When Worlds Collide Ch. 13

For a moment she thought he was crying in the middle of a houseful of Weres but then he raised his head and she saw he was laughing, an expression of total disbelief on his face. "Can I have that in writing?" Demetri laughed. "Because I know damned well you're going to deny all knowledge of ever uttering those words to me."

Mara rolled her eyes and shook her head but she smiled at him and gave him a soft kiss before she swung her legs to the floor and let Demetri help her up carefully. She took a few steps and straightened completely. "All better," she sighed with relief. "Let's find Caleb and Annie." She felt in the way with all that the Weres had been through. They didn't make her feel that way but she did. The pack was grieving and their presence may not be as welcome as they thought.

People moved about constantly into the night until silence began to descend on the compound. The vampires had removed all of Graves' crew, the buses had rolled in from the evacuation site and families were reunited in the community hall. In total thirty one Weres lost their lives and four vampires. The losses seemed pretty low considering the odds stacked against the pack but it was still a crushing blow to Jared. People had lost their mates, their sons and daughters, their brothers and sisters.

The Alpha's house was empty of most of the pack now. Demetri had taken Mara home and Andrei and Alexei had disappeared not long afterwards. The only vampires to remain in the compound were Caleb and his woman and he was only there because Rhianna didn't want to leave her family. She moved from one to the other, hugging them, whispering words of comfort, crying with them when their grief spilled over.

"Take her home, Caleb," Jared said quietly moving to stand beside his friend. "She's exhausting herself trying to comfort everyone."

"I know," Caleb sighed wearily. "Every time I try to she looks at me with big pleading eyes and I can't make myself force her to leave."

"Then let me help," Jared answered softly. "We will forever be in your debt, Caleb. I know some of the pack have looked at you with unfriendly eyes tonight but it will pass. You will always be welcome here."

"Thank you, Jared," he said quietly, watching as the Alpha strode over to his woman who was sitting with her arms around Millie.

"Come, Rhianna, it is time for you to go home," Jared said firmly. "I need to get Millie to bed so she can rest and look after our babies. We all need to get some rest. You can come back tomorrow and fuss over us then."

Rhianna swallowed hard, looking up at Jared, seeing the determination in his eyes. She bowed her head and bit her lip, feeling Millie squeeze her waist gently. "We'll be fine, Annie," her sister sighed softly. "We are strong and resilient. We will recover from this. Go home, sweetie. Get some rest. We will need your strength tomorrow and in the coming days."

Nodding numbly, Rhianna hugged her and then Jared, stopping at Lacey and Rafe and kissing their cheeks as she gave them harder hugs. She turned from her family walking into Caleb's strong embrace, allowing him to lead her from the house.

"We're going to head to bed," Rafe said quietly, pulling Lacey with him as he escorted her from the house. Their Alphas needed the house to themselves tonight. They would stay at Rafe's small cabin.

Finally alone with his mate, Jared sank down to the floor, wrapping his arms around Millie, resting his head against her stomach as she leaned forward to rest her cheek on top of his head. Silently he began to weep, feeling Millie's tears fall on the back of his neck. "So many, Millie," he whispered. "So many brave people lost their lives tonight. I keep asking myself if there was something else I could have done that could have saved more people."

"You did your best, love," Millie breathed tearfully. "The odds were against us right from the start. We stood on the brink of annihilation but you secured strong, powerful allies. We fought and we won and yes, we lost many good people, but the pack stands strong. We will recover, love," she whispered softly.

Jared nodded, his hand coming up to touch her stomach reverently. "I know we will, Mills. It's just going to be so tough the next few weeks, but I know life goes on and so will the pack," he sighed softly.

Rising, he gathered his mate into his arms and cradled her gently against his chest. "Time to get some rest, baby," he said quietly. "Tomorrow will be a very long day."

To be continued...

This is the penultimate chapter in this part of the story. One more to go. Hope you all enoy the conclusion as much as you have enjoyed the rollercoater ride to get to the end :-)

Many thanks to WorldHistoryBuff for editing for me as always. You're the best! And to my little ray of Sunshine :-)