, I wanted to give her some space, but I couldn't drown out the pitiful sobs that echoed from her lips through the trees around us. I just wanted to pull her into my arms and cry with her, but I stayed strong for her as long as I could.

Once I sat us down, she instantly fell asleep against my chest, breathing softly in her exhausted sleeping state. After a little while of just taking everything in I gently picked her up in my arms and took us back to the witches head house. I took her up the stairs and into the room I have been staying in and laid her down onto the bed, pulling the blankets up around her. I quietly got up off the bed and closed the door, beginning to walk down the hall towards the stairs until Clarence walked out of his room, almost running into me.