Fall of the Packs: Blood Ties

Chapter Eighteen

Being an alpha wasn't quite as scary as Aaron would have thought. Admittedly, he'd only been at it for a month, but so far he hadn't had any problems. A time or two he had to resolve disputes or discipline someone, but for the most part the pack accepted his authority and his decisions. He was pleased to see that leading came naturally, especially when Cameron was there to help him and give him advice. He'd performed his first official duty when he made Knox a trainee and he felt nothing but pride when he surveyed the pack's progress. Winter was coming, but he was confident they would make it through just fine.

Of course, tensions were still high, as they had been for the past year, but things seemed to be going smoothly enough for Mercy and her pups, given the circumstances. Aaron knew he couldn't undo Mercy's status as omega without causing serious division, but he did his best to see that she was treated well.

Now he was waiting in a grove in the forest for Sortita. They'd been distant for so long but lately he was beginning to feel comfortable around her again. And he'd asked her to meet with him early that morning so that they could talk about things. He knew he needed to get his feelings out in the open or they'd just keep eating him up forever.

Eventually she arrived, the early morning light making her pure white fur seem to glow. "All right, great alpha, I'm here. What are we going to talk about? Am I in trouble?"

Aaron smirked. "If you were in trouble we wouldn't be talking. You'd be out collecting bedding with Mercy."

"I'd like to see you try to make me," Sortita retorted, but he noticed a flicker in her eyes when he mentioned Mercy. It gave him a little hope that she'd be willing to listen to what he had to say.

"All joking aside, Sortita, I want to talk about... us. Where are we? I'd like to think we're still friends but for a long time I've thought that we're more than friends, and now I don't know what we are."

Sortita sighed and looked at the ground. "Aaron, I... I thought we had something more too, I really did. But things have been so... different over the past year. After what happened with Mercy you shut yourself off to everyone, and then... things changed. And now... now you're the alpha! So... I guess I don't know what we are either."

"I'd like to start over," Aaron said earnestly, drawing closer to her. "I don't want to lose what we have, or what we had, or whatever. I don't want to lose you. Can we go back to before a year ago? To what we had then?"

Sortita returned his gaze solemnly. "Can we? I want to. I promise you I do. But so much has changed."

"I haven't changed," Aaron said. "And I don't think you have either. I know what we're saying without actually saying it. It's Mercy."

Sortita looked away. "It's always been her."

"Mercy was your best friend, Sortita," Aaron said. "Don't tell me you can't forgive her. Especially after everything she's been through! I forgave her. It wasn't easy, but I did. I know you can."

"I want to," Sortita said, raising her head. "But it just... it feels so wrong."

"Do you know what's wrong?" Aaron demanded. "What's wrong is when a puppy dies because no one cared. Petra died because we all tried to pretend she didn't exist. And Mercy almost had to go through that completely alone."

Tears began to shimmer in Sortita's eyes. "I wanted to comfort her," she murmured. "I promise I did. But... with everything... and what everyone said..."

"They're wrong," Aaron said bluntly. "All of it's wrong. It's wrong what Mercy did in the first place and it's wrong how we all reacted. But I'm not going to see her pups punished for something that wasn't their fault. And I promise you that there's no punishment for Mercy that's worse than what she's already been through."