INICIAR SESIÓNThe pack was abuzz with excitement.Still in their hearts is the feeling of mourning; the loss of 23 pack members still fresh in their memory. The funeral pyres burned and the weeks gone by, it was time to begin to move on. And everyone was in agreement, the best way to do that was to start a new beginning.Celeste brushed through her hair, putting in several sparkly clips she knew would fall out when she shifted later. Xavier leaned against the door frame of the bathroom, watching her with adoration filling his eyes. "Are you ready?"She turned to face him in the mirror. "Almost."He hummed, stepping into the bathroom and taking the brush from her and running it gently through the back of her hair, as had become their little tradition.Zay had thrown herself into her work these past few weeks and was ready to do surgery on her shoulder in two weeks time, without Shia's help. She was still holding her frustration against her mate yet still slept in her arms at night, uncertain of their
"Shia?" Xavier speaks over Lycer's shoulder. "Zay is-""Follow me."The Paramount Pack members follow Shia back to the pack in a somber silence, Jared beside Shia as the two mourn together. Jared wonders how he'll tell their parents. Wonders how he'll ever live without his sisters laugh. Her smile. Her annoying 'I know more than you' attitude. How will he tell Delian that she's lost her aunt when her mother is so quickly fading?Xavier carries Celeste who could barely walk, holding her tightly as he can without hurting her. He can't imagine the pain Shia is in. To feel a bond snap like that, to lose a mate like that. Even the three weeks he spent without Celeste cannot compare to this. How many did he lose today? Zay was as much a sister to him as she was to Jared and she surely wasn't the only one gone. He felt so many links break today that he'd lost track. How many bodies would they have to send off? And why this one, of any of them? Yes, why any of them at all but his sister - his
A scream tore through the lips of the magi, watching as a rogue clamped it's yellow canines down into the jugular of her beloved. Her mind not catching up with her actions, she was barely aware of her hand raising and a beam of energy shooting out from her palm, striking the rogue in the face. It flopped back and she knew it was dead.Barrier abandoned and retreating, she ran to her beloved, skitting to her knees in the red snow that surrounded the healer. "Zay - Zay," she sniffled, tears brimming to her eyes as she pressed her hands over the gaping wound on the young woman's neck. Zay made a discomforting choking sound, blood spilling out of her mouth. Her eyes were wider than Shia had ever seen them. "I can - I can fix this."Memories flash behind her eyelids with every blink. A young man is on the ground, a man whom she loves. He stares up at her, terrified of what's tocome. His head was split open and blood oozed out, warm beneath him on that hot summer day. Years and years ago a
The rogue took them a mile out into the cold and icy forest. Their breaths met the air in puffs of smoke. Xavier's jaw was set in a firm discomfort, his thoughts swirling full of her. Jacob and Jared walked close behind, letting out a growl anytime they felt the rogue got too close for comfort. The rogue was to lead them there, that was all. Josh tried to keep a clear mind, despite his stomach turning. Worries for two of his closest friends at the forefront of his mind; equally consumed by worries of the outcome of this all. They didn't know how many rogues Malum would have with him or hidden just out of sight. Most of them lacked scents and even the ones who did would be hard to perfectly trace through the snow. Lycer was watched carefully by the rogue and he knew what it meant. He knew what all of this meant. He had to sacrifice himself for Celestial. Even if it didn't go to the plan they wanted, he would get her back to her mate. He would fulfill his promise to her.A man stood, le
They met just outside the packhouse and went in together. There was still several rogues wandering the property but no pack members except for warriors wandered around. Xavier could feel the losses deep within him. Links broken from the deceased. He counted twenty links no longer there, the thought weighing heavily. Shia, Zay, and several other healers also wandered the ground, attending to those they could. When they came into the packhouse, a near thirty injured were gathered in the living room and kitchen, their injuries being seen to by healers stationed there. Xavier didn't have the time or heart to give them any words of advice. He had to find Celeste."Malum wouldn't have taken her far, she is not his goal." Lycer's words weighed heavily in Xavier's office. Josh slipped in quietly."What do we know?" He immediately went to the drawing drawer, pulling out a map of the pack and the surrounding lands and laying it across Xavier's desk."She was taken from Lesa's house off the town
Third Person POVThe pack was in chaos. Everywhere, bodies began to pile. The Alpha had little time to stop to help. Instead, he had his warriors disperse from around him and the pack grounds, taking the rogues down as best they could. Several tried to stop him but he'd never been more determined. He wouldn't lose her again. He couldn't.Lycer was close on his tail. Several of the rogues aimed for him on their path. He took them down with a newfound energy he didn't know he had in him. He sank his teeth into a burly rogue with blistered skin, throwing it over his shoulder. The snow falling around them was coming in faster now, blanketing the Earth beneath them in a fresh layer. When he was a child, Lycer was told that snowfall cleaned the world. Made it new. He couldn't decide if that was true. Rather, he felt thrown into the past. That day when he was taken was right at the front of his mind. Yelling for Celestial to run as he tried to fight off several of the experiments.They stoppe
Xavier's POVCeleste's body seemed to turn against us both not long into the second day. One minute she would be so hot that she almost didn't want to touch me and the next she would be shivering, no amount of blankets or heating pads seeming to help her; all of it accompanied with aches and nausea
Celeste's POVI try to control my breathing as I lay in bed. Xavier. . A whimper escapes me as I rub my thighs together, trying to get a sense of relief from the aching feeling in my stomach as well as my lower region. Nothing helps as I only feel hotter and hotter. I want to. . I . . I don't know.
Xavier's POVCeleste's scent overwhelms me as I enter the pack house. I had thought there was something different to her scent earlier today, yesterday? I had lost track of time but I was sure it was well past midnight at this point. Part of me wishes I had stayed with her but the other part knows
Xavier's POVThe remaining wolves lower their heads in respect as I carry Basil in my arms. "Let's go," I tell them all. Jacob remains in wolf form by my side as the others follow behind me. Basil's limp form is heavy in my arms and, while I dread the journey ahead, I shift them every mile or so. W







