Lucas' POV

The Seer is strange indeed.

She would mumble words under her breath as we pushed through the woods after stepping through Alpha Killian's portal, sometimes wiping trickling blood from her nose.

"Light meets dark," She whispers in horror, and her eyes glaze over. "She chose the darkness. She changed her mind."

Axel gives me a look that says: Don't ask.

Yet he looks at the Seer with admiration, catching her by the arm when she stumbles over her own feet, distracted by whatever it is she's seeing, and holds her upright until she shakes him off.

Strange. Very strange.

And then we stand in front of an empty clearing, and Katrina halts. The warriors look at her in confusion, and I wonder if she has led us into a trap. Ares certainly didn't seem to trust the young she-wolf.

"Where's Cain, Katrina?" Axel asks, his voice gentle, like he didn't want to cause her any distress by asking.

It doesn't seem to matter, because the Seer looks deeply disturbed nonetheless. "It's over," She whispers, her eyes full of pain. "So sorry, young wolf."

As she says those cryptic words, a large house suddenly appears in front of us.

And two rogues look at us in shock.

"Their smell," Axel says, recognition flashing across his face before switching to mindlink us. They're the rogues that have been killing Blood Lake wolves. Kill the girl before she can speak.

Warriors pounce on the two rogues before they have a change to react and tear them apart.

And then a small blonde girl walks out of the door.

She looks at the rogues and screams.

The wolves move to pounce on her, but Axel yells, "Stop!"

The wolves halt at his order. Without Cain or Ares around, Axel is at the top of the chain of command, and they listen to him like they would to their Alphas.

Axel stares at the blonde girl who runs to her deceased friends, crying over their bodies, his eyes wide.

"Axel?" I ask, waiting for him to command us to kill her.

"She's my mate," Axel says, his voice barely above a whisper.

And he gave the order to kill her friends.

He takes long strides to get to her, but Katrina grabs him by the arm and whispers something to him, something that I can't hear. He looks at her briefly before nodding and continuing his pursuit of his mate.

The blonde girl's head snaps up as the Beta approaches her. She looks confused for a moment, before her mouth drops open. "No," She snarls. "No. I'll die before letting you drag me to your fucking pack."

And she pulls out a knife and holds it to her throat.

Axel is quick to grab her by the wrist, and I wondered if Katrina warned him, tried to stop more bloodshed.

The blond girl's eyes stare deeply into Axel's. "Your emotions..." She whispers. "You're so... relieved. Happy."

Axel looks confused by her statement. "I've been looking for you for years. Of course, I'm happy."

And she drops her knife.

The Seer begins walking away from the scene, following whatever her Sight tells her to, and I follow her, leaving the other wolves behind.

The Seer pauses and turns to look at me. "Luke," She says, using my nickname despite me never having told her. "Don't follow me. You won't want to see this. Please go back to Axel."

Her words send fear into my heart, make my blood run cold. "Katrina, what did you see?"

"Turn back."

"No."

Katrina shakes her head sadly. "You should have listened."

The way she speaks is odd, although I suppose that's just her status as a Seer. It would never fail to make the uncomfortable, the way she talks about the future like it's already happened.

I follow her until we're outside of a small building, a little ways away from the weird disappearing house.

I smell blood.

"Luke, go back," Katrina says gently. "I promise you that Cain is fine. That's all you need to know."

No, no, no. It couldn't be.

I push past the Seer and into the prison.

And I see Cain leaning over Onyx.

Onyx's dead body.

What Katrina was trying to protect me from seeing.

"No," I whisper in disbelief, and run to her.

Her skin is pale and looks grey, her dark hair spread around her like a halo. Even in death, she looked every bit like the angel she was in life.

Cain looks up at me, his eyes filled with tears. I had never seen him look so... human.

Only Onyx would be able to humanize the Blood Alpha like that.

"She was pregnant," He whispers in horror, his voice cracking.

He turns to look at one of the bodies, and in my pursuit of Onyx, I hadn't noticed that there were two other bodies on the ground. One belonged to Sebastian, the other to a male I haven't ever seen, but he was the one Cain was staring at.

"They died not knowing that they were with pup," Cain says hollowly, and I realize why he was so upset by Onyx's death.

He was thinking about Ares.

Tears stream down my face as I look at Onyx, the last pure soul on the planet, ripped away far too young.

She didn't deserve this.

"I told her to leave!" Cain yells, and the room suddenly gets warmer as his heat floods. "I told her to leave," He repeats softly.

Cain didn't say what I already knew: That Onyx died so that he could live.

Onyx, selfless beyond measure, her beautiful heart second to none. I knew that about her right away.

There's always a choice, I had told her one time.

She made the wrong choice.

Katrina joins us in leaning over the fallen angel. Her eyes line with tears. "Sweet wolf, may you never know pain again," She whispers, caressing her face. "We bury her with her grandmother."

Her grandmother. Onyx had told me about her grandmother, that she turned her into a tree, tried to explain why she did it, but she didn't need to. Not to me.

I pull Onyx's cold body into my arms, carrying her like a small child.

And that's all she was. A child. Innocent beyond measure. I never wanted this for her.

"The tree is outside, I'll take us there," Katrina says quietly.

We follow Katrina into a garden, and Cain picks up a shovel and begins to dig her grave. He hasn't even asked about Ares yet.

Once the hole has been dug under the large cherry tree, I gently place her body in her final resting place.

I grow poppies around her.

You promised me poppies.

Katrina stifles a sob, her hand covering her mouth. Cain looks like he's going to throw up.

I feel like I'm back in Wind Walker, once again looking at a beautiful soul taken far too young, far too early. My vision blurs from the tears.

Katrina gasps. "She... She chose..."

The cherry tree starts to wilt right before my eyes, until it's blackened and drooping.

The poppies have the same fate.

I look down at Onyx, and her face is no longer grey and pallid. The color has returned, her cheeks and lips pink.

And I see her chest rise and fall as she begins to breathe again.

"She chose to come back," Katrina says in disbelief.

***

Onyx's POV

I'm in complete darkness.

And I've never felt more at home.

"Onyx," A familiar voice I've missed dearly says.

And I see my Grandmother.

"Grams!" I say, choking on sobs as I throw my arms around her.

She laughs, hugging me back tightly. "I've missed you so much, Nyx."

"I missed you," I whisper, breathing in the familiar scent of her. "You have no idea how much I've missed you."

Grams pulls away, her eyes shining. "I'm so proud of you, my baby. You've kept your heart pure through it all, choosing kindness over cruelty at every turn. You've grown into a beautiful, strong woman. I couldn't be more proud."

My heart warms from her complements, but I look around, and I still only see complete darkness. "Where's Finn?" I ask her curiously. "He's my-"

Gram's grins. "He's your mate. I met him already. Lovely young man, that Finnley."

"What?" I ask in confusion. "I don't understand."

Gram's smile falters slightly. "We're in the in between right now. Finn... We decided it would be better if he crossed over before you got here."

"Grams, what are you talking about?" Nothing makes sense.

She looks at me sadly. "When he died, I was here waiting for him. We decided that he should cross over to the other side into the afterlife before you got here. It would be too hard for you to go back if you saw him here."

"Go back?" I repeat.

Grams squeezes my hands. "Yes, Onyx. Your Blood Lake friends are burying you under my tree right now. Do you know why I chose a cherry tree?"

I shake my head.

"It symbolizes rebirth. It's not time for you to go into the afterlife yet. You need to choose to go back into your world, and your black magic will drain the life from my tree. I was a healer in life, in combination with your Gift and my tree, you will be able to siphon enough energy to come back to life."

"No," I whisper in horror. "I'm dead."

"For now," My grandmother corrects, cupping my cheek with her soft hands. "You have to go back, Onyx. It's not your time yet."

No.

No.

No.

"I can't go back," I sob, nearly choking on my own tears as my throat tightens. "There's nothing left for me there. I have nobody left. Please, Grams, let's go into the afterlife together," I beg. I can't go back to that world. Not without Finn.

She shakes her head sadly. "You still have so much life left to live, Nyx. So much left to experience, to see. Your life hasn't begun yet."

I sob, my body shaking uncontrollably.

"Remember what I told you the day I died, Onyx," She says gently, stroking my cheek, and I cry harder. "Be strong. Dying is easy. Living is much harder. The other rogues need you. They will be there for you. They need you to be there for them. Things will fall apart without both you and your mate."

My throat tightens so painfully I can't speak.

"Live your life, Onyx," Grams pleads. "Choose happiness. It's what your mate wants you to do. It's what Greyson would have wanted. You'll be reunited with them when it's your time to go. Now is not that time."

"I'm scared," I whisper, and I am. I'm so terrified to brave the world without Finn by my side. To be truly alone.

"I know," She says softly. "I know, baby."

I sob in her arms until she pulls away again. "It's time, Onyx," She says gently, and I see a ball of light, the only light in the darkness.

"You have to go back," She says, squeezing my hand one last time. "You'll make the world a better place. You'll save the next generation of rogues, give them the peace you never got to experience. You'll learn to be happy, Nyx. But you have to choose to go back. Only you can make that decision."

"I don't want to," I choke out. I just wanted to follow my mate into the dark, never deal with the pain of living again.

Grams smiles slightly. "You must. You're strong, Nyx. You will survive this. You will get your happy ending."

The light gets brighter.

"Will... Will you tell Finn that I forgive him?" I ask, my voice cracking. "That I'll see him again. That I'll love him, always."

My Gram's kisses my cheek. "He knows, dear. He just wants you to be happy, even without him."

The light almost completely takes over, as if it knows that I'm getting closer to making a choice.

There's always a choice.

Luke had chosen to continue to live, to be strong even after he lost his mate. Ronin and Grey, too. All of the men I had genuine friendships with and loved and admired had chosen life, even though they had every reason not to.

I made my choice. 

"Goodbye, Grams," I whisper. "I love you."

Her smile is almost as bright as the light. "I love you, Nyx. I'm so proud."

And then the light takes over.

And there's no more darkness.