Page 133 of Wanted

“We hope you don’t mind, but we thought it would be okay if we made this for Ashley,” Reese says with some hesitation in her voice.

The entire pack encircles us as Emery comes to a stop in front of a tombstone that reads “Ashley Nightwolf.”

She immediately clamps her hand over her mouth.

“You and your sister both were Nightwolves,” Chael tells her. “Though we never got to meet her, she’s our pack because you are our pack. And she brought you to us.”

His gaze shifts to me. “And to my brother. We honor our family by keeping them close and keeping their memory alive.”

He nods toward the tombstone.

Emery’s hand quivers as she takes in the tombstone with her sister’s name on it along with the date of her birth and year of her death. She takes in the colorful flower arrangement that’s been carefully placed around the tombstone.

But what she stares at the most is the engraving of her sister’s smiling face.

“How did you…” She trails off as she turns to the pack. “H-how did you know what she looks like?”

“Chance gave us a picture,” Charlene, one of the young members of our pack, says as she makes her way to the front ofthe crowd. “He gave us that picture of her you always keep on your phone.”

Charlene’s gaze flicks to me. “He said it’s your favorite photo of her.”

“And,” Rachel, another pack member, cuts in. She steps to the front, holding a folded quilt. “He found some of her clothes in that box left at the house. He said her rainbow pajamas were her favorite, so I used the material to help make this.”

Rachel steps forward, extends her hand and unfolds the quilt she made just for Emery.

My mate gasps before lightly running her fingers over the material of her sister’s favorite pair of pajamas.

“You did this for me?” she asks, looking around in astonishment.

“Of course,” Rachel answers for everyone.

“And for Ashley,” Ms. Elsie says as she, too, comes forward. “She was ours as well.” She takes Emery’s hand.

Emery shakes her head and then turns to look over at the tombstone.

“Th-thank you,” she says, barely audible. “I…I don’t know what to say besides thank you.”

I hate the tears in her voice and the ones that stream down her face. She smiles at me through teary eyes as I wipe them away.

Her eyes say what her mouth can’t because she’s overcome with emotion.

Family.

A tentative structure that’s always been elusive since she was young. The people who adopted her pretended to be her family only to shroud their supposed love in constant insults and scrutiny, until they took part in the ultimate betrayal.

Her sister, the one blood relative she had left, is gone. But in Emery’s eyes, I see she’s finally realizing that she is not alone.

We’re her family. The Nightwolf pack.

“Thank you,” she says, looking at everyone.

“I’ve prepared supper for all of us,” Ms. Elsie says. “We should go eat. I can bring some to you both at your house.” The same thing she’s been doing for a week now.

“No,” Emery says before looking up at me. “We can eat with everyone tonight.”

I brush away the last tear with my thumb.Then let’s go eat.

“Wait,” she says and then turns toward the rest of the pack. “Um…” She shifts from one foot to the other. “Before dinner, can we go for a run?”