Chapter 33: Alexis

Chapter 33: Alexis

It wasn’t a possibility that had occurred to me until there remained only fifteen seconds before the bombs would explode.

Without thinking much about it, I shifted into my wolf form and dove into the icy water. My wolf body smoothly dove into the water, and I swam as far below as I could to save myself from the explosion, all the while keeping a count inside my head as to how many seconds were left.

Not only did I dive deep, but I also swam forward. But when the explosion happened, the water around me turned boiling, and if it hadn’t been for my speed, I would have burned in that water. Had this not occurred to me, I would still have been on the ship, and those exploding bombs would have torn my body asunder.

It was the bond that propelled me to save my life. It kept tugging at the last minute, not allowing me to resign myself to a fate of death. As I swam, the explosion caused underwater waves to lurch me forward, breaking my swimming stride as I was pushed forward in the dark water, losing all sense of direction.

My breath was giving out, and the surface was too far away for me to make my way to the top and breathe again. I could see the flames of the ship’s wreckage on the surface. If I were to go above the surface now, the flying debris that caught on fire could just as easily end the life I had saved in the nick of time.

So, despite facing a shortage of oxygen, I swam some more till I was out of the radius of the explosion, and then I broke past the surface, drawing deep breaths.

I could not believe that I had saved my life in such a short time. It didn’t need to end in fire and flames for me. I was safe. Safe to go back to shore and rejoin my mate. I could only assume that he was down there at the docks by now, mourning me.

There was a long way to swim, and even though I was in my wolf form, I doubted if I’d be able to make it back there against the cold and the sheer length that was between me and the docks.

I didn’t know how I was doing it—other than sheer will—but I swam and swam until my limbs gave away, and it was only when I had exhausted my body in its entirety that I turned myself on my back and floated toward the dock. My wolf body provided excellent buoyancy, allowing me to swim toward the shore without much effort. Now that I was out of immediate danger, I didn’t need to swim faster than required.

Ten minutes of fighting the waves and struggling to breathe passed, and I found myself under the docks. I could see that the pack members had all assembled there. I could even see Will standing there at the edge, looking sullenly down at the water with tears dripping down his face.

I rose out of the water and shifted back into my human form at just the right time to catch onto the dock. I latched onto it and pulled myself up, panting and shivering.

“Alexis?” Will’s voice was ever so soft and marked by disbelief.

“Will!” I gasped as I lay there on the docks, my body cold and breathless.

He immediately took off his jacket and threw it on my body, covering me, then knelt and hugged me tightly. Against the cold of my body, his hot tears pressing against my cheeks provided me some comfort. His body was warm, and mine became warm in his embrace, reducing my shivering. I could not see clearly, what with there being so much saltwater in my eyes.

“I thought you had died!” Will gasped. Behind him, the pack suddenly came forward, surrounding me from all sides. I was grateful that they decided to do that, to shield me from the eyes of the rest of the townsfolk that had gathered around the docks, all of them witnessing the still burning wreckage of the ship.

“I’m sorry about your ship,” I said, smiling at him. I could see him much more now that the saltwater was out of my eyes.

“Never mind my ship! I was so lost. I thought you were gone. You don’t even know what was going through my mind. I am just glad that you are alive. Oh, Alexis,” Will said and hugged me even tighter.

“Did we save them all? Are the townsfolk safe?” I asked, getting up on my feet. My clothes were drenched. The sooner we’d get back to the commune, the better.

“Yes,” Vince said, coming forward and hugging me tightly. “We saved them all. No bombs went off in the town. We were lucky enough to collect them all and dump them onto the ship. Speaking of that, you’re never allowed to deceive me like that! I thought you were going to help me push the ship into the sea, and the next second you decided to just start it and sail in the opposite direction.”

Will first looked at me and then at Vincent, completely boggled.

“Will, Vince, that would have never worked. Don’t you see how big that explosion was? It’s still burning. People would have died if we had done that,” I said. “And speaking of dying, I’m going to die if I stand here any longer in my wet and cold clothes!”

“How did you even survive?” Will asked as he wrapped his jacket around my body and picked me up in his arms.

“I jumped at the last moment. I wasn’t feeling any suicidal impulse to end my life. That’s why I jumped. Also, our bond took control of my body at the last minute. I needed to be alive. I realized that it was a better option than just sacrificing myself,” I said.

“Please, for as long as you live, never scare me like that again. For those brief moments when I saw the explosion, my entire world shattered around me. I didn’t even know who I was anymore. Without you, I am nothing,” Will said, holding my body close to him. I wrapped my arms around him tightly, getting as much heat from his body as I could. Who knew the sea would be so cold?

While the rest of the pack dispersed, each of them going to their cars, bikes, and trucks, Will and I stood by his Jeep. He helped me get in, then closed the door. I immediately turned the heater on and turned the knob to maximum. Once the hot air started coming from the ducts, I felt myself returning to normal. Well, as close to normal as I could get. I was severely tired.

Will got inside the car. He was troubled, I could tell.

“What happened, my love?” I asked.

“Fred’s dead,” he said.

Somehow, I knew that this would happen. That Fred and Will would confront each other, and only one of them would make it. It was inevitable.

“I don’t know what to say. Do I say I’m sorry for your loss? Do I celebrate? It’s all so complicated,” I said.

He looked at me with relief in his eyes. “I was afraid I was the only one thinking this. I am so glad you said this. I am so conflicted right now. On the one hand, he was my brother, my only living relative. And on the other hand, he was possibly the biggest villain this town has ever seen. Do I mourn him, or do I cherish the fact that I ended his reign of terror?”

“It’s always complicated when it’s family. I am not at liberty to say that I understand what you’re going through. Do you know who can tell you how that feels? Vincent. His father was the epitome of evil. He somehow coped with it. He can tell you how that feels.”

“I don’t want to hear it from him. I’d rather hear it from my mate. What do you think I should do?”

“I think that you should mourn your brother. Whatever he was, whatever he did, at the end of the day, he was your brother, your blood. We can talk later about how vanquishing him was the right thing to do. Right now, you have to mourn him,” I said.

“It was so unbelievable, seeing his body fall on the cliffs like that,” Will said. Then he told me everything that had happened, including Fred revealing his motives for being against Will from the start and how Fred had tried to attack him but failed.

I placed my hand on his hand. “I think the right thing to do would be to recover his body and bury it.”

“Aren’t you cold? I thought we were headed straight home,” Will asked.

“No, Will. This is more important. Besides, the car’s heater has done plenty for me. I’m all right. Do you know where Fred’s body might be?”

“The last I saw of it was down by the rocks at the base of the cliff. We can make it to the rocks through Fiddler’s Cove. Do you think it’s a good idea to go and get his body?”

I could tell that Will really wanted to retrieve Fred’s body and bury it. We could hold off going back to the commune for a little while longer.

“Yes, Will. I think we should do that,” I said, kissing him on the cheek.

***

I did not let him go into the cove alone. Not after what had happened to me the last time I was here. Maurice had kidnapped me and imprisoned me for days.

Will followed me as I led him down the other end of the cove and down to the rocks. He needed me right now. I knew that he wouldn’t have been able to come here and retrieve the body by himself. It would have been too emotional for him to do so.

“Look,” I pointed at the far edge of the rocks.

Fred’s body, severely battered, was trapped between the rocks.

“Oh, god,” Will called. “My brother.”

“Don’t go feeling too sorry for him. Remember what he did. We’re only coming here to bury him as a courtesy because he’s your brother. Other than that, he’s been an entirely chaotic person. Or do you disagree?”

“It’s not about what’s right or wrong. It’s just…overwhelming to see the last of the Grimms there in the water, dead,” Will said.

“But he’s not the last of the Grimms. You are. And you won’t be for long. We’ll start a family, we’ll have kids, and they’ll carry on the Grimm line. Don’t you despair for one second, my love. This is not the end of the line for the Grimm family. I’m your family. I love you,” I said, holding him tightly and kissing him on his lips.

After I was done consoling him, Will bravely climbed down the rocks and came back with Fred’s dead body flung over his shoulder.

“I think it’s best if we buried him here by the sea,” I said.

“Why’s that?”

“Because his actions haven’t earned him the right to be buried in the commune’s graveyard,” I said.

“That’s fair,” he said. “Besides, he was always going on about how he wanted to go back to Germany. Given that this is the sea, it’s the closest to Germany he’ll ever get.”

We quietly dug Fred’s grave using jagged rocks from the cove. It was a shallow grave, but it served the purpose well. Will laid Fred’s body in there, then covered it with sand and added a headstone at the edge.

“Goodbye, brother,” Will said.

“Goodbye indeed,” I said. “Would you like to say a few words?”

“Only that I wished things had been different between him and me. If we had truly been brothers, we would have been unstoppable. I would have wished that he loved me as I loved him. There’s no redemption after death. But I hope that Vincent, his grandson, carries on a good legacy on Fred’s behalf. Hopefully, that would bring some peace to Fred’s soul.”

“Amen,” I said.

***

Now we were standing outside the commune. The journey back in the Jeep from the coves to the commune had been a quiet one. Will hadn’t talked because he had just buried his brother. I was too exhausted and had fallen asleep on the drive back.

Will parked the car in the garage and helped me get out of the car. The commune looked strange. There was no one there besides the two of us. All the lights were shut off, pitching the entire place into darkness.

“What’s with the darkness?” I asked.

“I’m as clueless as you are. Come, let’s go inside the house,” he said, taking my arm and taking me inside his home.

“Do you know what’s strange?” I asked. “It’s how someone like him, so old and weak, could manage to plant all those bombs in the city on such short notice. I mean, some of the locations where the bombs were planted were hard to get to. There was a bomb planted on the top of the antenna tower.”

“It’s like….” Will struggled to remember something. “He said something about the vampires helping him plant the bombs. But I doubt if he was telling the truth at that moment. He also said that he didn’t know where Blair was. Even when he was so near to death, he didn’t reveal his secrets.”

“Well, if it wasn’t Blair, who do you think it was?” I asked. I didn’t really need an answer. I was just trying to hold a conversation with Will. Otherwise, he’d become occupied with thoughts of his dead brother. I couldn’t let that happen to my mate. Tonight was supposed to be a night of joy and celebration. Not morosity.

“I think someone was working with him until the very last moment. It’s not clear who. What do you think we’ll do?” he asked, sitting on the lounge sofa and taking off his shoes.

I went to the kitchen and took out a bottle of whiskey from the shelf. I placed one glass in front of Will and the other in front of me and poured us shots.

“Don’t you worry about what we’ll do. We’ve handled worse odds than this. I think we can take on whatever challenge lies ahead. Besides, with all these people dead, it’s just Blair. With the pack at its strongest and with you and I by each other’s side, I don’t think that there’s going to be any trouble dealing with Blair either.”

“To Fred,” I said, raising my glass.

“To Fred,” Will replied. “He was a terrible brother, but he was my brother. And now I have none.”

While we sat there, tired, drenched, and drinking, some commotion came from outside. It looked like the rest of the pack had finally arrived back at the commune. I could see the lights from the window—a lot more lights than there usually were.

“Why don’t you go check that out? I’m going to get changed,” I said.

“I’ll check it out,” Will said.

I went into the bedroom and took some loose and warm clothes that I could throw on without having to iron them. I put on a sweatshirt and pajama pants and then went after Will.

But Will wasn’t there at the door. He was standing outside with only his silhouette showing. From the other side of the door, a lot of glimmering lights shone into the rectangular door-shaped shadow on the floor.

I went outside and stood by Will’s side, anticipating something strange.

Instead, the entire pack had gathered around our house, holding streamers, a huge cake, and wearing party paraphernalia.

“Surprise!” They all yelled at the same time, with Vince standing at the front holding a huge banner that said: Thanks For Saving the Town and Happy Engagement Part 2.

Will laughed out loudly as he read the banner.

“Did you guys have it all planned out beforehand?” Will asked as he chuckled and came forward.

“That’s how much faith we had in you to begin with. We knew that you’d somehow save us all, you and Alexis both. And also, we felt like the last surprise engagement party didn’t hit it big. We wanted a do-over. There’s plenty of cause to celebrate. We have a new mayor, we saved the town from being blown up, and tomorrow is going to be a new day for the pack. Also, we’re super amped that Alexis is alive and well!” Vince said, and as soon as he finished saying it, the rest of the crowd cheered him on.

Will looked at me with amusement. “What do you say?”

“There’s only one thing I’d like to say,” I said. “Let’s party!”

As the pack members broke into song and dance, Will came up to me. I placed my hand on his neck and pulled his face closer to mine. “The pack needs this. They’re right. There are plenty of causes to celebrate. Tonight, be their Alpha. Celebrate with them. I understand that you’re feeling conflicted with Fred dying and all, but look at the scope of our achievements. We’ve done something big. Why not celebrate it?”

After a long time deliberating, Will held my face in his hands and kissed me, saying, “And celebrate we shall!”