Independent She-wolf novel Chapter 36

My brothers came back from picking my grandparents up. They'd taken a flight here. When they came through the door they hugged me so hard I thought I would just pop or something. I resisted the urge to cry when both of them had tears coming down their faces.

They were my mom's parents. My dad's father had been a fireman and died in a fire when he was thirteen. His mother, my Grammy, had died three years ago when I was thirteen. We talked for a little while and got them settled in.

Usually, when they came to visit, they slept in the twins' room. Now, they would sleep in my parents. It felt weird, to tell you the truth, but there wasn't anything anyone could do to change what had happened. I was an expert on that subject.

Nana kept asking me if I was okay over and over again, like she was expecting me to break down at any moment. I couldn't though. For my family, I had to be the strong one. Ryan had his turn and he needed time now.

After a while, we separated and I went upstairs to change for the wake. I really wanted to see Jace again, like right now. There were too many crying people here for my liking.

I changed into black pants with a gray V-neck shirt. I left my hair down and only put on mascara. Things were changing, that's for sure. Something also seemed.... different. I had no idea what was going on, but my wolf was scared.

That should have been my first alert. My wolf was never scared. She was always up front, adventurous, and never like to be held back. But I wasn't really paying attention. I was thinking about the wake. Thank god Ryan had thought to make it a closed casket thing. If I saw my parents lifeless bodies, really bad things would happen.

When we arrived to the funeral home, it was early, of course. No one was there. The room was pretty bare except for the caskets, chairs, and a few tables. There were probably hundreds of flowers, too. The caskets were in between two lighting fixtures and had a very pretty curtain-y thing behind them. Yet, the feeling of death hung in the room, and made me uncomfortable.

Katie was first to arrive. She immediately came over and hugged me. To my aggravation, she started to cry. "Oh my god, Dani," she gushed. "I'm so sorry. When I heard, I just couldn't believe it. I can't imagine how awful you must feel. I'm making it worse, aren't I?" she asked and pulled back.

I gave her a small smile and nodded. "Sorry," she said as she sniffed and wiped her eyes. "No more, kay? Oh, and I talked to the band for you. Um... most of them should be coming," she said.

"Who's not?" I asked.

"Keith."

That was weird. Keith would come. He was band manager. "Why not?" I asked.

"Well, we kind of broke up," Katie said quietly. My eyes went wide.

"Can I come over there?" he asked.

"My grandparents are here," I said. They were by the door just as three of Jace's pack members strolled through. I didn't recognize one of them, but I saw Henry and Savannah come over. They both hugged me and gave their sympathy. I gave them a small smile and thanked them.

"That's Shane," Jace told me. "He's my third-in-command."

I nodded. "It's nice to meet you," I said as Katie came back over. Shane's eyes went to her and her eyes stayed on him.

"Hey," Shane said and smiled at her.

Katie gave him a small smile back. "Hi," she said quietly.

This day just kept getting weirder and weirder. "Uh, huh," I said. "Well, Savannah, Katie, why don't we just go on this way and let the boy here have a moment on their own. All of the guys faces fell. We just laughed and walked away.