Suddenly, a thought occurs to me, and I feel the color drain from my face. “We need to check to make sure Simon didn’t find any of my pack members who escaped from the Raven Pack!”
Max’s gaze holds mine as he lifts his weapon. “There’s no saying he’s not still here, so we do a sweep for Simon,andsearch for your pack.”
We perform the sweep, just in case, but as I suspected, Simon is gone. Luckily, so are Janie and the shifters that escaped the Raven Pack. They’ve been spared my brother’s endless font of rage, and more lives aren’t on my head
“What do you want to do?” asks Max in a leading tone, although we both know what must be done.
“Simon has to die,” I answer him, my voice flat, resolute. I can no longer afford the fantasy of his rehabilitation. Simon is too far gone. “But first, we’re going to bury Rich.”
For once, no one argues. We pass the burned building to the man who still held out hope all this time. Tears slide down my cheeks as we lay him to rest, but something about this man and his tragic death has changed something inside of me. Dashed all hope that my brother could be saved.
And it’s strangely freeing, even as I wonder what I’ll have to become to destroy him.