I felt a deep and soppy tie with the scent that I had never encountered in my years of living. My mind and heart floated in a lake of serenity and solace and I was put to ease. I never wanted to wake up from this link that connected us to him even when I knew that his pain will be ours to carry and his words will be in our tongue to speak.

Tell me...how do you want me to embrace you?

Tell me how do you want me to console you?

How much pain do you carry and how much of it can you give to me?

"Caleb..."

I knew that we just started to walk out from the marsh of our own weakness but he was now one of the reasons why we would never sink back to those depths again.

We will strive to be stronger and to better ourselves from now on because he was out there battling something that we needed to be more superior to.

"Caleb, the whole pack is waiting for you outside," papa said as he gently shook me.

My eyes opened and I noticed that my younger siblings were snuggled against me while they slept peacefully. Papa was smiling down on us and I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. My raspy voice caused my siblings to shift from their sleep.

"Come out and see for yourself," papa told me with a smile before heading out.

"Droog, are we in some sort of trouble again?" Fenris asked.

"I don't know Breux, we'll see," I sighed.

The earlier events were coming back to me now even though they were still vague and lacking pieces. I didn't know what had occurred after I released that huge explosion and if I took down every single rogue with it.

I got off the bed and woke my siblings up in the process. Conall wasn't pleased from the disruption of his sleep and followed me out with a scorned face while Claude was just about in a good mood in most occasions.

"What are those wussies waiting out for? Can't they respect someone resting?" Conall grumbled.

Once I got out of our house expecting the worst of predicaments, the Goddess decided to turn the wheels into a direction that I supposed was... somewhere good?

The pack members sank to their knees in submission and bowed their heads in respect. The overwhelming waves of people kneeling taken me aback and even Fenris didn't know how to respond.

"Droog I think we should kneel down too or else we'll get in trouble!"

"You think so?" I asked.

Who were we kneeling down to exactly anyway?

They couldn't possibly be bowing down to us could they?

Maybe I was just assuming things?

I turned my head to see if they were stooping to someone else but no one was there but our empty doorway. My family and noona were standing beside my frozen form and Conall and Claude were being excited as they snorted and laughed.

"They're bowing to you Caleb," papa confirmed it.

"Pack must have sniffed too much of noona's weird herbs..." Fenris spoke.

I had to agree with Fenris on this one; were these people being serious?

Wulfurin became the spokesperson of the kneeling bodies and I listened to their side of sudden submission.

"The pack had been foolish and regrets their prejudice towards your great presence. We would accept any punishment you see fitted to each and every one of us."

I looked at papa and he nodded at me with approval. My eyes scanned the pack and I tried to appreciate the sincerity of their apology but I couldn't fully grasp the idea of forgiveness just yet.

I didn't wish any of them to suffer for what they had done to me. Never did my wolf and I think of breaking ribs for every punch we got every single day, or kicking their gut for every hurtful word they threw at us throughout these years.

We didn't rise up from the swamp of our flaws just to maintain continuity to the chain that kept us sunken down in the first place.

Hating was just all too tiring.

"I want nothing more from the pack but to have loyalty not dedicated to the immensity of strength an alpha has, but to the immensity of love and consideration a leader possesses for its members. There will always be an alpha having greater strength and if every member will base their loyalty to mere power; this pack will never be one."

The frequency of recurring power struggle, rebellion, and disloyalty will remain profound as long as the members lack faith to the leader who the Goddess placed in ruling.

"Yes, the pack has realized that," Wulfurin responded causing me to smile and rub the back of my neck.

"If you really do then...why do you kneel to me?" I asked which made each one of them raise their heads in question. "You are submitting yourselves to the wrong guy; my father still holds the title. His reign isn't done yet and I don't plan on taking it from him because I still have a lot to learn from him."

My chest swelled up with joy when I saw how much pride papa had in his eyes as he looked at me.

"If anyone deserves the pack's apology, that would be Alpha Culgan, my father, the man whose steps I want to follow," I declared with much thrill in my voice before kneeling down and bowing my head to him.

We didn't deserve that spot yet. Fenris and I still had so many things to work on ourselves and though we had the strength that could probably match his, we had our loyalty to keep us in check.

Claude, Conall, mama and noona knelt after me and I raised my head with resolve.

"I am a pack warrior under my father's every command and I will use the strength given to me not to overthrow him, but to serve him with every bit of what I have."

Our papa had taught us many great things and one notable thing I learned from him was that:

"Power doesn't always dress with extravagance. People with great power do not boast excessively and if they do, that means they are trying to hide what weakness they have."

The pack didn't question my decision nor did they try to refute. The members should know where to stand and who to stand for at this very moment. Indecisiveness and saying that they would wait for someone better deserved banishment. Those who didn't trust my father's judgment were free to leave and if anyone would try to challenge his authority, I would be the very first one to rise and strike.

The day continued on with normalcy and the members resumed the usual daily activities except for the bloody brawls.

After being forced to kneel to someone he tried to overthrow using his son, Basba hid in his house like a mouse. Ulmer left the pack the night before and no one knew where he went.

"We did it Breux..." I said in relief.

"Papa will lead safely now," Fenris chirped.

Our plan worked and I honestly didn't think Fenris and I could pull it off.

I sat under the shade of the tree while trying to carve a wolf with my knife. I heard there will be a gathering later about relocating the pack to a much safer place which was actually ridiculous. We were surrounded by mountains and the only way to access us was through the tunnel that I destroyed or if you put effort on mountain climbing.

The rogues obviously used the tunnel but now that it was destroyed, it would be a lot harder if not impossible to get to us.

"We have five more tunnels," papa announced during the gathering.

"What?!" I gasped.

"What can I say; we werewolves just love digging," Wulfurin sighed.

"So what can we do?" one of the pack members asked.

"We destroy them but we leave one intact," papa said.

"We put warriors on guard on that tunnel," noona added.

"That settles it then," papa concluded.

There were still many members injured during the fight yesterday but those who were able to recover and those uninjured were sent to the tunnels to carry out the plan. I was preparing to head out and help but papa dropped by and asked an unusual question especially during these busy times.

"Do you want to go out for a run?"

I had never run with anyone for leisure before. Obviously I had no friends in the pack; Conall was too shy to admit his care for his older brother and I didn't bother asking Claude to run with me because I didn't want him to be discarded by his own friends. It had always been Fenris and I but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't jealous of Ulmer belonging to a group that adored him.

I had always wanted for us to belong to somewhere even if it was just a small group of people. It didn't matter to me if they were werewolves or not; we will fight for them if they would fight for us.

Papa and I shifted to our wolves and papa's wolf, Canyon, had never ceased to amaze. Fenris and he had almost the same dark-colored fur but his just glisten in blue whenever the rays of the sun glaze on him.

Fenris and Canyon playfully yet harmlessly gripped each other with their teeth as they ran through the forest. Papa led us deeper into a part of the forest that we had never dared venture before and even if Fenris would sometimes trip because of his clumsiness, Canyon would walk back and nudge him gently with his nose to stand up.

Once we had arrived to our destination, Canyon leaped up and bit on a net hanging by a tree, freeing blue butterflies which fluttered out and making Fenris leap up and down from joy and excitement.

"Droog look, look droog! Look at the butterflies!" Fenris excitedly shouted as he chased them while bumping his nose to Canyon every now and then as thanks.

Canyon shifted back to his man form and papa sat down and watched Fenris. Once the butterflies were too far to reach for my wolf, papa called out to Fenris and knelt on one knee. He cupped Fenris' face and my wolf licked his face relentlessly causing him to chuckle and embrace us in his strong arms.

"Words cannot express how grateful I am for the Goddess for having you as my son..." Papa whispered.

Papa...

"Fenris loves papa!" my wolf responded.

"I love you too hijo...You've already surpassed me, you know that? You are already a greater alpha than I'll ever be," he murmured before withdrawing and patting us on our head. "When the time comes and you lead your own pack, do not be so forlorn when you make mistakes. Mistakes make us stronger; they give us wisdom and they help us raise our children into someone better than us. You're young and you will experience so much more. I pray to the Goddess that she gives you people who will be your crutches during your days of weakness because those days are a lot more frequent than those when you are at your strongest."

Papa rose up to his feet and looked up to the bright sky with a calm smile. "Be prepared for the storms ahead and once the sky clears don't forget to enjoy days like this one."

All his words...I will imprint them to my heart.

A dark musty beam shot up to the sky and rot spread out and covered daylight with despair.

"That's where the village is!" papa snarled.

I conquered the physical state and scampered beside papa back to the pack village.

"What is that papa?!" I questioned as I looked at the swirling smog which caused that pungent scent of rot that made me gag from disgust.

"This excessive rot...there's no doubt about it. This one is a catastrophe. But how did it get here?"

Screams erupted from the village as bodies lied down lifelessly on the ground. This spirit-like thing left one vessel for another once a sane and capable werewolf was able to destroy the vessel it possessed. Papa barked orders at the panicking bodies and guided people out and I forced myself inside the village to search for my mama and brothers.



My eyes widened in terror and my heart dropped to my stomach when I saw Conall running away from Claude who lost his healthy color and the vibrancy he always had. Mama was already gone and her pale hand was on the bump where my unborn sibling was.

There was black sand whirling around my brother's body and his eyes were completely devoid of life. I hurried forward to meet Conall halfway and a crazed pack warrior screaming revenge came out from one of the houses and aimed for Claude.

"No! Don't hurt him!" I growled.

The pack warrior grabbed Claude's neck and wrenched his throat out. I caught Conall but I was stilled after from the immense shock.

"Wh...what?"

Claude's form fell forward and a sudden burst of pain strike me so heavily that I could only release shaky breaths of disbelief.

"Caleb...Claude is..."

"He's not Fenris! He's not dead!" I cut my wolf off.

"Th-then we have to help him! We have to get him to noona!" Fenris spoke out and clutched onto the hope that I falsely made him hold on to.

The soul that possessed Claude aimed at the pack warrior that targeted him and I ran and picked up Claude's body still bearing hope that he can still be saved.

"Let's go Conall!" I shouted but was then tackled backwards.

Conall scrambled back when a spirit slithered down his throat. My brother's skin slowly paled and he clutched his neck while gritting his teeth. Dark veins branched out from his skin and he attempted to fight whatever was consuming him.

"Conall!" I screamed. I picked up Claude with one arm and picked up Conall with the other before scurrying outside.

"Le-leave us...You have to-"

"No! I won't leave you here! I won't abandon you!" I yelled at Conall.

There was still hope. They can still be saved. I won't let them die!

"Caleb!" noona called out.

I ran towards her and placed Conall and Claude on the ground. "Please help them noona! You can't let them die!" I begged.

Noona slowly knelt to the ground as she stared at the writhing Conall and the lifeless Claude with sad and downhearted eyes.

When I saw no attempt from noona, anger rose in me and before I can yell at her, my heart felt like it was split into two. Fenris became restless inside me and the intensity of the pain made me stoop. A tail sprouted out from me and my hands mutated into claws.

Noona was right there beside me as I heaved and clutched my chest.

"Mate...Mate!" we growled agitatedly.

Why?

Why did you kill yourself?

Why didn't you wait?

"Your mate is gone?" noona asked in surprise. She looked at me and then at Conall before finally making a decision.

"I can only save one of you..." she murmured before cupping Conall's cheek. "Forgive me."

Noona placed her hand on Conall's chest and extracted a blue orb which completely stole Conall's consciousness. She slowly transmitted the orb to my chest and the extreme and deadly pain that was chipping us away dissipated.

A rustle in the bushes made noona look away from me and papa's voice poured in.

"You have to go Caleb...

My hand didn't leave my chest as I stood up and turned to face papa who was covered in blood. He had an expression of forfeiture.

"Papa...I'll stay. I want to stay," I pleaded.

Papa swayed his head and snatched me to his arms. He held me tightly for a brief moment before pushing me away.

"There is no reason for you to stay anymore..." Papa murmured before coughing out a viscous and black substance.

I didn't want to run.

I wanted to stay where death was.

My mate was already dead wasn't he?

My whole family was gone.

Papa was right; there was no reason to stay anymore. There was no point on waiting for another day to come.

Yet I promised that I would always obey the Alpha of our now deceased pack.

And running away was his final order and his final wish.

"Go...now! Don't ever look back. That is my final order and don't you dare betray me now!" he snapped at me.

My feet weakly trudged back and began a tag of war with my aching heart.

I did run away and I ran away with nothing else in stored for me in this damned world.

The forest decayed and noona stayed behind for the same reason. There was no moon for a wolf to dedicate his howl to but papa's yowl was not to give praise to the Goddess but to give tribute for our pack's woeful end.

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A/N: Shockingly, Fenris really got the name Lucichan right. The coincidences with Lucichan with Lucian tricked you didn't they?