Everything that happens once cannot happen twice. But if by chance it happens twice, it will surely happen a third time.
...
The moon looked down upon the tragic sight of the pack that was, just a while ago, an example of what the perfect pack should be. A small circle of well-knit pack members, all strong enough to defend themselves, yet soft enough to understand all human emotions. Pride, kindness, love, and now, loss.
The perfect balance of man and beast.
A woman frantically ran across the pack, checking every clearing where they gathered the bodies of the dead. She couldn't feel the bond anymore, but she couldn't accept it either.
She saw the Gamma and ran towards him. He would know.
As he turned to see her, his already solemn face turned even darker, as he looked at her with sadness.
"Rosa, go be with the other women and children. Please," he said looking at anywhere but her.
"No! Where is he! Where is my Bryn!" she could feel the tears in her eyes but she wouldn't let them flow.
"Please Rosa, you have to go," he said, pleading.
That's when she caught the scent, marred by the scent of blood. She turned to look behind him, only to see the body of her mate being brought in by two younger warriors.
A scream resounded across the clearing, engulfing the forest around them. She ran towards him, holding his face in her shaking hands, crying terribly. Nobody came to stop her, for they know better than to stop a wolf from mourning for their soulmate.
She pressed a soft kiss to his lips and then to his forehead. She stopped her tears forcefully, for she was told as a child that the sadness of the mourners becomes the sadness of the dead.
Slowly, she pulled herself away from him, and ran into the forest, letting out her wolf.
She ran through the trees, howling and making the moon a witness to her loss.
Her howls were replied to by the faintest of cries. A cry of a baby.
The wolf relinquished her body to Rosabelle, and she carefully listened to hear the cry again. It wasn't far, but it was muffled.
Soon, she found a child wrapped up in silk and covered in the dirt as it cried, perhaps hurt. It was a baby girl. She carefully took the infant in her arms, only for her to immediately stop crying.
The child looked up at her savior to be met with a soft and teary smile.
Rosabelle held her closer to her chest and sobbed as hundreds of emotions ran through her mind.
The child had pink skin, a small tuft of black hair on her tiny head, and the most beautiful eyes Rosabelle had ever seen.
As she carried the child back to her pack, she whispered to her, touching her cheek with care.
"I will keep you safe, Raynhildur."
...
Twenty-one years later
The sky is darker than usual tonight. I can feel the dewy grass underneath my bare feet which stretches for miles in every direction. My cottage is not far from where I am standing. It's quite humble for my taste, but being here calms me down.
I come here when I feel upset, lonely or scared. It's a safe haven I return to when I sense impending danger.
I can hear thunder in the distance but I can't see the lightning. I feel something is wrong but I just can't understand what that something is.
This anxiety is going to be the death of me.
Sometimes, my thoughts scare me more than anything else. I always do this. Just when everything seems to be perfect, something tugs at the strings of my heart, telling me it's all too good to be true.
I am not a good person really. I judge people without regrets. If I don't like you, I'll make sure you know it. I'm not one to hide behind fake feelings and I want only those kind of people around me.
Probably why I don't have any friends.
So I think to myself, with all this bad karma, do I really deserve this peace?