The Afterlife

Chapter 5: Devils

The wind whizzed past Kaori as he patrolled the border. The past few weeks had been hard for Kaori. He'd lost weight, of course. He hadn't wanted to eat. He'd returned to his duties as a warrior in charge of training the pack, but his heart wasn't in it. It was with his mate. His trips to the library became increasingly frequent, as did his nightmares. His grief felt infinite; every time his mate died, he always worried that it would be the last time he ever saw her. His wolf became increasingly reclusive and absent as a result of the loneliness. And yet, he was no closer to finding his mate than he had been on the day before he'd first found her.

He was beginning to lose count of the number of times he'd witnessed her death. It was always traumatic. The blood, so much blood... bleeding out... He always tried to save her but it never worked. She died in his arms. He had nightmares now, how she'd be running in the forest, bleeding out, but somehow running away from him. No matter how Kaori tried, he couldn't stop the bleeding.

You seem like you're about to get PTSD, Steven had said. Maybe you need a referral to psychiatry.

I'm fine, he'd insisted. I just need to find her.

But who was Kaori fooling more other than himself? He really wasn't fine. And as each day worsened, he found himself unable to focus on anything other than his mate. Sure, he'd done what Gamma Ellen had asked of him, but he didn't enjoy serving his pack anymore. Not since he'd begun losing his mate before they'd barely even met.

Gamma Ellen and the pack leadership were still working to resolve the conflicts within the pack. There were rumors that the Omegas were refusing to work at times, as well as rumors of a rebellion, but Kaori wasn't sure if they were real or not. His first priority, whether the pack liked it or not, was his mate. He had little choice in the matter now; his wolf was in control.

He finished his rounds, making sure nothing was suspicious, before he handed off the shift to Delia, a younger warrior who had been doing well in her training. Delia, in wolf form, lowered her head in respect when she approached. Kaori let his wolf tongue out in a smile, letting Delia know that he hadn't seen any threats.

As soon as he saw Delia set off in her patrol shift, he turned back to his thoughts. He was no closer to a solution than ever.

At that moment, an alarm sounded through the pack link. Danger. All warriors report to the pack house. Danger.

As much as he wasn't feeling up to it, the Beta's word was pack word, and his wolf had no choice but to obey. He sprinted back toward the pack house as fast as he could, worried for his pack. If he couldn't protect his mate, at least he would try his best - however limited it was at the time - to protect his pack.

Oh, no. He knew it was bad when he saw the blood. For a fleeting second, he thought he saw his mate lying there, bleeding out and screaming. But he looked again. It wasn't his mate. It looked like Steven's mate, Nessa, but it wasn't Nessa.

Goddess... please don't make things even worse...

It was the Luna.

And as he watched, paralyzed, unable to act, Luna Viv suddenly rose to her feet, despite the blood dripping down her body, soaking her clothes. It was as if Luna Viv was being controlled by supernatural forces. Kaori watched in horror, alongside his father and the Alpha, with both of them seemingly frozen in shock.

Viv's bloodshot eyes opened wider than Kaori had ever seen before, as if they were being pried open and about to fall out. Blood was running out of Viv's nose, yet somehow she remained standing - albeit limply, as if she was lying down, but gravity had shifted direction in a way that only worked for the Luna.