The Alpha's Favour

LXXVIII

Crystal(One year later)

I learnt to speak in silence.

At least around Tristan.

When he got too quiet, I knew it was time to get him to a place of isolation where he could sit in his grief without the whole world watching him.

I could tell the pack wasn't the same and though our losses had been minimal, it was still heavy.

Tristan wanted Bridget's grave near his parents.

He wanted Raphael's close by too but Raphael's parents got the final say on that one which he could respect.

Everyone else got a dignified burial and Tristan made sure they were all honoured.

But I could see it in his eyes that that wasn't enough.

He would always want to do more, anything short of bringing them back would never be enough for him.

The pack had gone back to normal. Or at least as normal as things could get. A year hadn't been enough for recovery.

My family loomed on me 24/7, always watching, always careful, always holding on tightly incase I disappeared again.

Chris would randomly stare at me like I was some ghost sometimes.

And maybe that's because I felt like one from time to time.

I thought about my mother constantly. She had never been found. Neither has Ornyx, which may have been a source of nightmares for me from time to time but I knew it plagued Tristan.

The first two months, he didn't sleep much.

I had to move into the manor.

He wasn't the same Tristan and only those of us close to him could truly see it.

The rest of the world saw a stronger and more vigilant alpha.

I saw a broken man who woke up in cold sweats and occasionally reached for a body part which wasn't there anymore.

He would spend hours just staring at walls.

Some nights I would even catch him talking to himself.

I think the secret therapy helped a little.

Joshua, Mikey and I were the only ones who knew about it.

Tristan had to be strong for everyone after all.

Ornyx wasn't dead. He was still out there somewhere and we all had to be ready incase he struck again.

Which I couldn't shake the feeling that he would.

Joshua was right, Ornyx didn't give up easily. He was somewhere still plotting, I could feel it.

Luckily Joshua, Mikey and I weren't relenting on doing as much as we could to keep the search for him going.

We couldn't fall into a false sense of comfort.

The Shadow pack hostages had been set free at Tristan's command.

And given the option to either go far away and build a pack somewhere distant from Woodfell and the rest of the Union territories or stay and be thoroughly vetted before being incorporated into Silvercrest.

Of course that had been met with a lot of resistance.

But as I said, Tristan was tougher now. He wasn't asking. Or tolerating nonsense.

Both Silvercrest wolves and Shadow pack were subject to the same punishments if they stepped out of line.

I didn't know how to feel about this but I knew that he believed this was the only way to ensure change and I guess to some extent, I did agree.