Caged Wolf

Song of the Chapter: Meet Me On the Battlefield by SVRCINA

I knew the moment Draco’s body dropped and things didn’t end what I had to do, the promise I had to keep. With tears in my eyes I leave the young Wolves in the burrow I find to shelter them and head for the mist of the battle. Shifting into human form I slip into the midst of the battle. I want to scream, I want to shout at the unfairness of all of this, at the unfairness of what Noah made me promise. I want to scream at him, scream at Carl, scream at them all. The first glazed eyes I find I reach out and touch their pelt, they fall dead before their attacker instantly. Trying not to think about it I move on to the next one and the next one. It’s a process I have to go through, I have to do this for these Wolves. They don’t want to hurt us, they don’t truly want to do this but they can’t control themselves. The chips have always been so much more than we thought they were, they have always been so much more than Draco. I think I knew Draco wasn’t the answer from the moment we learned about him, yet, I wanted desperately to have hope. I wanted desperately to not have to do what I’m doing right now. But, I’m the only one who can do it, I’m the only one who can end things peacefully. I can give them a good death even if it isn’t truly what I want them to do. I can fulfill their lasts requests even if it destroys me. I am the Reaper, this is my duty to my packmates. I’m doing this for them, I only hope the rest of my pack understands, I only hope Noah understands. I continue to move touching bodies as I go being extremely careful about it, I make sure I’m touching the right Wolves. Wails of agony raise up behind me but I ignore them, I can’t focus on them. If I focus on them I will fail us all. I move swiftly through the Wolves. I hesitate when I come to Carl a lump forming in my throat and tears swelling in my eyes. Carl was one of the closest Wolves I’ve gotten to, he was always easy to talk to and had a great sense of humour. He and Tucker had just found each other before this happened. Now Carl will have nothing, he will get no life. I don’t want to think it’s because of me, I want to blame it on this place. No, I need to blame it on this place, if I don’t then I won’t survive this myself. Reaching out I touch Carl on his shoulder, his eyes briefly flicker to mine as if he can sense it’s me and knows what I’m doing. I swear I see a flicker of gratitude in his eyes before the light leaves them and he crumples to the ground. I let the tears fall freely from my eyes as I move on from him, I don’t let the sobs overwhelm me even though I want to. This is the nightmare that I never thought I would face. This is my family and I am breaking us apart, this is my family and I am hurting us to help us survive. I move until only one Wolf remains, only one Wolf that I dread doing this to. The Wolf who planned this for himself and the other’s, the Wolf who changed my life the most. Noah comes into my sights, the moment his glazed eyes meet mine they flicker and I know he has found the control that he has been fighting so hard for. He asked me to leave him for last, he asked me to let him say goodbye if he was able to. I’m glad he will get that, I’m glad Dusk is going to get that. Pain aches through my very being as I slow my pace approaching Dusk and Noah and hoping that maybe something will change. Maybe I won’t have to kill him too. Maybe this can end with one win. In my heart I know that isn’t the way this is meant to go, this is the ultimate test that I know we will have to survive. This is the beginning of the end, we will either find our way from here or we will lose both our alphas today. If Noah dies can Dusk handle it, if Noah is gone can Dusk still be our alpha? What happens next?