*One month later*

"Alpha."

...

"Alpha!"

...

"Feather!"

"What?"

The emotionless face turns to the caller of her name, and the latter has to inhale sharply to get used to the look on their Alpha's almost dead face.

"Everyone's waiting for you downstairs."

"Why?"

They cough and swallow, trying to get words out as smoothly as possible.

"It's the signing ceremony. To welcome the White Stone pack."

"Oh." She pauses, focusing her gaze back at the wall opposite her. "Ask Juliene to handle it. She has my stamp."

The speaker wipes sweat off their head and dares to speak again.

"We- we need you, Alpha."

A scoff is heard.

"Well, you can't use a dead soul anyway."

"Bu-"

"Leave if you want to live."

This sentence came out lacing with a heavy tone and growl, and the speaker can see the nails coming out.

"Forgive me, Alpha." They bow and rush out of the room.

Feather's shoulders slump and the cry of her wolf squeezes her heart in agonizing pain, nails digging in her palms till they bleed.

Before her restless mind can take over what's left of her sanity, she jumps right through the window of her room and shifts mid-air, padding off towards the dense woods.

Nothing works.

Not a single thing she does to get her mind to divert or to make her heart to forget, nothing ever works.

On the contrary, every damn single thing reminds her of him.

His scent, his laughter, his eyes, his memories, his voice, his touch, everything haunts Feather.

Was it always this difficult to breathe alone? She'd lived all on her own before, right? Then why does it feel like every intnake of breath is as if swallowing thorns? Why?

Day rolls to an end and night appears, again, but still her heart remains empty.

Her wolf sprawls across the clearing she often visited with her mate during their runs, letting her soul absorb the lingering sense of her mate as much as is left in the atmosphere.

"Florian?"

Her wolf cries. The lack of response tears her insides every time even though she knows there will never be a response for this name again. For as long as she lives.

"Alpha? Alpha Arya?"

Feather jumps hearing her name called so suddenly.

Funny, right? The Alpha always on alert, gaze sharp like vultures and senses as high as a thrown lance, now startled over a mere presence hovering her from behind. Indeed.

This is what is left of the once fierce Alpha Arya.

Her wolf growls, hind legs pushing back in a defensive stance as her canines grow.

The woman, who had called her, raises her hands in surrender to show she means no harm. She tilts her head to the side to show submission but Feather doesn't lose her posture.

"Speak." She says.

The woman humbles herself down on her knees, displaying her submissive state and mean of no harm as she begins speaking.

"I've been trying to reach you for a couple weeks now, but no one allows me to have an appointment with you."

A low rumble comes as a reply from the Alpha.

"C- can we talk? In h- human form." She swallows thickly.

When Feather doesn't budge, the woman manages to look directly in the red pit of her eyes, mustering all of her courage.

"I-it's ab- about the- the Aleph."

A huge paw comes clashing at her face and her scream echoes around the bustling trees before the woman falls and goes unconscious.

__________

"Are you freaking crazy?!"

"How could you harm a pack member?! It's about time you got yourself together, Feather!"

Juliene's screams sound like a buzzing of a bee as Feather monotonously stares at the same woman from earlier lying on the bed while the pack doctor aids to her face.

"I'm so done with you, Feather! This is not you! Alpha Arya would never hurt her own!"

"I'm not that fucking Alpha anymore!!" She screams back, finally snapping, her chest heaving as she glares at her twin. "That Alpha you all so much worshipped died with her mate! Get that in your fucking thick heads!"

That's the first time she'd mentioned about Florian's death. First time she admitted it to herself out loud that her Florian is no more.

And the weight of the words come crashing down on her broken heart like heavy concretes but she holds herself up.

Juliene admits defeat.

All of them present in the room shows their necks in submission, and the woman gains consciousness from the force of power in the room.

Following Feather's control of her pheromones, Juliene and the doctor stomp out of the room, leaving the woman and Feather alone.

Feather attempts to leave as well but the woman stops her.

"Alpha, please." She begs.

Closing and re-opening her eyes, Feather exhales shakily.

"Don't."

"Ple-"

"Stop!" She yells, putting her hand on the knob to get out of the room when the woman speaks again, this time managing to capture the Alpha's attention.

"There's a way to get the Aleph back!"

Feather's wolf takes over before she can process what was said to her.

"I'm speaking the truth, Alpha! Your soul and mark, it's in the Aleph as well and I have a spell! This- this can bring the Aleph back.

I've been working on this spell for years and maybe the Goddess has finally gave me success just now to help you. To bring our Aleph back. Please listen to me once, Alpha. I swear on my child's life I'm not lying!"

For some reason, hearing all of this makes Feather's dead heart twist in unsettlement, and hope.

Hope? Is there any hope actually left?

If there is, the wolf part of her existence wants to grasp onto it with all her might.

_________

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