Arrow Lake trauern

He reached for her and she fell to him—the only wolf of the mountain in which she could trust his strength and assurance. Stigmata was gone from this world and she could feel the harsh clench of her throat as a guttural sob was buried, her nose seeking the dark fur of his neck, as if she were but a child and his embrace could take the pain and realization of that away.

There were a myriad of emotions that played in her breast—her mind far too clouded in grief to pick apart the logic of any of it. Fear, for her children and for herself. They were to build a home here, but it had become quite clear her children’s presence was met with ire from the Centurion. Did she challenge her? Push herself to rise as the matriarch of the pack, rather than what appeared to be as Stigmata’s little fling? Takiyok’s battle prowess would be fierce, but could it be as fierce as the mother bear, protecting her cubs?

Would it stop the cold stares given to her children? Would it ever make up for the ignorance and disdain Takiyok had placed upon her and Stigmata’s love?

“You are my sole friend and confidant in these ranks, Mahler. Stigmata… Thorn. Anyone I’ve held close is gone.” The smoky lull of her tone was eerily quiet as she still her form, murmuring in to the nape of the man’s fur as she tried to gather her thoughts.

Pulling back, her emerald eyes gleaming with the sorrow that wracked her very core, she met his gaze, holding him to her with the glance and imploring him. “What would you do, Mahler, if it were you and your children?”

She paused then, feeling the quake of grief once more press over her like the heaviest shadow. Mahler had lost his kill-brother. His best friend. “What will you do, Mahler?”