Cynophobia

☠₂₆☠

   "Zeta?" Loki whispered running over to her. He nosed her muzzle. "Zeta... no..."

I ran and knelt beside Loki. Zeta was laying on the ground. Her blue eyes were open, but faded because there was no power to light them up. The back of her neck had been slashed, but it wasn't clean. She must have put up a fight.

"Is that Delta?" I asked pointing over to the body of another Cynoid a few feet away. That was the same Cynoid who bit Rose on the beach. The Cynoid that made it harder for Rose to run away from the Remnants during our escape.

Loki nodded, but his eyes were glued on his mate mournfully.

Rags padded over to me and put his muzzle on my shoulder. "Don't cry little one. She died doing what she thought was right. Out of all of the Cynoids, she is the only one that truly ever lived."

All of Loki's mates had died. Slate passed last morning in order to save me. Then Dakota and Zeta had died trying to protect Loki's unborn pup. I sniffled. "I promised Slate I would protect Zeta and the pup, but I failed."

The bushes rustled. Cairo pulled out his axe and stood ready. A dark Cynoid with white markings appeared. His yellow eyes pierced all of ours.

"You have already accomplished what they came here for," Rags said in a monotone voice. "Leave them."

"Loki," his deep voice said calmly.

"Haven't you done enough," Loki snarled. "She was your sister, you watched her grow up. Then you and Delta came here and killed her without a second-"

"I was the one who killed Delta," Beta replied darkly. "I didn't agree with this at all. If anything, we could have used to pup to help us against the programming. But my father's greed overpowered his wisdom."

"What do you want? Your words mean nothing to me. Zeta is dead, my mates are all dead, my pup is dead, I have nothing," Loki growled.

Beta walked back into the bushes in silence. Seconds later, he returned. But this time, he carried something in his mouth. It was black with streaks of dark gray. He walked closer towards us and dropped the pup.

Loki stared at the pup, petrified with confusion.

"It's yours," Beta told him. "I killed my brother after he mortally wounded Zeta. I'm not a traitor like you, but I'm not heartless. I cared for her deeply, I watched her grow up. With her last words she told me to deliver them to you. She told me she named them Obsidian after your Miner that passed recently."

The pup's eyes were still closed and they couldn't move very well due to the fact it was stuffed with half amount of metal as an adult Cynoid. It wasn't as small as a newborn puppy, but it was much smaller than Beta or Loki.

Beta raised his chin. "If any harm comes to them, I will not forgive you. I would have taken care of it myself, but I know what his fate would be with Alpha. For your knowledge, it is ninety-eight percent instinctual." He turned to leave.

"Wait," Loki said walking over to his pup. "Thank you, Beta."

He only stared at Loki in acknowledgement before padding off in the direction Alpha fled.

"Your pup is alive," I whispered. I could barely contain my excitement.

He stared down at his pup, his mood slightly lifted. "Once I have revenge on Alpha, we will go off and live somewhere in peace." He touched his mate's muzzle. "I will protect our pup with my life."