Memento Mori -- Epilogue
#1 of Eben Black Series -- Memento Mori
© All characters and storylines involving said characters belong to me: Eben Black.
An hour later we were at Aleksander's place. He too owned a penthouse in the middle of LA. We snuck in through the kitchens downstairs and made it the penthouse without anyone finding us. The law of house arrest was still up so we had taken back alleys and streets until we'd made it to the apartment building. Aleksander had designed his home much like Donovan's. There were a couple of bedrooms, a large lounge and kitchenette, a gymnasium, and an en suite bathroom in each bedroom. Maximillian had been put to bed. He'd been passed out since he'd seen Nirvana's death. Basil figured it was because Maximillian was in shock and needed some serious rest. Since then all of us had been distant and almost haunted by what was happening. I was stood in the darkened kitchen, leaning against the counters, a mug of hot chocolate between my hands as I stared into the rich chocolate surface. Basil was sat at the table in the kitchen. He'd stayed by my side since his home had been obliterated. Aleksander was in the lounge sat on his own, watching television. Kane was showering elsewhere in the penthouse.
Basil pushed back in his seat and eased back, looking up at the ceiling as he looked blank and too distant. I rested the mug down on the counter top, and padded across the kitchen floor until I was stood behind his seat. I ran both my hands through his head fur and met the look in those distant lavender eyes. He smiled a little and touched his hands to my arms as he gazed up at me. We were all numb and upset about what was happening. We all needed some kind of closure, some comfort. At least I did anyway. I didn't want to be alone tonight. Aleksander had asked to be left alone, while Maximillian was unconscious. Sawyer was also down for the night, as soon as we made it to Aleksander's he let exhaustion take him and he finally decided to get some sleep. Leaving me with Basil and Kane to choose from. I felt someone watching us and looked across the kitchen to find Kane standing there, a towel had been wrapped around his waist as he padded into the kitchen and walked up toward me. He raised his arms and wrapped them gently around my shoulders.
"Anyone else feel like they don't wanna be alone tonight?" I breathed against Kane's slender forearms.
Kane snuggled against me and asked, "Do you want to be alone tonight?"
I shook my head lightly and cuddled back against him. "No. No I don't."
"Me neither," Basil whispered as he looked up at the both of us.
"Then we'll stay together tonight. Tonight we'll sleep and try and forget what happened," Kane suggested. I considered it and then nodded.
"Can we go to bed now?" I asked, tears beaded at my eyes again as I looked back into Kane's face.
Kane nodded and took me by the hand, I let him lead me while Basil followed behind. We walked through the lounge and found Aleksander was lying on the couch, asleep and looking peaceful. We padded through the darkness. Kane opened the bedroom door and let us walked passed him inside. Kane closed the door and walked to the king-size bed that waited for the three of us. He pulled the towel free and dropped it to the floor before he pulled all the sheets back and climbed into the bed. He lay back, arms behind his head and eyes closed as his chest rose and fell. Basil took me by the hand and leaned in close, his lips brushed mine and then he lead me to the bedside as he undid his belt and let his jeans fall to the bedroom floor. He stepped out of them, his sleak black and grey tail swished behind him as he let me go and raised the vest above his head. He had just managed to get the material to his neck when I cuddled in against him from behind. We'd all showered earlier and borrowed clothes from Aleksander's old followers' rooms. I had stripped out of the pale boxer-briefs I'd been wearing and cuddled against Basil nude and drowning in a sea of depression. He tossed the vest aside, and his hands rested against my forearms as sleep started to swallow me.
"Eben, lets get into bed. I can't stand here all night while you sleep," Basil breathed in the hushed darkness of the bedroom.
I nodded against him and let my arms fall. I climbed into the bed between the sheets and found Kane lying on his side, waiting for me. I cuddled against him, his one arm slipped under my head and I used the muscle like some tender, warm pillow. I rested a hand against his naked chest and our legs crossed one another, our bodies lined as best as possible, as we got as close as we could without passing through one another. Basil crawled in behind me a second later and snuggled in against my back, Kane's hand played with Basil's head fur as the two looked at one another above me. It looked like the premise to a wonderful threesome, but none of us were in the mood. All three of us lay there in the quiet, our bodies reacted sexually and hardened, but no one acted upon them. Tonight was not about fucking or making love. Tonight was about closure and thinking about what had happened. Tonight all of us needed friends and companions. Not lovers and sex. Basil's arm wrapped around my middle as his body fit against mine like a jigsaw and he spooned me in the shadowed darkness. It was almost four in the morning.
"Good night," Kane whispered.
"Good night," Basil and I replied. Sleep swallowed Kane first and then soon after Basil was unconscious behind me. I expected them to pull away in their sleep, but they never. They held me all night like that, as if frightened that I would leave if they let go. It was sweet and heart breaking at the same time to think these two dominant alphas, these two Level Threes, were frightened of sleeping alone. Fresh tears spilled as I sobbed against Kane's chest. I had tried not to cry, and had thought I'd cried enough these last few days, but once again the tears came and the depression descended on me. What were we going to do now? Jasper had won. Snow had been taken. Nirvana and her beautiful baby were dead as well as Donovan.
In the following days we found out that although Basil had no home anymore, some of his tigers had survived. The ones who'd been knocked unconscious in the gardens came to and tracked down Basil. With some soldiers back, I asked Basil to look for information. Information about Jasper, and Bartholomew too. I had a new goal in life now. To find and bring back Snow! Killing Jasper was a close second, followed by Bartholomew's death, but firstly I wanted to hunt down Snow and return him home. Aleksander numbed during the next few days, his cheerful swagger disappeared and eventually he broke down during a routine shower. I managed to get into the bathroom and held him while he sobbed over the loss of his entire cheetah clan. Maximillian isn't doing well. His people, his beloved, and his unborn child. All taken from him in one fell swoop. He'd hauled himself up in one of the bedrooms and locked himself in. I had a feeling his depression was making him hard to communicate with. We decided to leave him alone for a while, and if his depression persisted, then we'd deal with that bridge when we came to it. Sawyer came to me the second night we'd arrived at Aleksander's. He found me sobbing and held me while I slept again. He'd done so since then. There was no romance involved, or even fucking, we just cuddled and slept. None of us had made love since our arrival at Aleksander's. The aftermath had left us all depressed and haunted.
Kane seemed to be the only one who was not totally depressed. Instead, he'd lost himself to the gymnasium and trained more and more as time passed. Something told me he was practicing with his new abilities in case Jasper's followers ever ambushed Aleksander's home.
It was decided that we couldn't remain at Aleksander's for much longer. Sooner or later the council, or humans would find us there. Jasper's words seemed to assure me that the council would not be tracking us down anymore. In time he was right, we'd end up chasing him down, instead of the other way around. It was decided that the wolves needed someone as their alpha, their King. Kane declined the offer, saying he lacked the qualities of a leader and instead I took the role as alpha. Kane and I are working on bringing the wolves back together. Bishop and Fiona were behind us, having not been at the manor house during the explosion. The other wolves were scattered. We had to reunite them and make the wolves a proper pack again. There was a chance that Jasper, out of spite, would target previous members of our pack. Being alpha is new to me, and its wierd being part of the major decisions, but as Maximillian is refusing to acknowledge anyone, Aleksander lacks a clan, and Basil has limited soldiers, it was decided that I'd lead our small group. For the time being at least. I'd have preferred Basil or Maximillian take the lead, but Basil persuaded me to take the role. We move in a few days and hopefully we'll figure things out and bring Snow back from the bad guys. Hopefully.