COMPLETED
"Let me see your face."
Savage, fierce, unforgiving, the world of the Far North is nothing like the land of Dunes where Bessa was birthed.
From the first moment Bessa's feet touch the Far Northern land she has to fight tooth and claw for...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Blood and bile cling to the back of my throat, I'm afraid the taste will never go away, nor the sight of the wooden spike that holds her head. The color of her eyes is gone.
Everything has to be swallowed down in silence.
The Wild celebrates the skill of his mate.
Bessa's chest vibrates the noise of her Wild. The sound cuts. She's drenched in blood and bone chips that cling to her face. The ground has become blood-soaked. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand before turning her back on me to walk inside a house that was never built for her.
I have wronged both of them. I have wronged my Wild. I have wronged myself.
The pack is silent, it's their eyes that speak to me, but none more than my father. His hold the disappointment. My jaw tightens, pressing the molars together. It's hard to face my failures that are held in my father's eyes.
Judgment descends without my blindness. I see them all, the looks that hold to sharpen all their features. But it's my father's features that are the sharpest and most condemning. I should have listened to them and she would be still alive.
Elska's mother has fallen to her knees along with her father. They don't look at me, they hold each other in their arms, shaking with their noses buried into each other's necks.
My father approaches as the pack turns themselves away from all of this. My mother walks away without any words.
"You've got a mess to clean up."
"I know." It's hard to form words right now.
"Do you know?"
"I do."
"I don't think you understand, one day you will understand. I pray to the Moon your son listens to you. That he listens to every word you say. Because every word I have said to you has been a waste of breath."
The pain bulges outward, exploding into a sob.
"Stop crying for yourself. You sound weak, not the Alpha I thought you would be someday."
I'm falling without hitting the ground.
"You've created all of this," my father points at Elska with her unseeing eyes. He points at the house, the front door has been closed by Bessa.
"You have no right to cry. You have no right to feel sorry for yourself. You have no right to lead this pack. Look at you, crying over a female that was never yours while the one that is yours has to watch this. She has to endure this all." I stumble back, my father isn't done. He steps forward.
"You are my disgrace and I can only pray to the Moon to guide you now because nothing I have said to you means anything up until now. I didn't raise you to be this weak of soul. I didn't raise you to falter this easily." Even through clenched teeth, I can't stop the sob.
