Female ✔️

31: blu

Sharp. Seeing her on the ground was a metal rod all the way through my chest. Every breath hitched and pulled in discomfort. It was all for her, all for her, and now she won't get up. I stare at her a second too long, she's on her side, facing away. He dropped her life without a care, when he turns to face me, her blood drips from his muzzle.

I'm frozen in time, I can see her on her on her knees with the recent branding on her back. Tears on her cheeks but no sound escaping those lips.

Lips I finally got to kiss... Lips I plan to kiss again and again.

Every single wolf in the clearing has gone silent, they are staring at my mate. Her chest isn't rising with breath, she is motionless. I realize they are waiting for her to shift back to her skin like all dead shifters do. They are shocked and disgusted by her death. This is not who we are; killing one of our own who bears no wrongs. The thick scent of sorrow drifts on the wind, mingling with death. John, his Beta and his son stand yards away in anguish. They look frozen in motion. Guilt joins the wind's flow.

We won't be kissing again. I won't see those eyes again. Everything is altered at the very seam.

The anger boils over, adrenaline coursing through veins engorged with blood. This was not the plan, this was not the way. My lunge at the bloodied wolf before me is swift. I tear into my own father without any sort of mercy. It is clear enough now, where my loyalties lie. Soon enough, he is dead and my teeth are ripping into a carcass. Blood stains the rocks completely in our little circle, a small red life river running down to join the water one.

John is the one who pulls me back. Holding my scruff tightly to offer some other type of feeling. Grounded.

Looking around with one eye like a tunnel, there is a circle gathered around Montana's slight body, the wolves who make it up are knelt down, heads bowed. The elders have all but dissipated in terror, they know what is coming. They're wise enough to know the New Way does not involve the Council. The remaining formation is open on the side for me to walk through. I can't shift back yet. This is a position of gratitude and acknowledgement. Montana has made her mark, I was fearful her few days back would not have been enough to provoke reaction but it has. But of course; it has.

Alpha John walks with me to my mate, Jack and Kieran stand over her with heavy looks. Muzzle meeting her cheek, I sniff around her face, studying her with my one good eye. She isn't there, she's gone. Soul already lifted to the Luna, no goodbye.

Her death has become the sheer significance, she is a martyr. The symbol of the cause.

Legs give out, I collapse over her in grief, whimpers streaming through my nose to join the cries of the crowd.

"Address them, Blu. Let them know the why."

After a moment, or ten, or hours I can stand again. Time suddenly seems like nothing but a horrible expanse, a void. The sadness is thick in my chest and it makes me feel heavier and heavier. Every decision and consequence were taken for her, so she could be safe in the end. Safe and alive...

Shifted back with a wool coat over my body, I turn in a slow circle to look at every wolf. They look at me expectantly, I am their new Alpha.

"Montana only wanted one thing, that was equality. You all heard her earlier, I cannot explain it better than that." My breath feels short and insufficient coming into my lungs. "She was strong, wild, and my mate. I tried my best for her, and in the end, it was not enough. I am accountable for this death."

Sadness is tangible in this crowd, everyone is enduring her unnecessary death. My father is dead ten feet behind us and all turn cheek, as if he isn't there. I see it now, fear dictated these wolves, not belief.