Chapter 66: Killed
Theon.
The coming-of-age ceremony of the werebears forbids anyone except the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and the young ones from stepping into the ritual grounds. It is a tradition that is commonplace for every werebear pack out here, and I’ve learned of it from the special lesson I’d gotten on diplomacy back when I was a child, the spare to the heir who was my brother. Even though I hadn’t thought that I’d ever get to exercise that knowledge back then, I’d listened to every lesson diligently, wanting to know more about the society that we inhabited.
After I became Alpha King, I knew that I’d have to deal with other were-species when the time came, but never did I think my first encounter with werebears would be like this.
Upon seeing their Alpha fall, the Beta and Gamma of the Brekett pack round up the young bears to retreat. They don’t look all that keen to leave, rather, they are all brimming with the need to fight, I can tell. But they listen to their superiors, who are obviously aware that they were outnumbered. It doesn’t help that my wolves chase them away, growling and racing at them in their wolf forms. As soon as possible, they all blend into the shadows of the night and disappear, leaving us alone in the silent aftermath of the battle.
Death veils the expanse of the field. Several bears lie dead or dying. No one closes in on them. Their own people would come back and give them their funeral rights. We should not disturb their dead.
Regardless of what they were trying to do.
At any other time, I’d mourn this unnecessary bloodshed. So many youngsters are killed unnecessarily. Violence is an inherent part of the were-kind, yet I’ve still not gotten used to it.
But that is not a worry for now.
“Alpha?” Haden calls transformed back into a human, and I flinch. I’ve never heard my Gamma sound so shocked, and Haden had been through a lot. This cannot mean anything good. “Callista…” His voice cracks.
Leaving the dead Alpha, I immediately rush over to him, heart thundering in my sight. As soon as I get closer, I realize why exactly Haden was shocked.
My wolf roars, and I want to roar with him.
On a stone slab carved with ancient symbols, Callista lies motionless. Scarlet carvings line her alabaster skin, bleeding out into the stone to fill the crevices with the crimson liquid. Her clothes are stained with the same color, completely red than the gossamer white they should be. Her unblinking eyes look up into the moon, unfocused. Even when my face fills her vision, she doesn’t look at me.
She’s still breathing, but her eyes are lifeless.
The smell of her blood overwhelms all of us, and Haden immediately dons a special mask. But unlike before, the floral scent brings dread rather than joy to me. She’s too pale. How long had they been draining her? Why did they do it to her? I knew about the Brekett pack’s barbarian rituals, but they always used humans as their sacrifices.
Callista was so far from human.
“Callista?” I call her name softly, a tornado of emotions brewing in my heart, “Callista, can you hear me?”
“Callista, please,” Haden calls, voice desperate like he’s trying hard to hold back tears. Haden, who had enough gall to go against my word unflinching, looks deathly afraid. I cannot fault him for it, not at all. “You’re safe, Theon’s here. We're all here.”
Finally, she blinks. Once. She doesn’t move.
It’s so fucked up how beautiful she still looked, covered in blood and clearly in pain. She looks like a horrible piece of art, born from the wicked imagination of a mad artist. Her eyes look so surprised, like she could not understand what had happened.
Almost childlike in their haunting innocence. I can’t look at her, yet I can’t tear my eyes away. It’s punishment, but not undeserving. Not after everything I put her through.
I drove her here. I made life so unbearable to her at my pack that she chose to live with humans rather than her own kind. I did that.
“Please...” She wheezes, in a voice so weak and broken that I can feel my own heart crack at the sound. I do not know what she’s begging, and I don’t know if I even want to know. I don’t want to think of her asking me to end it because it’s too painful, I just can’t.
“Alpha, I think she’s in shock,” Kellin rushes around me to loom over Callista before gently lifting her underneath. He looks devastated, and something tells me that he’s imagining one of his children on the slab rather than Callista. “She’s bled out too much. We need to get her to the hospital now.”
Hospital. Callista had been visiting those far too much than a girl her age should, and now without the influence of my anger, I can see that almost all of those times had been my fault. My actions had directly or indirectly led her to be injured, and this time it’s no difference. I failed her yet again. I’d been too slow to mobilize my wolves to search for her. Hell, I’ve wasted time wondering if I should go after Callista or not. If I hadn’t let my doubt cloud my actions, maybe we’d have gotten to Callista before she went through this torture.
Hell, if I hadn’t been such an asshole to her after Ruelle, she wouldn’t have run. If I hadn’t been a monster to her after her sister’s funeral, or if I hadn’t based my opinion on her entirely on assumption rather than listening to her, if I had just been decent to her…
Callista’s face crumples into a painful moan, and the sound is like a dagger through my heart.
I led her to harm, and the least I could do to her is to let her heal from it with the best facilities available for wolfkind.
There is a niggling feeling on the back of my head that whispers that Callista was not quite safe. It’s like an omen of impending doom. I don’t have the mental capacity to explore that.
“Yes,” I agree, bone tired and heavy-hearted. “Let’s get her home.”