The Chosen's Legacy [#2]

Chapter 17 - End of an Era

The king stood tall on the summit above his fallen enemy as the morning light shone against his fur. With dark fur bathed in the blood of his enemy he listened to the howling of his subordinates, the howls of sadness, relief, even some of joy but most all ones of victory.

Tyrone looked across at the she wolf he considered his sister, she had taken the beast on her own, she'd suffered damage but still she stood proud.

He went to her, bumping his head against hers, a sign that he was glad she was alright. The two wandered down the steps of the temple and back to the Alphas they had left.

Panic immediately flooded Cassia as she took in the sight before her, her husband was lying on the floor surrounding by his blood. "Caleb?!" she called out to him; anxiety filled her causing her heart to go into overdrive. No. this couldn't happen, not to him, not after they had won and finally gotten their baby back. She prayed to the heavens to at least let him be able to see and hold Ethan again.

"Case-" Caleb choked and began coughing viciously causing Cassia to whine. He had hated to bring her any form of pain and knowing the condition he was in caused her a great amount.

"How did this happen?" Tyrone demanded.

"It was Marcel" Lucas began "he saw Blake with the children and turned his back on the fight. Caleb here jumped in and took a nasty blow"

Cassia growled lowly, she looked around for Marcel but he was nowhere to be found "where is he?!"

"He's out front with the warriors checking out the casualties." Lucas stated; he kept a good distance from Case knowing that she was pissed about what happened to her mate. The Alpha male had no doubt that the woman would give Marcel a good licking.

Cassia looked at Caleb before she took action; "Conner?" she called out for her Beta hoping that he was still alive. She knew many had succumbed to death but to know the exact number would surely bring more pain to the Alpha female.

"Yes Alpha I'm here" Conner spoke, his voice held a lot of relief hearing Cassia's voice.

"How many of our fellow members are dead?" Cassia dreaded the answer.

"One hundred and eight."

Like a sharp spear pain struck her heart. One hundred and eight; that was one hundred and eight families without a father, mother, daughter, son, sister, brother or mate.

"Call the doctors, tell them to get here quickly they need to tend to the wounded immediately." After giving out her order, everything had seemed to move along swiftly, Caleb had passed out from blood loss as did many others. The trusted doctors did their work quickly, now along with many others Cassia's mate was taken first off the island while she stayed and the others who were able to stand stayed behind.

She didn't like the sight she saw when she had walked out of the temple. Many wolves had fallen, some of her family among them, the ache in her chest only grew as she looked upon the bloody battlefield littered with bodies.

As she knelt beside another fallen warrior she could feel Ember shift inside her, her sadness mixed with her human's as they kiss the head of their dead family member "I hope your journey to the gods was a safe one my friend, thank you so much for your service" she whispered.

Slowly, she zipped up the last bag that contained the body and stood, she left the island with a heavy heart taking her fallen back home.

.

.

The days had passed slowly when the Alphas had returned home, the cries of the families who suffered a loss would forever be engraved in their minds. The final farewell to the fallen warriors was long and memorable; they had gotten nothing short of the best. The king had each name of the fallen engraved in five stone tablets and hung in the hall of remembrance so no one would forget their bravery.

Tyrone had brought his princess home, but when he and Talia thought that the suffering was over, they had lost their queen. Naomi had succumbed to her injuries weeks after they had returned leaving not only her three children behind but a shattered soulmate.

Alpha Blake had trained his son vigorously for months at the boy's request, spending as much time in their gym as possible. Blake knew that his son had felt emasculated after coming home, being kidnapped and then overpowered did not sit well with the upcoming Alpha. Erik wanted to protect his people and he couldn't do that if he was weak.

Alpha Marcel had yet to be punished for his actions during the war, he had already lost one of his valuable allies after his stupidity put the man in harm's way. He didn't mind the punishment; he was glad that he made it back with his child.

Alpha Lucas had been suffering from paranoia ever since the war; he upped his security around his mate and refused to let her out of his sight at all. After Luna Emery was nearly butchered to death and almost had her baby used as a sacrificial lamb she couldn't really blame her mate for his over protectiveness. In fact she welcomed it as much as possible; she just hoped they never had to go through anything like that again.

Alpha Cassia sat beside her mate's bed for weeks patiently waiting for him to open his eyes. She went around the pack to those who had lost their own fully intending to welcome any rage or hatred they bore. To her surprise no one had any; they all had told her they knew that death was a possibility. Of course they were all sad and they cried their hearts out but the families of the fallen had come to Cassia and requested that they have a bon fire in memory of those brave warriors. So a week after their funerals, Cassia announced to the pack that instead of mourning the loss of their brethren they would celebrate their memories and keep them alive. The pack had not lost its functionality, if anything; the bonds were stronger than ever, everyone felt it. Felt as the pack bond became stronger-unbreakable.

Every day for two hours, Cassia would visit a few of the fifty eight warriors who were in critical condition. With the presence of their Alpha warming them and guiding them back to the light, one by one each warrior woke up. Everything was going back to routine, but just when everyone thought that everything had been settled they were summoned.

Each pack wolf as well as rogue was summoned to the king's castle. It was rare for the entire race to be in one place but the announcement was important. Tyrone had passed a new law, each wolf was to belong to a pack within seven days, no wolf, male or female will ever be without a place called home or suffer at the hands of outsiders again. Wolves were free to choose who they wished to serve under and alas on the 6th day of July, the king of wolves had ended the era of rogues.