My Hunted Mate
Sixty Eight

Corinna

Sitting on the cold cement floor, staring at the wall, a deep emptinesswraps itself around my heart, clinging to it and becoming unshakeable.An unknown amount of time passes before I shift my gaze ontoPhoenix, who sits next to me with his head between his knees and hisarms resting over the back of it.

" Phoe? We need to take him outside with the others. * I mumble, myvoice becoming unsteady as I speak.

He remains quiet and unmoving, causing me to lay my palm flat on hisback. " Come on, we'll give him a proper goodbye. " I whisper.

His shifts his head from between his legs, his bloodshot eyes fall onmine making my heart clench for the muscular blue haired man beforeme. He slowly nods his head, forcing himself up off the floor andmoving to collect Kai's body into his arms.

My breath catches in my throat due to the forming lump as my eyes fallon his heart laying on the ground, crawling across the floor, I movemyself into a kneeling position as I slowly pick up his heart, cradling itgently in my hands.

A burst of pain, grief and sorrow cuts through me as I stand to my feet,harsh sobs force themselves past my lips as I exit the room, my legsautomatically guiding me through the house, out the back garden andto the large field of flower filled grass near the gazebo.

Phoenix follows closely behind me the entire time, laying Kai's bodyonto the patch of grass which was now burned to a crisp with the deadclan members ashes in separate piles on top.

Until I place Kai's heart down with his body, I don't realise the crowds ofpeople standing around in the distance watching the scene beforethem, minute by minute more people flock out to us, until the entireclan is huddled around in respectful silence.

My eyes search until they finally land on Atticus who has shifted backwith a blanket wrapped around his waist. * Atticus, Where is Dahlia?She needs to be here for this. " I question.

" She is inside the house with her mate, Elias and Dyna. " He tells me.Looking over to Sabine, I give her a small smile. * Could you?

" Of course. " She ducks her head, dashing off in a blur toward thehouse.

Seconds later she returns with Dahlia, who comes to a shocked stop atthe sight of her brother's body on the ground. " Oh god.. " She sniffles." He's really gone. "

She stumbles over to him, dropping to her knees and reaching out toplace her hand on the top of his head. Sending Atticus a short nod, hewanders across the field until he is far away from everyone, he dropsthe blanket wrapped around his naked waist causing me toimmediately avert my eyes until he is standing tall in his giant dragonform.

Phoenix hesitantly makes his way over to dahlia who is now crying, heplaces a hand on her shoulder mumbling that she needs to move awaynow. At first she refuses to leave her deceased brother's side, butPhoenix pulls her away from him and into his arms, backing up withoutbreaking their embrace.

Lila walks up to us with Elias in her arms while Dyna pads beside her,one of her hand's are joined with Lila's, while the other grasps herdragon plushie tightly, a big smile takes over her face when she spotsher dad's beautiful dragon, she giggles excitedly waving her toy in theair.

Lila releases Dyna's hand, to place it over her little ruby coloured eyesbefore she is not distracted anymore and discovers the body of mydead mate laying out on the ground for anyone to see.

Just to be safe, I hold up my hands, chanting softly to put up aprotective bubble around the entire clan as Atticus lets out a loud roarand a deep breath of flames, when I'm sure that the flames aren't closeenough to be a danger to anyone, I drop my enchantment, watchingwith a tear covered face as my mate's body turns into a pile of ash.Atticus shifts back into his human form having done what he needed todo, he instantly runs over to grab the blanket, wrapping it securelyaround his waist before sprinting over to Dyna, scooping her into hisarms and planting a big kiss on her cheek.

Looking away from them, I take a deep breath spotting the urns I hadasked for Phoenix to gather near where everyone is standing, so Iwander over to them, collecting each one and placing it in front of theremains of the clan members, freezing when I realise that there is nowhere to put Kai's ashes.

Feeling a tapping on my shoulder, I spin around to replace Sabine holdingout a stunning white marble urn with a gold lid engraved with leafdesigns. " Oh it's perfect, where did we even get these? "

" There's a funeral home in the human town near by, when Mal firstpassed I thought.. well that doesn't matter. * She trails off, clearing herthroat awkwardly.

This reaction takes me by surprise, usually Sabine is very straight to thepoint, strong and professional. Knowing that this is because of theeffect of Kai's death, I reach out and pull her into a brief embrace. "Thank you. * I mumble into her shoulder, while she awkwardly pats myback.

Pulling away from Sabine, I place the urn down in front of Kai's remains,backing up and raising my hands into the air while I begin to chantunder my breath, bit by bit the ashes lift into the air and into the urns,eventually when the urns are filled, my body feels heavy from all thetiredness, grief and magic.

The loved ones of each dead clan member approaches me as I handthem the urns, giving them my condolences, when that is done I makemy way over to collect Kai's but Farrah's voice causes me to pause.

" So what? The hybrid is going to lead us now and no one has aproblem with it? * Turning around, I replace her walking through the crowdthrowing her hands around as if for dramatic effect.

"1 mean, come on! " She drags out her words, facing the crowd whenshe finally reaches where I am standing.

" She's not one of us, she never will be! She doesn't belong here tobegin with, but she's going to be our Master now? " Farrah laughs.

* Corinna was Mal's beloved, he was planning for them to lead side byside. " Dahlia interrupts in an attempt to cut Farrah’s rally for anuprising short.

" Malakai is dead as a door nail sweetheart, there is no way to knowwhat he was planning and who cares! He just murdered his own clanmembers! " She argues, many people amongst the crowd, tradingglances at the new information.

" He was not in his right mind, how would you even know that anyway?* Dahlia narrows her eyes, getting closer and closer to squaring up toFarrah by the second

" Oh please, you all weren't exactly discreet about it. " Farrah shrugs off." The point is, I'm not going to stand being led by some half breed dogand I'm sure more than enough of the clan agree. *

" Don't call her that! * Phoenix sneers.

Regardless of how heart warming it is to feel accepted and defendingby my mate's family, I decide that now is the time to step in and standup for myself.

"In packs, when a member questions an alpha we fight for the position,so Farrah considering you're standing there mouthing off about howunhappy you are at the idea of me leading, why don't you see if youcan win against me?

" We're not dogs, we don't operate the same, see this is exactly what Imean- " She continues to rant.

"If you have a problem with me, do something about it. * I growl,making her narrow her eyes at me.

" Fine. " She states simply, charging full force at me and knocking me tothe ground with a strong kick to the chest.