Little by Little

Talon could have waited; his mark would have naturally disappeared when turned twenty one as it did with all wolves so that they may freely choose to stay with the pack. The Alpha would have a ceremony and bite again.

All color drained from Keller's face and he ran out the room, ignoring the surprised calls of his father and his friends. As he ran across the pack grounds he could smell fresh blood tainted with the sickly sweet scent of wolfsbane and metallic scent of silver. He followed the lingering traces of Talon's smell but as he ran farther and farther into the woods the smell became less noticeable. He morphed into his half Alpha state, but even then the smell was weak. With a heartbroken howl, he fell to his knees and dug his claws into his thighs. He thought the self induced pain might stave off the crippling heartache shattering his heart but it did nothing. He clawed at the ground like the animal he was and keened for his mate.

He heard his friends scrambling after him, the smell of his father and mother not far behind as they followed his howls. Glenna looked on with understanding, while Kaylan looked confused. Percy was the only one brave enough to near the grieving Alpha. Getting down to her knees, she slowly crawled to him and touched his thigh. At the touch, Kaylan shifted back into his human form. As a newling, he wouldn't be able to sustain the form for as long as a more experienced Alpha would.

Percy took him in her arms and let him sob against her shoulder, ignoring the blood now staining her clothes. She rocked him back and forth, shaking her head at the onlookers to war them against coming near them.

"I want Talon," Keller hiccupped against her throat.

"I know, I know." Percy stroked his hair and hugged him tighter, knowing she was a poor substitute for Keller's mate.

tbc

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p.p.s do you guys want the next update this long or broken up in half? 10,000+ means more waiting in between uploads and around 5,000 words means the plot will sort of be broken between the updates. Let me know below, I love hearing from you guys.

p.p.p.s. I need another editor as I want AdrianaBelen to focus on Gilded in Gold and I need someone else who really likes this story to edit the next behemoth installment full of my mistakes, so please email me if you're interested.