the whole world sitting on a ticking bomb [j]

He heard her call, and it might have come from a thousand miles away, yet Akhlut went towards it as though compelled by darkest arts to do so. If there was fire consuming the forest around him as he ran, he would not have known it. If the surge of the sea lapped at his ankles and soon at his chest, ever rising in an all-consuming flood, he would not have cared. His mother called, and he went, lovingly as any child, faithful as any lover, obedient as any Omega to his Alpha's side. Fortunately for him, the distance was not so far, and the apocalypse was not imminent. It was only Nanuq Kesuk, waiting on the borders of Horizon Ridge.

Akhlut saw her and rushed to her, seeking to run his body along hers in a renewal of the bonds of scent, a mingling of dark and light fur, a contrast of male and female, mother and son. His tongue flickered snakelike to touch her chin and a whine of happiness passed his lips. Alpha he might be, and Sun Prince he might hear whispers of in dreams, but his mother would always be both Warchief and beloved parent, and to her, he could never pretend to be anything other than her child. Akhlut turned his cool blue gaze to hers and he tilted his head in askance. There was an empty space next to her that should have been occupied by the woman who held the other half of his heart. Where was Aktaie Nereides?