497: A FEELING OF RELIEF

A FEELING OF RELIEF

Ethan could see the dim in Iris's eyes when Oliver tried to bring up the topic about alpha Gerald and blamed him for their alpha's misery, which in extent the warrior tried to vent out his frustration on Iris.

Just like some of the other member, they still saw Iris as a reminder of their gruesome days and it was hard to stand her presence. 

However, Ethan could see how genuine Iris was and if there was the only thing he couldn't comprehend was; how alpha Gerald fathered someone like her. It felt like a nasty worm gave birth to a beautiful swan. The two creatures belonged to different world. 

"I don't know if you notice this or not, but you handle the pack and yourself really well, even without Cane."

Iris didn't pay attention to Ethan's voice before, but she thought, his voice was very pleasant to her ears, especially when she could hear the genuine sound in it. Probably, his voice was the second best after Cane. This was silly of her to rate other people's voice, but this was something new for her. 

"I…" Iris pulled her hair anxiously, flustered with the compliment and Ethan giggled to see her being her timid self again. 

"If someone complimented you, you should say 'thank you'." 

"Don't talk to me like I am a child." Iris pursed her lips and this made Ethan's giggle turned into a laugh. 

"Alright, I will call Amee over." He then left Iris alone inside the study room. 

Iris leaned her back and closed her eyes, her head throbbed painfully. Thanked to Grace's concoction, the tonic was really good for her body, or else, she would have collapsed long time ago with her usual strength. 

However, Iris could feel she was going to reach her limit. The tip of her fingers felt so numb and her breathing became so heavy. This was the first time, her body had gone through such hardship. 

But the thought Cane was still not available and she really wanted to make things a little bit easier for him, kept her going. 

Not long after, Amee came, she looked fine and Iris was glad to see the old woman. 

"Come here, sit next to me," Iris said when Amee greeted her. "There is something I want to ask you."

"Yes, what is it, luna?" Amee took a chair and sat next to Iris. 

"I want to know how you will hold the funeral in the Howling Wolf pack. I only know a little bit about it." She once wrote a poem for Cane's twin sibling and his baby son. 

"With our situation right now, I think we just need to bury them all in the same place." Amee was so sad, she held back her tears when she said that. "I don't think we have time for the ceremony, luna…"

Iris understood what Amee meant, since they were not in a good situation. Their pack was still in predicament. 

"The ceremony doesn't need to be sumptuous, let's keep it cordial," Iris said softly. "They deserve a proper ceremony and farewell."

With their current situation and everything that was happening, it could be understood why Amee thought the ceremony was not necessary, since they had to think about their safety first. They needed to think of those who survived. 

However, Iris had different opinion. Those fallen warriors had defended their pack bravely and even some of them were so young, but they didn't back down when death came closer, when they knew they could not survive their mission. 

It would be a sad thing for them to not have a proper ceremony they deserved for what they sacrificed for those who managed to survive because of them. 

Iris tried to explain what she thought about it carefully, but she was surprised to see Amee was sobbing into her palms instead. 

She was also surprised to hear the sound of someone else's crying for the first time, she thought that would be sounded like the sound of the waterfall, but not too loud. It was only a fleeting silly thought she had, since she didn't have time to process the fact, she finally could hear many sounds around her. 

When the first Serafim cried, she mostly screamed or the tears would stream down her face, but she was not sobbing like Amee did right now. 

"Amee, what happened? Did I say something wrong?" Iris asked, she caressed her back to ease her breathing, but all of sudden, Amee hugged her instead. She hugged her so tightly and it was so surprising for such an old woman to have this kind of strength. 

And when Iris thought, Amee was going to crush her bones, she let her go and wiped her tears, trying to compose herself. 

"Why are you crying, Amee? Did my suggestion is too much?" Iris couldn't think of anything else, her head throbbed, demanding her to take some rest. 

"No. No." Amee shook her head and took both of Iris's hands. "Thank you… Thank you for your understanding… I do think the same, they need a proper farewell."

Most of the fallen warriors were people that Amee had known since they were little, she thought of them as her own children, so of course, she wanted the best for them, it was just, she tried not to get her hope high, because their situation was rather chaotic at this moment. She didn't want to appear greedy and demanding to have such thought. 

But, she was glad, she was very relief when Iris was the one, who suggested that, that's why she couldn't hold back her tears.  2

On the other hand, Iris was also relief when she heard Amee's reason of why she cried. "Help me to prepare for it, okay?"

"Absolutely, luna." Amee nodded with a bright smile on her face. 

Iris was in an odd situation with the rest of the pack after the incident with Sofia and Kaz, therefore, she was not comfortable to give an order to them, she felt so distance with most of the pack member now. 

Therefore, she thought to have Amee to help her. It would be more comfortable for both Iris and the pack member to have this old woman as the middleman. 

After talking about how to make the last ceremony as simple as possible, but it didn't deduce the sacredness, Amee left to prepare everything and gathered the people she needed. The ceremony would happen the next day at the evening and they would need Cane for that, as he was the alpha. 

Iris was a little bit worried about that part and hoped Cane would return soon, or else, it would be a disaster if Lu took the role. 

Once Amee left, Iris was about to walk out of the study room, she staggered a little bit and stopped walking, as the room was spinning, but she took a deep breath and continued to walk. 

"Ethan?" Iris called for the gamma, but he was nowhere to be found. "Where is Ethan?" she asked one of the warriors. 

"Gamma Ethan is talking with sir Koda, he is furious. Gamma Ethan is trying to calm him down," he replied. 

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