Gray Valley

s i x t y - s e v e n

WE I REACHED THE CLEARING NORTH TO THE CAVES.

"Genesee, we'll stop, here."

She lowered the unconscious Bryan onto the ground.

There was an unfamiliar pain in my heart.

Why?

Because... I became a monster?

Was that why?

There is part of me that regrets what I did.

Why? Why did I force my Pack to shift?

Why did I become the monster Michael wanted me to become?

The ache in my heart persisted.

I took a deep breath and sat on the ground beside Genesee.

She turned to look at me.

"Alpha..." she hesitated. "Will he... Will he die?"

Blayze... My heart faltered.

"Who?"

"This Brown Wolf..." She gestured towards Bryan. "Will he die... Alpha?"

I couldn't help but feel relieved that she wasn't referring to Blayze, who was on the ground with him, also unconscious.

"I don't know," I admitted.

The air was consumed by silence.

"He is... He is the Gamma's mate... Isn't he?"

"Yes."

Genesee, who was now exhausted, moved to rest against the tree behind her.

I instinctively glanced at her stomach.

"Is it a boy or girl?"

The maternal instinct of a pregnant Gray Wolf was more than enough to detect whether their unborn child was a boy or girl.

She gently caressed her stomach with her hand.

"Boy."

I smiled.

"And what will you name him?"

I was confused, as I sensed the grief that emanated from her.

"I will name him... Mateo Luis Anderson."

"Oh..." The name was familiar. "Luis?"

"It's my brother's name."

Her brother...

The man at the Caves who convinced her to help me was also named Luis.

"Is your brother defending against the Brown Wolf attack at the caves?"

Was that Luis her brother?

She nodded.

I realised why I sensed her grief. She emanated grief because her wounded brother was in a dangerous situation.

"And your mate?"

A tear trickled from her pained eyes.

"Genesee?" I prompted.

I was mistaken in believing that her grief was not caused her brother.

"My mate... Mateo was killed."

Her grief was caused by her mate.

"When?"

For all I knew... The father of her unborn child may have been killed months ago.

But her tears told me that I was mistaken.

"In this war."

Her words filled me with dread.

"H-how?"

"I felt it break." A single tear trickled down her cheek. "The Soulmate Bond... I felt it break."

"No... How was he killed?"

"His heart..." She whispered. "Alpha... His heart stopped beating."

"His heart?" I repeated.

"We were taught that we cannot be killed by Brown Wolves." She averted her eyes from mine. "But we were delusional for believing what we were taught, Alpha. We can die at the hand of Brown Wolves... And we can die at the hand of Humans." Her eyes met mine. "Because... We die when our heart stops beating."

A memory of my father flashed through my mind.

"The heart is problematic for us." He had told me "It may hurt us... It may pain us. And Weslyn... The heart may kill us."

The pain in my heart returned.

"The heart may kill us... But, it is what makes us different to Brown Wolves. It is the problematic heart that makes us Gray Wolves."

My screams resonated throughout the forest.

The heart is problematic for us.

"Alpha?"

It may hurt us... It may pain us.

I desperately used my hands to clench my throbbing heart.

And... The heart may kill us.

There is something in the hearts of all Gray Wolves.

Something...

It is something that could not be broken with pain. It is something that transcended the deaths of my mother and my father.

But in that moment...

I could feel that something within me was broken.