Whispers of the Wolf

Our Grief

Alaric

The sun was setting on this sad day. The sky was painted in navy blues, deep purples and dark pinks. The stars were coming out to play, glistening high above. The crescent moon shone down on us as we stood at the back of the mansion in a large circle, the same place I had shifted only a few days ago.

Soft cries, quiet sniffs, gentle murmurs ... all members of the pack were standing, joining hands, heads bowed. My father stood in the centre of the circle, his gaze on the sky above as he recited a prayer to Celine, the Moon Goddess, to watch over our pack as we entered a time of mourning.

Tala was dead.

A tear trickled down my cheek, and I let it run. To my right, Enzo was crying openly, his shoulders shaking, his cheeks flushed, choking on his sobs. To my left, my mother kept letting go of my hand so that she could wipe at her eyes, then she'd grab my fingers again and squeeze.

We were all feeling the loss of Tala. It was as if a part of each of us had died along with her.

The night she had died ... I had been trying to get to sleep, willing my body to rest, when I had felt the snap. Sharp pain instantly stabbed at my heart, knocking the wind out of my lungs, causing my wolf to howl.

I knew there and then that a pack member had died. I just didn't know which one.

Until Dad had come into my room. His face was ashen, tears filling his eyes. As Alpha, he was close to each pack member, treating all of them like his family. So when any one of them died, he felt it far more deeply than the rest of us. It was his job to keep us all together, healthy, happy, content.

Not only had we lost a pack member, we had lost a part of our family.

She had been killed.

By another wolf.

And we still didn't know who had killed her, despite all efforts going into finding them. The wolves guarding the perimeters had seen nothing. Heard nothing. It was only because we all felt her death that we knew something was wrong.

Dad had sent scouts to find her body, bring her safely to the mansion, and then instructed them to follow any trail they could find ... anything that may lead to whoever had caused our heartache.

But the scouts had come back empty handed, having found not a single clue.

Mom dropped my hand again to wipe at her face, then gripped my fingers once more, squeezing them tight. She had been hugging me a lot today, not wanting me to leave her sight. She had been trailing after me all day, even shifting into her wolf whenever I did.

I pinched her fingers in mine, hearing her sniff. On my other side, Enzo was starting to lean into me, so I let go of his hand and wrapped an arm around his waist, letting him rest some of his weight on me.

How he was acting ... how upset he was ... I was beginning to think that maybe he was Tala's mate after all. I mean, we were all sad, grieving, but Enzo ... he was truly heartbroken.

I was pretty sure that was how I would act if it had been Radley, instead of Tala. A shiver ran down my spine at that thought.

Glancing around the circle, I recognised the usual faces of pack members, but unable to spot the head of familiar dark blonde hair.

Where was Radley?

Was he even here?

I had wanted to find him today, seek him out, make sure he was doing alright. Was he grieving on his own right now?

Another look around the circle and I couldn't see Claudia either, yet all of the other elders were here, all of them with heads bowed, praying along with us.