Page 14 of Broken Bonds

The last piece of my heart and soul lays under a generic white sheet on a cold metal table, completely exposed.

Laurie doesn’t pull the sheet back immediately, so I glance up at her in question. A deep frown resides on her face, her lips down-turned, and her eyebrows scrunched together as she stares back at me. Concern ebbs out of her as she considers how to say what she wants, and I grow increasingly frustrated as I wait for her to show me my last alpha.

“Omega Daniels, I must warn you. This one came in with the most damage. As he had not been wearing a seatbelt, he was propelled out of the vehicle and through the windshield. He suffered significant damage to his face and a multitude of internal organ damage. His death resulted from the extensive internal bleeding he had endured. Are you absolutely sure that you want to make this identification? I think you’ve more than proved that you know them and have suffered enough.”

I grit my teeth to keep myself from snapping at her like I want to. She’s trying to be helpful, her tone coming out soothingly, but she clearly doesn’t understand that Ihavetosee them all. I won’t leave him just because he doesn’t look pretty anymore.

“Please, pull the sheet back. I need to see my alpha.” I utter, my tone filled with gravel.

She listens after hesitating again for only a moment.

The wail that escapes me when I lay my eyes on Lake can’t be contained. I couldn’t stop it if I tried.

Van’s injuries were serious, but Lake’s are far worse.

The black, blue, and swollen state of Lake’s face makes it almost unrecognizable. Long scratches line his cheeks, and I can spot fractures in his skull beneath his auburn hair.

My knees collapse and I nearly topple the metal table he lays on as I grab it for purchase. Laurie dashes over to help me, steadying the table and me. When she’s certain I’m able to stand on my own, she moves away to give me some space.

“I’ll give you a moment alone with them. I’m very sorry for your loss, Omega Daniels.” Her words are spoken gently, a hint of regret for the unnecessary pain she just took part in and watched me go through bleeding out.

I remain silent, my eyes glued to Lake. I hear her footsteps ricocheting off the walls as she leaves, and when the room is still again I bow my head and place it atop his covered chest, a keening sound reverberating throughout the room as it makes its way out of my mouth.

Great big sorrowful wails push free from my body as I clutch him to me, my tears soaking the sheet that covers the rest of him.

There was too much to fit inside the box.

These are just shells of the men that used to occupy them. Their scents are gone, nonexistent in this sterile room. The only thing that remains of them are the bodies that briefly held their souls, half of them now battered and bruised.

It’s not fair!

It’s not godsdamned fair that they’re all gone and I’m still here!

“You promised,” I cry. “You promised you’d never leave me. We agreed. Together forever, always. This isn’t always you assholes!” I rage between my tears, thumping my fist against Lake’s chest weakly.

They can’t hear me, and they never will, but fuck...

How could they leave me like this? How could they break their promise?

I hug Lake, tears streaming down my face as I stay there for a few minutes trying to regain my composure. When I do, I wipe my face and stand in the middle of the four of them, getting one good last look at each of them.

I don’t want to remember them in this way, but unfortunately this is something I will never be able to forget. I think I’ll have nightmares about coming here.

“You four are my light. My alphas. I love you so much. So damn much. You asked me to embrace love again, but I won’t. Ican’t.From the day I turned eighteen, I have been yours. I don’t have it in me to love anyone else,” I whisper brokenly into the empty room, no one to hear me but the corpses of my dead mates.

I softly press my lips against each of theirs, savoring the feeling of their skin against my cheek for the last time, before I tenderly cover them back up one by one. When I cover Lake, I whisper, “Wait for me in the beyond, please.”

And then I walk out of that room without looking back.

In the hallway, Jillian wraps her arms around me as everything left in me dissipates, leaving me drained and a shell of myself. Tears still stream silently down my cheeks, but I just stare ahead, seeing nothing. Vaguely, I can detect the sound of Jillian and Laurie’s voices, but the static in my head muffles the sound and prevents me from understanding what they’re saying. There’s a never-ending white noise echoing in my skull.

I feel myself being led away and then I blink and we’re in the parking lot. I blink again and we’re in the car. Another blink and we’re driving down the road the guys were on when they wrecked.

The drive from the hospital to the house is just a series of blinks, and then we’re there. We’re home, where it’s just so empty without the usual signs of life that typically dominate it.

Dark and cold.

A shiver races down my spine.

---