Alpha, Beta, Gamma? [bxb]

Winter.

[Luke]

A lot could happen in a month, recent events had only proven that saying. Looking back I didn't understand many things the gods had forced upon us but in that moment as I sat nestled into my mate's warm embrace as the cold harsh Scottish winter raged its war outside, I didn't spare such things a second thought.

-

"Alpha! Alpha! Come quick!" One of the warrior wolves had woken us up that day- one week after the Kilyan's Alpha initiation. The old Alpha's condition had worsened as the days went by and as he got worse, Kilyan's mood seemed to plummet. And all I could do was stand by and watch as my mate mourned the upcoming loss of his father. As soon as the wolf burst through our door- chest heaving and eyes bloodshot- I knew it was over.

"No." Kilyan's voice was raspy and hushed, blocked with unshed tears. I couldn't do anything other than follow him when he stormed out of the room and soon he lay crying by his father's side. He wasn't dead yet, but soon he would be gone. Gone with the countless wolves that had gone before him to roam the endless plains of the dreamlands. I could see the Luna crying to Alpha Andrew's left, watching over her son who was clutching his father's right hand. A painful tug at my heart made me wince and clutch my chest, but I knew that I could never understand their pain. My father was god knew where and he might be dead but I would never know- and looking at the distraught, broken family in front of me, a part of me never wanted him to return- dead or alive.

"Luke..." Kilyan's tear-stained face turned to me and I rushed to his side, wrapping my arms around him in a- what I hoped was a reassuring embrace and I felt a lump in my throat as I commenced to whisper sweet nothings into his ear. I didn't know how he would react; I had half expected him to be angry and trash the whole room but then again he could still do that. So I was watchful as I held him, carefully calculating every move he made, in case I had to restrain him from hurting someone else or even himself.

When I looked up the next time, Alpha Andrew's chest had stopped moving and the Luna and Kilyan let out the most heart-breaking howl. Soon enough I joined in followed by the rest of the pack, as our old Alpha passed to the Wide Plains of Tír na nÓg and left us to Earth and to the unforgiving will of the gods.

-

That same day we'd held the funeral. Gathered just outside our settlement the Alpha's body was settled on a large pile of wood and an Elder had arrived to perform the rites.

"Cerridwen and Bean-Nighe we call on you as the mighty Alpha of the Murdag Pack passes, unknown and unseen into your endless fields of Tír na nÓg." He reached into his satchel and pulled out a bundle of herbs that he threw onto the pyre. 

"We offer you, Andrew Greene, the last honours." He stepped aside and Luna Norah stepped forward. With one last lingering kiss, she placed a small item on the old Alpha's chest and stepped back. Kilyan was the next to stop at his father's body and since he wouldn't let go of my hand, I stood there with him, feeling terribly out of place but just where I was supposed to be at the same time. My eyes lingered on the tubs and pots of food and offerings that would accompany the Alpha in his next life and as Kilyan laid his personal offering on his father's chest, I felt a shiver run down my back like a cold, wet hand and I knew that Bean-Nighe was here to claim her soul. 

So I reached for the ash in one tub quickly and drew the sign of Yggdrasil on the Alpha's forehead for protection before we moved back and let the rest of the pack howl and mourn their fallen Alpha.