Chapter 74: Chapter 75: Fallout

Vampires did this and left her here in hopes we found her. The blood is fresh, I can smell it, the kill is

still warm, and I can still feel the traces of her heat and her scent around me as though her soul still

lingers. Feel the ebbing away of her emotions and fears in the air around us because they are still so

recent and my gift homes in, tortured by what I can feel. They knew we were looking for her and yet

they waited until we were close enough to kill her completely and I don’t understand why.

Was this a game to them? It feels like they were luring us out here this far for fun and I look around

trying to sense if this might be a trap with so many of our kind out here, but there's nothing. The

vamps have retreated and gone and only the chaos they have caused is left behind in the air around

us. No hint or traces that they are close in anyway and not even the feeling of eyes observing.

"Meadow... take Carmen and Lorey back to the house. They don't need to be here for this.” Colton

yanks my focus back to him as he instructs, and Meadow appears behind me like a sudden shadow.

I note that all the other packs are now flooding in to where we are, so we're grouped as one unit

once more. Obviously Colton linked them, and Carmen's scream brought them zoning right in.

Colton has lifted up to pull the trembling figure with him to their feet and I look away quickly as he

hauls her into another hug soothingly and let's her weight rest against him. That stirring of dislike

growing like a warm ember in my belly even though I know he’s only being compassionate. He's

being the Alpha, and this is no time for feeling threatened.

"Come on you.” Meadow leans in to take charge of Carmen in Colton’s arms and I realize tears are

still washing down my face as I stare at them again in stupefaction. Cooling my skin as the air turns

them from warm to icy cold. Hating myself that I feel inner warm relief when she’s taken from my

mate's embrace and blush with shame at my own selfishness. I'm so stupidly possessive of him

sometimes that it's not admirable.

The shock of what we have in front of us comes back into view as I stare in the direction of chaos

and it pushes my own emotions to quiet as Meadow guides Carmen past me. She seems to snap at

the sudden release of his arms and makes a dart for the remains of body once more in blind

hysteria. A painful sob escaping her lips, but this time I am faster and she’s closer to me than him.

Meadow is startled by her sudden change of direction so that she loses grip for a second and I flash

my hand up, catching her in the air, holding her steady and pulling her around, lifting her from her

feet and back towards me. As soft as air and making her fly with my ability.

My gift never fails me, and I glide her to my side and hold her there as she gently meets ground

once more, wide and eyed and still after what I just did to her. The shock silences her completely

and I release her once Meadow gets a grip on her hand and wrist in a way that signals she won't get

loose a second time

“Carmen go home with Meadow.” Colton alpha tones her again, leaving no room for a second error

and she reluctantly turns on her heel. Her skin white and damp, her eyes empty and blurred and her

whole body sags with sheer misery. Her whole aura is that of grief.

“Lorey... come here, baby.” Colton moves to me, bringing my attention back to him as he pulls me

into his arms and nuzzles me close. With one moment of attentive affection, he wipes away my

brewing green eyed monster and gives me the kind of hug that no one else gets. The “I need you’

embrace that sweeps me up into him and holds me tighter than he held her, while burying his face

in the crook of my neck. Warming my skin with his deep exhale before pulling up to look me in the

eye again. I melt like liquid with his touch and allow him to wipe away my tears with gentle fingers. I

can feel his own despair at what has happened, and it weighs on me heavily. “We need to bury her.

We can't leave her like this. Go home and wait for me there, where it's safe, and warm, and see if

you can help her... somehow. I don't even know how. You've been through the loss of your mother,

maybe you can ..." Colton trails off at a loss, squeezes me tight, kisses me softly and wipes away the

rest of my tears for me as I hug him back. Aware that most of the wolves are now moving in to see

what's been done and a couple rush to the bushes to vomit. Not all wolves can stomach things like

this, and I'm actually shocked that I am not one who had to throw up on smelling and seeing this.

Maybe these months and what happened before have numbed a part of me more than I gave it

credit for.

“I love you.” I breathe hastily, that inner insecurity peeking out at me because I am sometimes still

that unworthy girl he rejected. I give him a second kiss, more of a grazing of lips and he nestles his

forehead to mine in the way he does when he's trying to reassure me. Maybe this time he needs me

to ground him, his emotions are definitely on the needier and cast loose side than mine are.

“I can't believe I let this happen. I feel like I failed her..... Sun's coming, so we can do this right and

lay her to rest. I owe it to Carmen and her mom to treat her with the respect of the pack..... Take two

wolves as guards and go catch Meadow and get home. Don't hang around, especially not this far

outside the borders. I don't want you around this or helping. You shouldn't be near this... I love you,

baby. Go home for me.” He sighs heavily and tightens his arms around me once more, craving me

yet needing me to leave him for now. I can feel his conflicted feelings and make it easier by letting

him go with a nod.

Colton lets me loose and nods to two guards who appear beside me in the now dim and less dark

light. I note he’s sending the two who threw up, sensing neither will be any good at helping with

what he has to do. They stand patiently and obediently wait for me to move.

“With many wolves digging it should be fast and then...” He sighs knowing he has to somehow get

that mess buried in some kind of respectful way and I nod, knowing what he’s thinking. I don't envy

the task of clearing this up and putting every piece of her and her blood in the ground to honor our

ways. He may have to scorch the landscape and burn the surrounding landscape t properly send her

soul to the fates.

Taking one last much needed hug to try and calm my distraught heart I turn on my heel to go but

pause a second. Knowing I should catch up and stay close to Meadow, even if my powers make me

more capable than most wolves but something crosses my mind.

“I'll ask the Shaman to start preparing a ceremony. Help Carmen with closure and allow her time to

grieve. Give the pack a proper funeral service to grieve a kin member...... Tawna’s mate?” I ask

absentmindedly, knowing that Carmen maybe needs to grieve two parents and not one and we

should give her that, even if he’s not someone we should remember. Colton’s face tenses and he

signals yes with the slightest of head movements that makes my heart sink even further.

“Dead, the second her heart ceased to beat. My dad will be in chaos on the mountain too as he just

lost his second in command. Her death wasn’t for nothing but... I would rather her here with us,

than my father losing some control. Ask the Shaman to mention them both, but only honor Tawna.

This is for her, not them.” Colton’s eyes are filled with unshed tears once more and I can only bite on

my lip and agree with a nod, again crying softly despite the overwhelming empty and numb

coursing through my veins. All of this just feels so overwhelmingly awful that my brain can't process

sit at all. There's a dark heaviness taking over me that I know is sadness and I can barely breathe. I

can't imagine how carmen feels right now.

"Stay safe, don't be long.” I add in haste, one last glimpse of his disheveled face and take off after

Meadow with my two guards in tow, making light of the distance in hyper speed. I try and focus on

doing rather than feeling and aim to catch up.

I won't be. I'll follow once this done. Stay safe, Baby. Knowing your home will make me feel better

about being here. Colton’s voice follows me and in such a short time I manage to catch up to

Meadow running with Carmen, although not at full speed as Carmen seems to be struggling to pull

herself together. I slow as I get to them and pull up on the free side of Carmen's sagging posture,

pulling her arm into mine and holding her up a little. Her body is icy cold, giving off a wave of

devastation around her and she doesn't even flinch at my touch.

She's sobbing, staring blankly ahead as her feet stumble over debris she isn't trying to avoid, and

Meadow is struggling to keep her on her feet, casting a glance at me that says “she’s a mess"

Overwhelming empathy runs over me, both from her and my own internal emotion piping up at the

sorrowful state of Carmen. I wish she didn't see what she saw and I don't blame Colton for tackling

her and holding her tight. No one needs to see someone they love end that way and it will forever

haunt her. Knowing her mom's last moments were in terror and agony and untold suffering before

she took her last breath.

What are we going to do with her when we get her home? Meadow breaks into my thoughts in a

private link and I try and sort my own emotions from the two invading next to me. Carmen's despair

is so strong I'm finding it hard to keep my own logic and mind straight.

Take her to the med bay, maybe Doc Maigo can give her something to relax her and make her calm

down, I don't know. The homestead looms into sight and the rustle behind us of the following

guards alerts me that they are still close and keeping watch over us. I turn and glimpse over my

shoulder as I feel the physical change in the air of us crossing the frequency boundaries and the

static sizzle of safety that means we no longer need assistance. We're safe.

“Go back and help. We don't need you now. More hands make swifter work. Sun isn't up yet and

there are dangers for our pack out there.” I order and get two unquestioned nods as both males

turn and take off back towards my mate and my people in a gust of breeze as they hyper speed

away.

Meadow gets tired of dragging Carmen and stops to hoist her over her shoulder in an unresisted

maneuver and frees our clumsy deadweight. She takes off in front of me at speed and I follow,

running and skipping through the last half mile of forest floor and fallen trees until we end up on

the illuminated gravel drive. More wolves are out here, some of the less capable sentinel guards

which were left behind, so the house was not completely unprotected, and some from the village

have ventured out to find out what's going on. Mostly concerned males worried their families are in

danger because news spread fats that most of the capable had spread into the woods to chase

Tawna.

"Everything is okay.... Go back to your homes and we will call a meeting for the whole village before

noon. To explain. The pack will be home shortly and there's no need to worry about them, sun's

coming, and all is quiet now.” I announce as loudly as I can before following Meadow indoors and

we head straight for the sick room. I know those who heard me will pass the message on and I hope

it brings some calm back to those left behind.

We have twenty-four seven staff in our medical bay because we never know when we may need it

so I am relieved to see the Doctor and a nurse coming to Meadow's aid. Since moving here to

damper air, the children have been getting sick sometimes, and with playful fearless wolf cubs, they

injure themselves frequently.

Carmen has stopped fighting at all, in any kind of way and seems to have ceased responding

emotionally. Silent, numb, and staring at nothing as she’s manhandled like a wet rag and does

nothing to stop us. It's like her mind has left the building and all that's left is a broken empty shell of

shock and I wonder if life finally played that last hand at her that snapped what was left of her

mental strength.

I walk behind Meadow; Carmen's body is limp, her face partially concealed by her masses of blonde

hair but there's a heavy ambience of surreal calm because she is so motionless. Her sobbing has

stopped and it's like all her energy is gone. She's defeated and broken and despite our past I have

never felt so much sorrow and pain for anyone as I do in this moment. Maybe it's because I know

what it's like to lose your parents in one fell swoop, your whole family, when they were all you have.

Maybe it's because I too witnessed the horrifying death by vampire of my home family of rejects

and still live with the memory of their blood and bodies scattered across the ground, much like we

found Tawna. Either way, my heart pangs for the girl before me and I internally cry for her pain.

Vampires are ruthless and brutal killers. They leave mess and chaos and rip their victims to shreds

when the frenzy to feed takes them. In the case of wolves, they can't drink too much of our blood or

it kills them, and it somehow makes the murder more violent. They tend to leave nothing but

remains spread across the countryside when they battle our kind. An act of violence purely because

they hate our kind.

“Luna Alora, it's my pleasure. How may I assist.” The doctor gracefully moves towards Meadow who

is rolling Carmen from her shoulder onto the bed and flops her back against cushions. Carmen has

no fight in her, her skin ashen and her eyes are red rimmed yet lifeless as she continues to silently

gaze into the air. Her mind somewhere far away. Tears roll down her pale cheeks sorrowfully as the

warm voice smooths over her, showing a hint of acknowledgement she hears her, but she stares at

the ceiling regardless. I gesture the doctor aside and pull her close with a hushes tone.

"Her mother was killed in the forest by vampires tonight... she saw the remains..... it was

traumatizing. Both her parents are now dead. She needs emotional help to get through the shock

and despair tonight until this sinks in and she’s more able to process what's happened.” My voice

trembles as I push the memory aside and focus on the task at hand.

“I'll sedate her for now. Let her sleep, as it might be the last she gets for some time when she wakes

up. I'm so sorry.” The doctor is one of our gentler femmes, with compassion and a big heart. She

trained with humans in a medical university and learned a lot about mental health and ways to deal

with human reactions to certain things. Death to wolves is not as normal as humans, so our grieving

can be completely horrific when we do lose someone we love. I guess that's the downside to being

almost unkillable and having long life spans.

The doctor moves aside as Meadow comes to my side and they switch places. The doctor checking

over Carmen and wiping her tears away as she checks her pulse, and temperature and generally

looks her over. Meadow sighs heavily and casts me an intense look that translates to “I feel helpless,

I wish I could do something’. Despite her history with carmen, Meadow is still a caring wolf and

wouldn't wish this on anyone, even her. I nod knowing this is exactly how I feel, and I gesture her

further from the bed in a bid to give them space to let the Doctor do what she needs to do.

"Doc is going to let her sleep; we should take it in turns to sit by her until she’s more with it. I'll ask

sierra too, maybe for a few days we can rotate and switch out femmes to comfort and support her.

So she’s not alone.” I don’t know what else to do as I was so young and surrounded by grief when I

lost my own family that it was completely different. We have been at peace for years so the horror

of losing our people isn't as numbed out as it was a decade ago. I have no experience of how to

comfort someone else in this way when I was never comforted in any kind if way at all.

“Luna Alora, Luna Alora!” A wolf bursts into the med bay startling us out of our huddled somber and

makes me jump with the speed and urgency in which he shot in. We spin on him, glaring to pipe

down seeing as he startled the crap out of everyone.

“What is it?” I ask in a harsh tone, hating how panicked he looks and the raised high pitch of a

distressed tone coming through his words. My stomach churning in unease at this interruption and

my gut instantly tells me something is off.

"Come quickly, there's something ... in the air.” He throws his hands up, look somewhat confused

and beckons us.

“What?” Meadow and I exchange glances and follow him at speed, leaving Carmen with the doctor

and her capable care and speed outside to the main entranceway of the drive to see what he's

talking about.

Sure enough, just like he said there's some sort of green smog in the air in the far distance of the

mountain, which seems to be rolling down and into the forest at great speed like a heavy blanket

sliding over the landscape. It's like smoke, or a dense cloud and the rate it's moving is alarmingly

fast and swallowing all things in sight wherever it slides.

Colton something is coming towards the pack.... a fog. Get back here NOW!! I link rapidly, in panic

and fear, reaching out to my mate in case he hasn't looked up and seen it heading his way. I don't

know what it is, but all my senses are telling me they should get the hell away from it and get back

here to safety behind the rune border.

"What the hell is that, Chica?” Meadow stares at the same thing I am fixated on and we watch in

horror as it splays out and spreads sideways through the forest, expanding as it travels and

encompassing everything as it moves. It seems to extend and move widthways until it starts to

curve around the homestead at a distance and still continues to head this way. It seems to be

grower larger and denser and picking up speed.

We see it, we're moving. It's fast as hell and almost here. I have them heading back. Colton quiets

some of my anxiety by responding and I will him to get here. Whatever it is it's not natural and the

way it came down from the mountain raises all kinds of alarms. We long ago figured the vamps use

the mountain to stay close enough to mount attacks, maybe have tunneled inwards, and they

definitely use it as a vantage point to look over the lands surrounding. We know they have witches,

and I don't like whatever this is, even if it might be nothing more than a harmless strange colored

fog.

Colton it's spreading. It's taking over the forest and circling us. My mind link doesn’t hide the panic

in my voice, and it wobble uncontrollably, my heart racing as all I can do is watch this monster smog

eat our landscape so effortlessly.

Stay in the homestead boundary. It may be a way to let the vamps move in daylight now the suns

coming up. Stay behind the runes. We're coming.

I grab Meadow’s hand in a tight grip as we watch and I can tell by her fixated gaze on the fog she’s

linking Cesar, checking on her mate as it moves at us with deadly haste. It feels like an eternity and

not the few seconds it's been in reality. Both poised, numbly quiet and just waiting.

Where are you now? Colton, how far?

I tap my foot on the ground, aware my feet are human again, naked, and I'm standing on gravel but

oblivious to the pain. My only focus is them, my heart and soul out there who needs to come to me

so I can be sure he's safe.

Not far, it's almost......

I wait for him to finish his sentence then glance at Meadow again as nothing comes. She screws up

her face indicating something is up with her link to Cesar too. I can feel it between us, the swirling

rise of concern and panic as we both wait out this endless silence.

Colton? What were you trying to say. I ask, waiting patiently but no response at all comes through

the link. Instead, an eerie solitude that I haven't experienced for a long time, not since Colton cut

me off many moons again when he rejected me swirls around me. It starts to dredge up my inner

anxiety with a fury as I pull at my mind to make the connection but feel like I'm facing a blank dark

wall. Meadow moves forward and she stares at the tree line, seemingly trying to concentrate real

hard and I realize she maybe too has lost her link to Cesar. This is not a coincidence.

“He's not responding anymore.” I point out, distress rising in my throat and I watch as she moves as

far to the edge of the trees as she dares. Her face stiff, her eyes wild and dampening by the second

as hysteria rises in her and points ahead suddenly with a shaking finger.

“I think I can see them in the woods..... moving fast but the fog it's with them, all around them.”

I move beside her, my heart lurching into my throat and stare as far as I can see into the woods and

strain to distinguish in the dim light of dawn. The woods are dense but she’s right and I spot dark

shadows in semi wolf form hammering this way like lightning and sigh with relief. Exhaling heavily

as my body loosens lightly and I almost laugh as emotions swirl and cave in indescribable joy.

“Maybe the fog stops the gifts, like the frequency does?” I point out and Meadow shakes her head

and points out into the shadows.

“I could have sworn some are turned and in wolf form so surely that means their gifts are fine. We

need to get closer to the boundary, something is stopping them from getting closer, it's been too

long.... look, they haven't come nearer.” I stop my inward rejoicing and turn and look where she’s

gazing to see for myself that she’s right. Despite being close enough to leap home in under a

second, they arent appearing beyond the rune border but instead seem to be lingering on the

other side of it. I move beside her and nudge her.

“We don't need to. Here.” I lift my hands, flattening them palm to palm and point forwards as

though slicing into the forest and slowly move them apart, splitting the trees and pushing foliage

and branches back with my gift. Clearing a passage of sight so we can view all the way to the border

of the boundary. A tunnel of unrestricted vision where I can see the fog has met the border and

seems to be rolling up into the invisible protective wall and climbing higher to get past it. It's

smothering all beyond in a dense haze which makes it hard to really see anything.

Sierra's family magic is keeping it back but it's completely clouding our wolves from sight with the

thick fog and we can't see any of them coming our way.

"Why aren't they coming?” I ask numbly, fear slowly dwindling around me once more and I know if

Colton could link me, he would. He isn't able to. We have a break in communication because

whatever that stuff is it's doing something to keep them out there.

“I have to go look; I can't leave them out there in this with no contact.” Meadow’s voice breaks, her

tears becoming evident as she loses the will to hold them in anymore, her own emotions stifling me.

Her love for her mate and her pack reigning supreme and I can't argue with her. My need to know

Colton and my pack are okay overwhelms me too, and I walk past her, against Colton’s wishes, and

head to the tunnel I am still holding apart. Meadow follows without question, without hesitation,

both holding our breath in anticipation and we carefully, slowly, walk the long distance until we

come almost level with the smog.

“Look” Meadow points up and we see from this angle how it's risen more than thirty feet up, still

blocked by our protective barrier and doesn’t seem to be able to climb any higher. Instead, it's

travelling the entire perimeter of the boundary, spreading, and looking back I see it's far behind the

other side of the homestead at an equal distance. Surrounding us on all sides and leveling itself off,

but it can’t pass the rune border and it's still too dense to make out the pack out there among the

trees.

For the time being, we're cut off, with no links, no visual and I stand here motionless unsure what

we are meant to do.