Dropping his head forward, Bass gripped Katalina’s hand, feeling the shallow rise and fall of her chest as she continued on asleep. And with each breath, Bass waited for it to be her last. For the moment, his heart would break for good.
Chapter 61
Katalina
Bass’s words filtered into her subconscious mind and echoed inside her head. His pain, his love, and his acceptance. He’d been in her life for only a year, but in that year, he’d showed her things about herself she’d never realized she’d needed. He’d given her a place to belong, a love that only a few got to experience, and he’d shown her the strength she’d had hidden inside her all along. But sometimes strength wasn’t enough to survive the strife of life. Her burdens became heavy, even though she had others to shoulder the load, and eventually, it broke her.
It had been an inevitability from the moment her parents’ car had been driven off the road, and they’d died in the fiery destruction. It had been a shadow haunting her, a wave building on the horizon ready to smash her to the earth. Grief, guilt, anguish, pain, these were all emotions attacking Katalina, but underneath it all was a love no amount of suffering could dampen, and as Bass loved her enough to let her go, Katalina loved him enough to live despite the horror that awaited.
Logically, she knew it wasn’t she who’d started the war. The power she possessed was never something she’d been aware of having until the end, and if Castor had walked away as Bass had wanted in the beginning, she’d have gone on unaware. Circumstance and bad fortune had led Dark Shadow and River Run down a deadly path since before she’d even been born, and her arrival had altered that path, severing the rot from Dark Shadow’s heart.
Whether the men and women on that path wanted to be there, it didn’t matter. In Katalina’s eyes, it was she who’d turned them down the road, and she who’d led some to their deaths. But she owed them more than just giving up. They’d believed in a future of peace, and so had she. That future was possible now. No one stood in their way, and Katalina would see it, even if opening her eyes was the hardest thing she’d done to date.
Bass held onto her hand with a grip that hurt, his shoulders shaking as he cried silently. Lifting her free hand, she moved the heavy limb and placed it over his head, her fingers curling into the dark locks of his hair. After freezing for the barest of moments, he then slowly lifted his head, and her hand fell through his hair and rested on his stubbled jaw.
Near black wolf eyes held hers in place, glistening with the remnants of his pain. Smiling sadly, Katalina brushed a finger along his jaw and traced along his bottom lip. “You need to shave,” she murmured.
His lips lifted to match hers. “Probably shower too.”
“I heard you,” she whispered as her eyes watered.
“And you’re still here,” he noted, releasing her hand to cup her cheek.
“You’re the bravest man I know, and you’d have held our family together even as you’d shattered. But not even I have the right to ask that of you, Bass. This is our future, and we’ll face it together.”
“I missed you,” Bass breathed, standing up and leaning over her.
Her smile widened, gaze filling with love and light as her hand moved down and pressed over his heart. “Silly man. I never left.”
He kissed her for a long time afterward, his lips saying things no words could ever express. Their love breathed life back into their souls, healing wounds, building walls against the grief yet to come, and as night fell, twenty-four hours after their journey had come to a head, Katalina and Bass held onto each other, bound by their love and the packs they called home.
***
The funerals began at daybreak the next day. They were held by the lake that shimmered as the sun rose over the icy water and turned the snow-covered landscape into a glittering wilderness. But the beauty of her surroundings couldn’t mask the darkness in Katalina’s heart.
Too many names were called that day, including her beloved dog, who she kept expecting to come bounding around the corner at any moment. He’d been her constant shadow for nearly ten years, and the hole he’d left behind was a mile wide. Empty places existed beside many of them, marking their fallen loved ones. Fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, and lovers who’d never have the chance to be more. Hollow, raw holes that could not be filled. Their packs were in mourning and would be for some time to come.
Taking an unsteady step forward from between Bass and Jackson, Katalina took her position before both packs, taking in their faces. Their sorrow cut her far deeper than Raven had ever accomplished.
Her heart was heavy with pain and guilt as she spoke,
