The Alpha's Shadow

Chapter 20 - Dawn's First Light

As the last fires of battle died down, an eerie stillness settled over the forest encampment. Bodies and debris littered the bloody ground, remnants of the violent clash triggered by Vega's vicious betrayal. Fenris stood tall surveying the grim scene, jaw tight with remorse even as fierce satisfaction yet simmered in his veins. The usurper's reign ended here tonight beneath the judgment of tooth and claw. Whatever bitter price exacted from their own ranks, deliverance strode nearer beneath this corrected sky. The confused sheltering trees bore silent witness to restoration.

With immense care, Fenris turned to examine Luna where she stood drained beside him. Blood spattered her skin and matted dark hair, but he recognized none of it as her own. Relief left his own knees unsteady. However dearly bought, she had walked through storms of chaos and hate still unbroken. As their eyes met across the short gulf, nothing else signified but shared heartbeat pulsing strong between twin flames refined but never extinguished. The rest waited only to be swept aside by morning's light exposed.

Stepping closer, Fenris smoothed back sweat-soaked hair from Luna's brow. His fingers lingered to caress her cheek with thumb, learning anew every beloved detail however marred by their tortured journey thus far. He knew bone-deep she needed no empty platitudes or soothing lies. They lived raw truth as one this night, ugly and beautiful both. So he simply offered what was needful now in silent communion—the warmth of his body to drive out the bone chill, the solid anchor of arms wrapped without cage or condition, the cadence of their paired breath finding harmony as wave to shore. All else could wait for softer dawns. Bathed beneath the bloody moon, their battered hearts yet clung true.

When Luna finally stirred against his chest, Fenris leaned back only enough to meet her dazed stare. The stark blood splashed across her fair features wrenched him, but he kept silent counsel. No railing at fate could erase bitter truths written now in spilled blood. The only balm lay in walking on gently where the way allowed. So he smoothed a errant strand of dark hair back from her brow and smiled softly down through his own sorrow. The light yet kindled between them could birth whole heavens. Let cold stars look down void of compassion. She was light and life enough.

After a long beat, Luna loosed a bone-deep sigh and shifted to stand tall on her own strength again. Her slender shoulders squared with somber purpose as she turned to survey the dismal clearing. Fenris tracked her keen gaze taking in the full cost their defiant stand had reaped—bodies strewn like broken dolls, reddened earth churned to choking mud beneath restless boots. But rather than grief or disgust, her expression held only icy clarity. When she turned back to him, resolve burned bright in her smoke-dark eyes.

"The wounded require care. And honor demands we tend the fallen, whatever their misdeeds." Her voice remained steady despite the gruesome tableau surrounding them. She held up a staying hand before Fenris could begin issuing orders to that effect. "But you cannot delay pursuing Vega and his ilk. More lives stand forfeit the longer he roams free to spread chaos."

Fenris hesitated, loathe to vanish into the shadows and leave her even for one heartbeat to reckon alone with the grim aftermath. But she stood in command of her own spirit now after the black tide of violence had washed over them all. And her wisdom rang truer than selfish impulse. Vega remained a deadly threat that must be swiftly extinguished before his poison infected other vulnerable hearts. That viper would pay tenfold for every drop of pack blood spilled here beneath his lies and cunning. Fenris yearned to stalk that final reckoning beneath the moon's pitiless eye.

Luna seemed to read the brutal impulse in his taut features. Stepping close again, she rested one small hand over his heart as if to gentle the wrathful fire smoldering there. Her words poured steady and sure into his flaring nostrils. "Justice, not vengeance. Remember our ideals this night." When he nodded solemnly, she lifted herself onto bruised toes to press kiss like benediction against his clenched jaw. "Bring our lost kin home, and find some scrap of your own peace. The dawn awaits our first step together."