Akari hadn't woken up fully in 24 hours.

Sage had spent the day keeping a cool towel on his head and changing his wound dressing as needed. He was running a high fever that kept him trembling even when sweat was beading off of his face.

The wound on his abdomen was just short of gaping. The dressings Sage would apply were soaked through with blood within the hour. She was beginning to feel hopeless.

As soon as they were able to make it through their front door last night, Akari immediately collapsed in his room and he hadn't gotten up since. He was barely coherent. She called her local pack doctor, Dr. Cristo, and she walked Sage through the steps of cleaning and wrapping the abdominal wound.

Akari hadn't had health insurance since last year. Sage's last tongue-lashing of the Elder Council.

It was on her to-do list to have them both apply for government health insurance, but it always escaped her.

And today, as she drank her morning cup of tea in the same disheveled clothes she'd shifted in from the attack yesterday, she watched her brother's chest rise and fall as she held her own breath. Watching him laying there with pain etched on his face felt eerily like looking down on her father when he was too sick to move during his wolf split. Oh how Akari and Cain favored one another.

Sage held the cup with such force she could feel the mug crack slightly. 

She had no words.

She had to tell someone though.

A rogue gracing their lands was no good.

We have no resources, we barely have land. Hell, we barely have people.

Sage ran over anything that would make the pack a target for someone else.

Akari makes a slight movement which breaks her train of thought and her attention snaps to him. His face screwed up, his thick brows furrowed just the slightest. Sage lightly dabs his forehead with the now lukewarm damp towel. He shudders in response.

"Come back to me, buddy. Don't leave me here." Sage whispers to her brother. She hoped the sound of her voice would stir him to open his eyes, but nothing.

Her small plea now felt bigger.

Glancing at the microwave's clock, it blinked 9 PM back at her and she needed to get her own self ready for work in the morning. With a sigh, she picked up the empty chicken soup bowl and the towel she was tending to her brother with and took it into the kitchen. For some reason, Sage threw the bowl into the sink hoping the loud banging would wake Akari up.

As she began washing the dishes, Sage didn't even flinch at the scalding hot water that immediately starting steaming as it gushed from the tap. 

"Dad's gonna be so proud of you."

Akari's last words to her  reverberated in her head.

If only her father could see the two of his kids now. Cain was dedicated to protecting the pack no matter what. From knowing everyone's birthdays to making sure that the rogues that passed through their territory were known by name. His teachings were the reason Sage knew how to find her way home using the north star if it was visible. 

They were the reason that Akari could name every poisonous piece of foliage that grew in their forests. Cain knew that in order to ensure the survival of his children, they'd have to know how to start from scratch.

Would he be proud to know his children were living in the rubble of his own mistakes?

Sage knew it would kill him ten times over.

But, the house was still.

Her father had already been killed because of his righteous, forgiving heart. 

And with every silent second, Sage could feel herself getting angrier. From the way she shoved her arm into her long khaki trench coat, to her tugging her socks on with more force than usual.

Rogues had already taken so much from her.

And she'd be damned if they took her brother too.

***

The next day, after Sage had gotten herself ready for the day she went downstairs to check on Akari's state. She was pleasantly surprised with his coloring being more like himself and not as pale as he was when she left him. When she felt his head with the back of her hand, he was still warm and a bit clammy, but finally he wasn't scorching hot.

The exhale Sage let out felt like she'd been holding her breath all night. She thanked the Goddess that she wouldn't lose him. Not today at least.

Then she moved down and checked the dressing on his wound and it was soaked in blood again. A deep rusted color. Sage went and washed her hands in the kitchen sink before returning and changing the gauze dressing. The soiled bandage stuck to his skin, making a sickening sticky sound as she disrupted the crusted layer. 

 Akari's hand suddenly grabbed Sage's wrist making her yelp in surprise.

"Kari. Are you awake?" Sage spoke to him directly, his eyes were still closed, but his face had wrinkled way more than before. 

"Hold on one second for me, guy. We can get you some pain meds for sure." Sage continued to speak. She hurriedly made sure the dressing was secure before bouncing up to go get the pain medicine. Once she came back to Akari's side, she took care in sitting him up so he wouldn't choke on the pill or water.

His whole body protested against her as she moved him, his nails digging into her arm as she sat him back against the arm rest of the couch he was laying on. His teeth clenched tight together. Both of them grunted when she finally was done fixing his position.

Then she was able to get him to take a drink of water for himself and swallow the pills as well.

"I am so happy you're awake." Sage continued to talk to her brother softly. Once Akari was finished drinking the water, she sat his empty glass on a nearby table. She pet her brother's hair, he sighed as he rested against the couch.

"I'm sorry, Sage."

Were her brother's first words in 24 hours.

Sage, who was still standing over him like a concerned mother, closed her eyes for a second before opening them. "You don't have to be sorry, Akari."

His words washed over her and brought her heart some relief. Being left alone with her thoughts was not the healthiest in her state. 

Her brother, with his own eyes closed still, shook his head in the slightest of ways. "I was too far away from home. I did get lost." He revealed, almost a child who was talking in their sleep. Sage nodded her head, tears forming in her eyes as the sight of finding him laying in the forest plagued her mind again. A sharp pain piercing her chest as she remembered the feeling of thinking he was dead.

Akari had brought something to their doorstep she had no idea how to explain. "You were attacked by a rogue wolf, Akari. I'll have to tell that The Council today, hopefully they'll have a plan to protect us." 

There was a look of disbelief that crossed her brother's face as he tried to sit up even straighter. He groaned in protest immediately and grabbed his side. Sage watched helplessly as he adjusted to his injury. "Tha-that's impossible. We haven't had a rogue cross through in five years." Akari protested.

Sage gave him a broken smile. There was a warrior in him still.

"I know how it sounds, but I fought him off myself. There is no doubt in my mind. One rogue is a sign of five more. They're circling us like vultures." She laughed with an emptiness. There was nothing funny about her comparison because it was true.

Rogues in bulk were like hyenas lying in wait of an injured elephant. They would wait until the right moment to strike before overtaking and making a feast for themselves.

Akari quickly tired and gave up trying to sit up on his own, leaning back against the couch as if it hurt to inhale is next breath. He looked up to the ceiling as if there were answers written there.

"I am sorry, Sage." Her brother apologized again, this time the weight behind it felt like he was apologizing for much more than being attacked. Beyond the fog of the regression, Akari knew it was his true duty to protect the pack. Sage averted her gaze as she saw tears beginning to form in her brother's eyes.

Bending down, she chastely kissed her brother's forehead and patted his shoulder.

She had no comforting words to say.

***

After she got ready for work, Sage was sure to leave lunch out for her brother just in case he was well enough to eat sometime in the day. She wanted to stay home with him, but that just wasn't an option.

The most important thing for her was to go in to report the attack and pray to Goddess that they believed her.

When Sage finally did arrive to work, she came in to a flurry of women surrounding her desk. Blowing a stray tight curl out of her face, Sage straightened her back and walked towards them even though every bone in her body was protesting.

Even her wolf was digging her nails in, in the inner psyche of her mind.

"Good morning, ladies. How can I help you?" Sage greeted the women while setting her stuff down underneath her desk. When she finally was settled in and could make eye contact with the women, they stared blank faced at her like they had forgotten they were surrounding her area in the first place.

These three women, in occurring order, were Farrah, Giselle, and Amber. Wives of The Council. Farrah and Amber were Jameson Tallow's wives while Giselle was mated to Viktor.

"You were late coming in." Giselle, the middle of the group, piped up first. Sage felt her left eye twitch.

Giselle, just like her mate, wished with all her heart that she could be recognized as Luna of the pack. However, after Anala, that was a tough act to follow. 

Beyond what she'd done to the pack. Sage's mother was a seer. She was able to visit the land between the spirit and mortal worlds to converse with past Alphas. It wasn't uncommon for wolves to have some sort of supernatural ability, most had unsurmountable strength or speed that would make a Cheetah second guess itself. However, gifts that went beyond those were rare.

Anala was an asset for Black Maw, Giselle was simply another she-wolf.

"My brother was attacked by a rogue last night. I had to tend to him first." Sage responded with no remorse as she loudly set her purse down on her desk. The three women all gasped in unison, their eyes bulging in surprise. Although the situation was serious, striking fear into them did put a sick smile on Sage's face. 

"A rogue?! You're lying. Rogues want nothing to do with us." Amber, the shortest one of the group chimed in next.

Amber was a mousy woman, with ginger hair and darkly tanned skin. The spiked tone of her voice could not distract from the fear in her eyes as she mulled over the news.

Sage narrowed her eyes at Amber and tilted her head, "And where do you think I get off on lying about a rogue almost killing my brother. One was here yesterday."

Giselle sputtered out her disapproval, "Then why haven't I-- why haven't we, heard about it then?"

Viktor Cross was indeed "head" Elder when it came to who was in charge of their sorry excuse of a pack, but Giselle was nowhere near a Luna. As much as she wanted to be. She was not Viktor's mate and she had done herself and she-wolf kind a disservice by forging a mate-bond with him.

"Like I said, I have yet to report it because I was home taking care of my brother. What are you all crowding my desk for this early anyway?" Sage snapped at them this time. She was not in the mood to be under their spotlight.

Giselle's confused expression morphed into one of sick satisfaction of her own.

"The Council wants to throw a ball! Our first one in years!" Amber excitedly broke the news like a child squealing in delight. "And, we need you to get ready help plan." Farrah said next.

Sage couldn't help the downward slump her face took as they told her the "news". Giselle's smug expression stayed put.

"Meticulously plan at that. But you need the hours right?"

Once again, the visceral urge to rip Giselle's throat out with her teeth came to Sage.

"Please, Giselle. You need to get a job at this rate just like me." Sage snapped back at her. 

The tensions between the women was thick and it was all because they knew the life they were living was not supposed to be this way. Sage's whole aura reigned over them and no matter how much The Council and all the other upside down stakes to power pressed to be recognized, the Moon did not lie. Sage was not made to bend to them.

Giselle's feathers were visibly ruffled, she pushed her long hair back behind her ears and placed her peach manicured nails on the desk Sage was behind. Amber and Farrah looked between the two like scared children.

"My mate was just telling me that with most of everyone working comfortably from home, we may have to close this center down... to cut costs." Giselle had chocolate brown hair that was freshly blown out and fanned down her back, she loved to talk with her hair by subtly shaking her head every time she spoke.

Sage closed her eyes and took a deep breath before responding to the thinly veiled threat to her job. She scoffed at the audacity of her mentioning it. Grabbing a handful of papers, Sage slammed them on the desk just barely missing Giselle's fingers.

"Well, maybe your mate can donate some of his life insurance policy, I'm sure that's what your banking on too, right?" Sage hissed right back.

The use of high school scare tactics were below Sage. She had no interest in being liked by The Council's wives for they were miserable themselves, young women shackled to older men for the sake of stability and Black Maw barely had that. The rural town their boundaries were confined to had very little business inside the borders.

Most wolves in Black Maw were lower middle class anyway. Giselle's manicure was 3 weeks grown out. 

The community center Sage worked at closing would just be another resource lost and although they made it seem like just Sage would be out of luck, oh they would be too. 

Instead of warning the pack that terrorized her every chance they got, Sage was liable to let the rogue, and whoever else came with him, destroy the land and the people in it once and for all.

Good riddance.