Page 29 of Bound By the Moon

“Mikael is going to hate me.” The words burst fromme without a moment’s hesitation between the thought and theverbalization. “He didn’t want me to do this. He wanted me to wait.Now, I don’t get to see him again.”

“You will see him again, when his time comes.” Awolf called out to me.

“It’s not the same. He could live a few hundredyears beyond now, what the hell am I supposed to do in themeantime, while I wait?”

“You make your peace with your decision to saveothers instead of yourself. Not that you would have been able to goback once you were here. We’re really sorry we couldn’t spare youour fate, Jessica. We had hopes that you would be the one to live along and happy life. Almost all of us were cut down early in ourlives. You were right, earlier, when you said people fear what theydon’t know.

“Yeah, I guess.” I looked up then, at all the soulswho still dawdled around, and in the mix I thought I saw a familiarface or two. “Anna?” I called out.

There she stood, my Aunt Anna Marie, the woman I hadbeen named for. “Jessica,” her shy demeanor reminded me of thestories my mom would tell about her when she spoke of theirchildhood. “I hoped not to see you here for a very long time.”

“That makes two of us.” I laughed.

“That, you must get from your father. Your mom wasalways far too serious for humor in death.” Anna winked at me. Ahandsome man stood not too far behind my aunt. He never took hiseyes off of her as she spoke to me about how my much she missed mymom.

“You must be Lucas?” I asked as he came incloser.

“I am.”

“Oh, I suppose I lost all my manners when I died, ormaybe when I was shunned by my pack.” Aunt Anna shrugged hershoulders. “This is my mate, Lucas. Lucas, this is my Niece,Jessica.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you already,” Lucas said ashe took my hand and gently kissed the top of it. He tipped his headto indicate the white wolves, “they’ve kept us in the loop,mostly.”

“Oh, no!” Anna cried out, after seeing baby Jack’shand poke back out of the sling I still carried him in. “Not littleWillow too?” A tear dropped down her colorless cheek, and I watchedas the thick, fluid seemed to defy gravity and just hover there,high on her cheekbone as she reached out for that tiny littlehand.

“This is not Willow. My friend had a baby. He wastaken by mistake. They thought they had my daughter. I came to gethim back, for his mother, but… I couldn’t.”

“You tried, and you are here with him. I am sure shewill find some small comfort in knowing that he is with you, andwill be taken care of until she meets him here one day.”

“So, is this it? Is this all there is to theafterlife? A bunch of spirits hanging around in a giant cavernstyle waiting room?”

Lucas laughed and teased Anna. “It’s good that shewas named for you. She definitely sounds a lot like you.”

“I suppose you’re half right. This is a waitingroom, in a way. Those who are here are either stuck, because theycan’t move beyond what has happened to them, or they are waiting onloved ones to make it here first. You could say we’re the ones withunfinished business.”

“Really? So what are you waiting for then?”

“To see your mom. I need her to know that I don’tblame her, and that I appreciate everything she did for me, beforeand after…” Her voice trailed off on a saddened note.

“I understand, and she will too.” I looked at Lucasthen, “so who are you waiting on then?”

He smiled brightly at me, as if I should alreadyknow the answer to that question. “I am simply waiting on my lovehere to finish her business, so we can both move on together.”

“So, I’ll be able to wait here for Mikael, andWillow?”

“If you need to wait for them, then yes, youcan.”

“I do. I need their forgiveness.”

“Oh, Jessica,” my aunt grabbed me up in a giant hug,careful of the baby that was still lodged against me, our belliesstill touching through the sling.

We were just letting go of one another when voicesstarted to raise beyond us. There was another woman standing therechastising the white wolves, my ancestors. “What in the world isgoing on now?”

Anna put her hand out on my shoulder. “Jessica, youmight want to wait a moment. She’s not the friendliest ofsouls.”

“Well, we’re all dead here, right? What harm can bedone?”

“Oh, you don’t want to know. Even souls can bepunished. There are stories of heaven and hell, and well, purgatoryright?” She waited for my nod of acknowledgment. “Well, sweetheart,we’re in what you might think of as purgatory. Souls have beenknown to disappear from here in one of two ways. They either moveon, presumably to a better place. Or…” My Aunt Anna swallowed hard,not wanting to continue.

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