Save Me

TWENTYTWO

"Thank you for dinner, it was lovely." I thanked Rhydian as we headed towards the clearing for my fathers funeral.

"It was nothing." He shrugged. "Do you want to lead the funeral?" He asked, glancing at me.

I shook my head and sighed. "No, you're the Alpha." I smiled, looking at him. He stopped and stood in front of me. "I may be an Alpha but I'm not their Alpha." He smiled, "You're our Alpha."

He just doesn't give up about me being Alpha. I rolled my eyes and pushed him slightly to continue walking. "You lead." I monotoned, walking towards the clearing.

As we neared the clearing, I noticed the whole pack was here already. I stopped dead in my tracks and scanned the area. There was some in wolf form and some in human form.

Everyone turned to face me when they sensed me. Some bowed in respect, which I recognised but others observed me. Trying to figure out who I was. As I looked closer, I noticed that she-wolf, Selena was stood with a few other wolves.

I growled lowly and felt Rhydian grab my hand. "Calm down. What's up?" He whispered.

"What is she doing here?" I asked through gritted teeth.

He followed my eyeline, and I heard him suck in a breath. "She was told to stay away. I'm sorry." He mumbled.

I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes. "It's fine." I groaned. I went to walk towards the crowd and Rhydian pulled me back. "I'll tell her to leave." He whispered, linking his fingers through mine.

I sucked in a quick breath as the bungles shot up my arm. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and I swear I saw his eye light up.

"No. As long she stays out of my way." I warned. He pulled me along gently until we were in the midde of the clearing.

Everyone stopped, bowing their heads. I didn't know where to look, Rhydian dismissed them and they averted their eyes to our hands. It was uncommon to see an Alpha holding hands with a random she-wolf.

'Who are you calling random?' Aurora sniped. 'He's our mate.'

I huffed at her, she obviously knows what I meant. 'Why won't you just admit he's our mate?' She growled.

I pushed her to the back of my mind. I can't deal with this now. "I'm ready to start, are you ok?" He asked, eyeing me cautiously. I nodded my head and went over to my family who were stood at the front.

"How are you feeling kiddo?" Uncle Tristan asked, pulling me into a hug. "I'm ok." I muttered, pulling my hand out of Rhydian's grasp. I heard him grunt in dissapproval at the loss of contact.

I pulled away and was engulfed in a hug. I glanced sideways and realised it was Elijah. I pulled away quickly and placed my hands on his shoulders. "Are you ok? I'm so sorry." I said quickly.

He chuckled and nodded his head. "I'm ok, I promise." He said. "It wasn't your fault. I was told not to get near you." He smiled.

"Thank you." I said, him being up and about has made me feel a whole lot better, now I just need to get through this...

"Come on, you're sitting between me and dad." Lucas gestured to some seats behind us. I turned around to sit, behind our row of chairs was Ria, Drew and Ria's parents, James and Frazer. Frazer was one of my father's best friends and his Gamma.

I smiled at them and they returned the gesture. I took my seat and felt a hand on my shoulder. I glanced back, "It is so good to have you home." Frazer smiled sweetly at me. I nodded at him and returned his smile.

I settled in my seat and watched Rhydian take his place at the front. He stood tall, back straight and chest out. Power oozed from him, he was every bit of an Alpha.

I scanned the room looking at everyone, some were focused on Rhydian, while others had their eyes trained on me. I snapped my head forward when I felt Rhydian's eyes on me.

"Are you ok?” Rhydian asked through our mind link. I nodded and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Tonight we say goodbye to Alpha Eric." Rhydian announced to the crowd. "Alpha Eric helped every single one of us at some point." He smiled.

"He helped me." He took a deep breath, "When I felt like I couldn't go on, he always gave me the push I needed." He chuckled at the memory.

"He picked me up when I hit rock bottom and gave my pack a new home." He said, sadly. He took a deep breath then turned to look at me. "There's one thing Alpha Eric loved more than his pack, his daughter." He said, smiling at me. "I've recently had the pleasure of meeting his daughter." He announced, tearing his eyes from me.

"Alpha Eric will forever live on through her." He said, his voice laced with admiration. "He averted his eyes towards me again, "His daughter will come up now." He smiled sweetly at me.

I slowly stood up and made my way to the front. I faced my dad's coffin and took a deep breath. I turned to face everyone and my breath caught in my throat.

All eyes were on me. Some looking at me with sympathy, some looked deep in thought while a few she-wolves were glaring at me.

I stood tall, taking a deep breath and opened my mouth but nothing came out. Everything I wanted to say, I've forgotten...

I stared down at the floor and pulled at the black dress I was wearing.

"Deep breath, sweetheart." Tristan's voice flowed sweetly through the link.

I snapped my eyes towards them. Rhydian had taken my seat, sat in between Lucas and my Uncle. I glanced between them all before stopping on Lucas.

"Will you come here, please?" I asked Lucas, through our link.

Lucas looked between his mum and dad who was sat with him, they all silently nodded to each other before rising from their seats and coming and standing beside me.

I looked up in awe as Georgie stood on my left, with Lucas on my right and Tristan stood behind me. I took a deep breath, taking hold of Lucas's and Georgie's hands and looked forward.

"For those of you who don't know me, I'm Amaris." I greeted. "I'm Alpha Eric's daughter."