Image of her mate in wolf form above by khevyel.

The song on the side is titled Rain and Native Amercian Flutes- Relaxing Music.

Image of her mate in human form above.
Photo of Shawn Mendes.

He took a step closer, knocking me out of my daze. I quickly stepped back, glaring at his strongly built face. I could feel Brook's despair as her emotions clashed together, merging with mine.

" My mate is from the pack that destroyed Silver Moon!? Maybe he was against it though..." Her thoughts raged, "He could have helped me escape and then rescue my pack but he chose to stop me instead... his biceps are so hot-" I cut off her thoughts to my mind, embarrassment rolling over me. I turned back to the very serious situation, trying to shake my wolf's childish contemplation from my brain.

I saw him smirking and realized I must have been blushing really bad. I brushed my hair out of my face, acutely aware how disheveled I must look.

Self loathing suddenly coursed through me. How could I be so focused on what he thought about me, when his pack slaughtered mine and mutilated my father's corpse? The mate pull we both felt was no excuse in my eyes.

I grew distant as my vision was blurred with a memory of the clearing, my family strewn about, Mom wailing for her other half which had fled this life.

I snapped out of it and realized he had moved so he was less than a hand length away, despite my height, he towered over me, his neck and back arched so his eyes were just above mine.

I cringed when he grabbed my shoulders, pinprick tingles erupting where his little finger touched the bare skin of my arm, preventing the escape plan I was about to act on.

"What's your name, Beautiful?" his voice sighed as he breathed in my scent which probably wasn't the best since I hadn't bathed in two days and was covered in dirt and elk's blood.

Brook shivered with excitement at hearing his voice and I rushed to suppress the emotions that were already overwhelming her and flooding into me.

I tried to jerk away but he just held me closer so I couldn't thrash as much, his left arm sweeping around my shoulder and down my back. My knees bent as I slowly pushed off him, but I'm pretty sure that in my weakened state, the strength of a butterfly would be an improvement.

I was infuriated; at him, at his pack, and most of all, at myself for not having the strength to fight for Ivy and Jade, Storm, Geyser and Talon, my parents... my parents.

I met his eyes once again, but that time, I must have looked as enraged as I felt because he slowly released my shoulders and stepped back, eying me carefully, trying to detect my next move.

He wants to talk, let's talk.

"Why did you do it?" my voice sounded hollow as I stared, unafraid of him hurting me; I knew I wouldn't feel it past the cold anger that iced my veins.

He quietly watched me, unsure of what to do. He knew what I wanted to know, here in this silent, rock covered clearing that was once my home. I could barely even look at my territory now without feeling repulsed at what happened here.

I firmly held his gaze, which flickered back and forth between my eyes and the ground. His eyes glimmered with a calculating intelligence, like a hawk as it eyes its prey, but he had the demeanor of a guilty child as he let out his breath and spoke, "My younger brother has never found his mate. He will be Blood Moon's next alpha as Alpha Baxter, my father, wishes," there was a hint of disgust in his tone that was so slight, I began to wonder if I imagined it. His eyes darted back to mine, trying to gage my reaction before he continued, fury underlining his words, "My father has said that Nick is better fit to be an alpha than me, and that once he finds his mate, they can rule over our pack. What you've seen of our members is just a small search party to find his mate.

"Three days ago when we came to visit the Blue Moon Pack, who we thought was the only pack in Alaska, we stumbled upon one of your borders. We marked it on our maps and asked the Blue Moon Alpha if he knew of you, but he didn't."

I stiffened, why didn't any of our patrols find their scent? Surely we've had at least one wolf check all the borders within the last three days... "What border did you cross?" I asked so quietly I almost repeated myself but he answered before I could.

"One to the west of your camp."

I thought back to who patrolled the west border. I did the north border, I remember seeing Summer leaving to mark a border... No, she did the east. Oh, no. My stomach twisted and Brook growled inside.

"They couldn't have," my voice trailed off as realization hit me.

Brown Eyes took a small, sly step closer, "Who couldn't have done what?"

I ignored his question and turned to pace towards a tree. I leaned my head against it as my shoulders slumped, my heart falling in my chest. Why wouldn't they tell the pack that they found unknown wolf scent? I racked my brain for excuses but none came to mind.

"Who couldn't, have done what?!" he demanded behind me.

I snarled, not wanting him to think I was giving in, but not in the mood to argue over something so insignificant. "My alpha and beta", I was too enraged at them for not informing my pack at what they had found I couldn't even bring myself to say who they were. If we had known, and prepared, my father wouldn't be dead. "didn't inform my pack of your presence at the border as is their duty when they volunteer to patrol."

Something seemed to click in his eyes and I knew he had reached the same conclusion as I.

"I'm sorry for what happened to your pack." He truly sounded mournful, this only poured fuel on my fire though.

"You're sorry?" I whispered before it turned into a shriek. "YOU'RE SORRY?!?!" I whipped around from the tree I'd been facing and bored my eyes into him, "Tell that to all those who died today! To the pups that lost mothers and fathers, the parents who lost their kids. Did you even give them a chance to surrender?" I felt a cold shiver go down my spine as his deep, honey brown eyes darkened and anger etched his features.

"Do you think I wanted this to happen?!?!" He yelled back at me as we glared at each other. "We told your pack to shift to human form so that we would be of equal danger to each other, but many of them refused! Nick and the others... it doesn't take much to make them fight. Disobeying an order... it set them over the edge," he trailed off into a moody silence.

My heart broke, I physically felt something inside tear in two. I stepped back. My vision darkened a little as I was destroyed, piece by piece from the emotions that raged through me. I started hyperventilating and pulled on my hair, trying to reel my mind back to me but it was like holding sand on a windy day.

Suddenly, I felt a jolt go up my arm, warmth followed where it went. My mind snapped back and adrenaline pulsed through me as I saw his hand on me, trying to calm me down.

I raked my nails down his arm, claws out. He yelled and leapt back, gripping it firmly. I could feel the pain he felt course down my own arm but I didn't care.

He turned back towards me, anger and hurt flashing in his eyes but before he could say anything I screamed, "THEY COULDN'T SHIFT!!! You slaughtered them like hogs because they couldn't do what you ordered them to do!" I wailed, pain far greater than anything I thought possible broke me down. I felt a sob rack my body as I met his eyes, filled with confusion.

"What do you mean they couldn't shift?" He asked, his voice cold, devoid of emotion, which in itself dripped with fear at what he didn't want to accept.

I fell against a tree and slid my back down it to the ground. "They couldn't shift. They were plain wolves, they physically couldn't shift..." my voice trailed off into cries for the ones who I had lost. In our small pack, I had come to know and love everyone, even Shadow, the grumpiest old dog in the forest. They were more than friends, they were family, all of them; they were like my cousins, siblings, aunts, uncles... wolves and werewolves alike. Many of them now gone. I thought of Jay, the wolf pup I'd grown up with. We would tell each other stories through pictures over the mind link, he was always so happy and kind... Being unable to shift, I knew that he would be with our ancestors now.

Warm tears slid down my cheeks, my head rested between my legs which I hugged to me. I heard a thud and shifted my eyes to veer around my knees to see the man, if you could even call him that, he looked to be about 18 springs old, which would be 2 older than me. He stood facing a tree which now had splintered wood. I cast my eyes down and saw his right hand was mangled as blood oozed from it.

He whipped back around and came towards me. My adrenaline was gone, exhaustion once again filled me and I was to tired to respond as he sat next to me. Wrapping an arm around me, he pulled me to him. His scent wafted over me and I cried more when I recognized it, rain and smoke; what I had just smelled at the border before he tackled me.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry..." He murmured in my ear.

My eyes started to relax from their squeezed position as I drifted back to unconsciousness.

I need to get a jacket, it smells like it's going to rain, I thought in a moment of peace and innocence, a moment when I didn't remember what had occurred today or who was next to me, the moment just before I was enveloped by darkness, my old friend.

__

     I blinked my eyes open when something jostled me awake. I reluctantly lifted my head from the warm gap I had it nestled in and was met with a brown gaze.

Confused, I studied his face, wondering who this handsome guy carrying me was, when all the memories of before I fell asleep came crashing down on me.

     The conflicting emotions returned, but more subdued this time. I swiftly leapt from his arms and tumbled to the ground. He tried to grab me to slow my fall but I twirled away, midair. Landing with a thud, I hurriedly jumped back up, renewed from my sleep but still lacking energy. I backed away, "I can walk myself, thank you." I huffed, wiping at the dead grass on my shirt despite my knowledge from previous experiences that it would stick to the cotton like burrs.

     He looked at me doubtingly before redirecting his eyes elsewhere, a calculating expression shadowed his face. "I guess you'll be okay, we're almost there."

     "Of course I'll be okay!" I staggered in the general direction he had looked before remembering I still don't know my territory well enough to get back. Grudgingly, I turned to him and waited for him to lead me back.

     He smiled that stupid, cocky grin he had the first time I saw him. To my irritation, Brook giggled at his smirk and I quietly cursed the mind link for making me feel her emotions towards him.

Him. I thought.

     He glanced back, and as if reading my question said, "My name is Damian, by the way."

"Crystal." I replied nonchalantly.

His eyes flickered and I think I saw him mouth my name just before he turned his head.

We continued on in silence, the surrounding animals however, did not get the memo until we neared camp. Now that we were closer, I knew exactly where we were but decided to let him continue to lead me. We had stopped several times already so I was grateful to know that another break was near, but apprehensive of what lay on the other side of the thorn barrier that was now in view.

I paused just before passing through the opening, Damian looked behind him and waited for me to continue before we ducked inside. Even though the sharp needles were high enough so I didn't have to worry about getting scratched, I bent low anyways.

With a final breath, I emerged from the short tunnel and found that the clearing was no longer laden with the dead; however, dark splotches still littered the ground where they once lay.

My breath caught and I felt a sharp pang in my side when I saw my pack who were still being guarded by the Blood Moon warriors, only now they were split into groups. This isn't what took my breath away, though. I had hoped I would be wrong, but as my eyes shifted from group to group, I didn't see them. Not a single wolf remained alive.

I bottled up my emotions before they could get the better of me and busied myself by surveying the groups when my stomach dropped. In a group consisting mostly of teenagers and young children, was Jade. She looked even more terrified than when I left her.

     She happened to glance up and caught my eye. Leaping to her feet, she caught the guard's attention who was stationed at her group. He yelled at her and I shivered when I saw her look to me for orders. I slowly blinked and nodded for her to sit back down.

     Damian was too busy observing our surroundings to notice our silent conversation. He tightly gripped my arm and we briskly advanced in the direction of the groups.

     When we neared, walking parallel to the line they made, Jade and a couple others who had noticed me, stood up.

     "It's going to be okay," I lied to Jade, trying to seem like I believed the words that sounded so empty.

     Her eyes flashed with pain, "Crystal, I'm so sorry for your loss."

     I ducked my head down at the thought of my father, I nodded to her and the others that repeated her words. Damian gave me a long, sad look, realizing I lost someone nearer than most to me.

     To my surprise, we continued on past this group, which I'd fit best in, and towards the others.

     The groups were in order by importance, and each group we passed, I was met with my pack mates standing and sharing their solemn condolences. At first the guards yelled at them, but even they didn't push it upon understanding what was occurring.

     When we passed the last group, I saw Beta Scourch, who met me like all the others.

     He took a step closer to me and I halted, Damian stopped and listened curiously. "Beta Scourch," I asked respectfully yet sternly. "Why aren't you guarding our Luna?" Irritation was rising in me that he would leave her alone wherever these rats dragged her off to. I understand the situation, but as head beta, it is his responsibility to keep her safe or die trying.

     He bit his lip and looked at me, "Crystal... I am"

     At first I was confused. Then horror replaced it, and my already broken heart, turned to dust. My mouth opened and fat tears rained down to my feet.

He dipped his head, "I'm so sorry for your losses."

*Cries* the only thing that could possibly fix this, is by pressing the star at the bottom of your screen and muddling in the misery with Crystal and me by commenting.

May the fourth be with you.