Night Shine

Pain After Battle

Nicole's POV

I could almost believe yesterday was a nightmare except I can see eleven covered bodies laid out near our community center. I sigh. The rest of my mates are still sleep. I'm not sure how Nikki will handle today. He is now the Alpha of the LA pack. As his family we all have a new status. Courtney as his first one is now Alpha female. Jason is his beta. I'm come next as pack healer. Then Yennefer as his third claimed. I watch the LA pack now our pack wait patiently for their new leader.

I would like to go help make breakfast with the other volunteers. I decide to wait Nikki might have a shock coming. I don't think he thought much past surviving the fight. There is so much to be decided so much to be done today. The dead also need to be laid to rest. I've already checked the dead the only ones I recognized were my long ago mates and Damon. I didn't know my mates by their true names. They just called each other brother. They called me Runt. Others have been coming forward to see if any are lost kin. I don't know how it happened. It has gotten out that my lost mates were alive up until yesterday. Not to mention werewolves. I make eye contact with Henry. He sneers at me. I glare back. I guess I do now. He walks deliberately to the bodies pulls out some blank name tags from a basket left for relatives. He's claiming them as family. I might be able to convince the council that they abandoned me. I will still have no choice but to publicly morn them. Henry is trying to shame me. He wants everyone to know I strayed from my first mate bond with Jason and Nikki. 

Gunner enters the kitchen distracting me from Henry. His face is drawn and pale. He sits at the table silently. I sit next to him.

"Actually taking a life is different than just talking about it. You aren't alone in the way you feel. Tonight we will all release our grief over yesterday." I whisper. He clings to me for a moment. Hearing his dad coming towards the kitchen sends him running out the door. He's not ready to face his father. I caught some of his thoughts. He feels shame over getting his brother involved in yesterday's battle. He shouldn't Decker would have done it without him. He needs time he will come to his dad when his ready.

My mates join me in the kitchen. They grab a cup of coffee. Nikki comes to stand beside me at the kitchen door. He winces at the sheet covered bodies. Then he notices the wolves waiting patiently outside all still in wolf form.

"What are they waiting for?" Nikki asks.

"For you." I answer.

"What?!" He chokes.

"After yesterday you are their new Alpha." I explain.

"I can't be their Alpha. Have they even eaten. Nicole it stormed last night." Nikki exclaims.

"You sound like their Alpha already. Yes they ate as soon as you did last night. They found shelter under the covered porch of the community Center. Now they wait for you to instruct them this morning." I smile softly.

"What do I say." He asks me.

"You'll know." I give him a slight push out the door. "Courtney as his Alpha mate you should join him." She slowly moves to his side. Jason stands at his left and slightly behind. Yennefer and I stand to the right and slightly behind our Alpha female. The pack lower themselves to their bellies at Nikki's appearance.

"The first thing I will tell you is there will be no more violence to our own kind. No more violence to women, wolf, hybrid, or human." They audibly sigh at his words. He looks to four young wolves. "What are your names?"

"I'm Max this is Will, James and Leo. We are brothers." One of them woofs. He had put emphasis on brother. They are brothers of blood, not just of the pack.

"Go retrieve your vehicles and return here quickly." Nikki commands. They jump to do his bidding taking off through the trees. "Once they come back with your clothing. You should eat and reacquaint yourselves with family and friends." He dismisses them. They wander off to wait by the bed and breakfast.