Only Human

3.3

"Gabriel?" I asked, looking up from the screen with tears in my eyes. He looked across the room at me from where he sat at his desk. He looked regal behind it. Every inch the leader he was.

"What is it, Sweetheart?" He asked, upset that I was upset.

"What happened after the war? How soon did the people move to join your pack?"

"How come you want to know that?" He wondered, sitting back in his chair and tilting his laptop screen down so all his attention was focused on me. 

"Gabriel, please?" 

He sighed and nodded, clearly needing a moment to collect his thoughts and gather himself. 

"After the Alpha was killed, the fighting stopped instantly. The Wolves from the Campinas pack could feel their ties to their Alpha sever immediately. They were all rounded up as prisoners of war until the Stallbrin pack's Alpha could decide what to do with them. When I offered to absorb anyone who was seeking a safe home for their families, they were all released. That's when they started counting their casualties," Gabriel explained, looking haunted. I could tell that it was hard for him to talk about the suffering of his people.

"The bodies had been laying mutilated on a field for almost a week. Some of them were picked apart by animals, some were covered in flies. Some of them looked like they were sleeping," He continued. I shivered. The image he had painted in my head made me want to gag.

"That's how they found their friends, their brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. That's how they found parents, friends, you name it. I will never forget what Rogers forced his people to suffer. They didn't deserve that." He was getting emotional, but I worried that if I moved to comfort him I wouldn't be able to hear all that he was willing to share.

"They didn't even get to bury their dead. They had to get off the Stallbrin pack's land immediately and collect their families and belongings to move to my lands," He finished, staring deeply at his knuckles, which were clenched tightly against his pen. I stood up from the couch and knelt in front of him, easing the pen out of his grip.

"That wasn't fair for them. Their Alpha mistreated them and forever changed their lives. They are so lucky to have an Alpha who cares about them now," I said, assuring Gabriel of his goodness. "I know you love them. I just don't think they've mourned properly and it's clouding their ability to recognize that you did what you had to do."

"I don't even know what to do to help them," Gabriel exhaled, clearly frustrated with himself. I held his face in my hands gently.

"You don't have to have all the answers all the time," I told him. "It's okay to make mistakes. I'm here with you now, and it's all going to be okay. I promise."

He nodded, kneeling on the floor with me and pulling me into a tight hug. I hugged him fiercely, pouring all my love into that hug so that he would feel how much stronger I was when I was with him. How we were stronger together. 

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"Done!" I cheered, slapping my laptop closed and rolling off of the couch and onto the ground with an 'umpfh' noise. 

"Finally!" Gabriel teased, standing up from his newer position of sitting on the floor with his back against the wall while he waited for me. He had finished work hours ago but I had hit my rhythm and I didn't want to stop. 

He cracked his back and my eyes opened wide. 

"That was so loud!" I exclaimed, laughing. "Is your back alright?"

"It's fine. Can I take you home now, little mate?" Gabriel asked, rolling his eyes at my concern. 

"I can't get off of the ground," I informed him, closing my eyes and feeling the weight of my body sink into the ground. I felt like I must have weighed a thousand pounds.