My Brother’s Mate
Chapter 109

2 MONTHS LATER Emily's POV

Since the night we took the serum we have all come together as a new people. The transition was a bit rocky at first. We had a bunch of new vampires with so many emotional outbursts. Marcus and I got to work fast to help teach them how to control their emotions. A lot of new witches who are eager to learn magic come to classes that we hold daily. Carol is our top student. And a ton of new werewolves who are getting used to the new wolf in their minds. But things seem to getting easier as time goes along. I wake up next to Liam and wrap my arm around him.

"Morning." His voice startles me.

"I thought you were still asleep."

"I wish. I have to get up and help with the rebuild today." Some of the living areas were damaged in the war and we've started rebuilding them. Liam has taken a leadership role in the community, but we don't have Alphas or omegas or anything like that anymore. It's sort of hard to explain. We all just do what needs to be done. There is no desire for power, but we do look to certain people for guidance and organization. They will always look at me as the original Tribrid, but I'm not their leader. "Ugh, rebuild are boring. Do you have to go?" I say to Liam.

"Yeah they are, but it has to be done Em. Wait don't you have magic training today?" He asks me.

My mom, Marcus, and I have been hosting magic training for people who want to learn. It's interesting to me that some people favor magic, some prefer their wolf side, and others prefer their vamp side. And it's not always what they were originally. Marcus loves being a wolf. We go on runs all the time together.

"Yes, I do have training." I'm tired and I want to stay in bed and cuddle with Liam, but I guess it's time to wake up. I roll over and get up out of bed. We both get ready and leave the house, Liam heads to the field and I head to the old alpha house. I walk in and head to the back classrooms, I'm hoping it's not a big class today, I'm eager to go home and work on my paper lantern. Today we are holding a remembrance ceremony for everyone we lost in the war. We are making paper lanterns for everyone and releasing them down the river. We were supposed to make one for each person important to us that we lost, but I'd have to make so many, my dad, Hiroen, Carmen, Edaline, Samson, Brody, Miranda. There's just so many we lost, so we changed it to just writing their names on one paper lantern.

I walk into the class and it's a good amount of people, but not I many. Its a medium sized class and luckily there aren't any beginners. We go over some more advanced spells and potions. The class goes by quickly and I race home to work on my lantern. "Working on your lantern for tonight?" My mom walks in the room.

"Yeah, I'm writing down everyone name." My mom walks over and takes a look.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry you've lost so many." My mom says. She's looking at me with a frown on her face.

"It's okay mom. We all have."

"Where's Liam?" She asks.

"He's still helping with the rebuild I guess."

"Scooch over I'll make one too." I move over and my mom starts cutting some paper.

"Where's Cyran?" I tease. My mom and Cyran have started seeing each other since the war ended. Actually a lot of pairs have come out of this. Mia and Marcus have started dating, Ashleah and Tony are seeing each other, of course Mike and Rue are together, and my favorite of course is Carol and Jacob. Liam and Mike are still on.. interesting terms, but they are at least able to be in the same room now. I do miss how my life use to be, but I'm happy about where my life is going. I knew things were going to change after my eighteenth birthday, but I didn't know to what extreme I was right.

My mom and I finish our lanterns and she leaves to get ready for the remembrance ceremony. We are all having dinner outside in the field next to the lake. I'm looking forward to it. Liam comes in all hot and sweaty, and looking pretty attractive. "You need to go shower." I say.

"Maybe you want to join me?" He teases.

"You and I both know that if I join you, we'll be late for the ceremony."

"Well maybe I'm ok with being late." Liam growls and chases after me. I race down the hall and head for the stairs. He grabs me around my waist and I laugh.

"You are going to get me all sweaty." I hold my hand on his chest and hold him back.

"Go get ready!" I say.

"Fine, but we'll pick this back up later." Liam smack my b**t the heads back to the room. I go downstairs and wait for him. When he's finally ready, we grab our lanterns and head out to the field. Everyone is there. I'm so happy to see everyone talking and getting together. It has been so hard and we're still only just beginning to rebuild the world.

We sit down to eat and everyone is telling stories of the people we lost. I share a story of my dad when he taught me how to fight and the first time I ever beat him, even though I know he let me. It was nice, but also made me a bit sad. Silent tears rolled down my eyes and Liam held my hand. Mike spoke up about the time he and Liam put ink in their dad's coffee and it stained his mouth black for a week and how much trouble they got into for it. Liam actually chuckled, I had forgotten that story. It was nice to hear from everyone. After we finish eating, we head down to the river with our lanterns in hand. We reach the river bank and everyone is quiet.

"Maybe you should say something." Liam whispers to me. I take a step forward and turn to everyone.

"Today we remember all those we lost. All those we loved. These lanterns represent each and every one of them. Their memories will live on with us for the rest of our lives." I look down at all the names I have written on my lantern, I start to read them aloud. "Max, my father, Hiroen my great grandfather, Becky my aunt, Miranda and Edaline my mentors, Brody, Carmen, Benedict, Milton, Marigold, Hector, my friends, and so many more. This is not goodbye." My voice breaks a bit at the end as tears roll down my face. I take a deep breath.

"This is not goodbye. This is a thank you. Thank you for being a part of our lives and giving us joy. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for the memories that we have together. I will cherish them forever." I wipe my tears away and light my lantern. I set it down gently in the water and watch as it floats down the river. Everyone comes to the bank and lights their lanterns and releases them into the river. Liam wraps his arm around my shoulder and we watch the glowing golden lanterns float down stream.