The good, the bad, the ugly

Date | 19th of February 2022
Time | Early morning
Weather | It’s drizzling
Where | Outskirts of the forest to the vest
Attire | A big warm leather Jacket, fake leather pants, combat boots and gloves

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So much had happened since she had come back to Athena. It hadn’t been the start she had hoped for, and it was like every time that she felt like she could breathe something else was thrown in her direction. The show down with Quentin, where she had ended up dying the next day because of an outbreak of wolf’s bane in the ventilations system. What a horrible day that had been. Then there was the time where she had been called, because Sebastian had been tortured and almost died. And now, there was these Russian wolves running around in the forest. It hadn’t really been easy to sit down to talk with Walter about them, what was going to happen. If she was once again a part of the pack, if he wanted her to take the role of luna again. Then there was the part where they were missing a beta, but if she was being honest, even though she was a beta werewolf she had never really had the urge to be one. She had loved the role of luna, because she was respected, and she was chosen because of the love her, and Walter had shared. It had been in the cards for them to have a pack and have their family grow bigger with their own kids.

But once again, they were called out to some trouble at the border of Walters territory. She didn’t like the idea that Elisabeth was out there on her own. Even though she was far older than her and Walter combined. Then there were the smaller pups of the pack that needed to be protected. She picked up her pace, as she started to smell Elisabeth nearby. There was no need for words, they had both smelled it and ran together in perfect understanding.

There existed many bad years, and even though 2021 had plenty of good things, there were also, so, so many bad things. Sadly, as of right now, it only seemed like it continued into 2022. She had had some of the pups out with her, crawling around in trees and in general playing around, which had been completely fine until she had caught the smell of what seemed to be unwelcomed werewolves. She had told the kids to get down from the trees. She had told them to gather, because even though she wanted them to get back home to safety, she surely didn’t want any of them to walk alone. While they got down, she had called Walter to tell him trouble was cooking. Good thing she always explained where she went with the pups before she simply left. She kept on counting the pretty little pups until she was certain everyone was there. As soon as everyone was gathered, she told them to hold hands, and that no one could walk without a partner, and as soon as everyone had a hand to hold onto, she told them to march home, her being the last person with one of the five-year-old’s hand in hers. Even though she remained calm, and laughed with every joke, she managed to get them quite a bit away from the border without too many distractions. She kept being cautious about how far away both the unwelcomed werewolves were and how quick Walter and Selene were getting closer. Words that the pups had never heard Elisabeth say, kept repeating themselves in her head, hoping that the pups could get far enough.

Walter had received a call from Elisabeth and didn’t waste time before he had told Selene to follow him to the border. She was out with the pups alone and was certain that she would be needing help if everyone had to get back unhurt. Selene and Walter moved perfectly synchronized towards where Elisabeth had told him she would be, and when they caught her scent, they corrected their direction, picking up their pace.

“Gather,” she spoke in a gentle voice and the small pups were quick to follow her order and gathered in a filled circle. She gently hushed them and turned to keep her eyes to look for the approaching guests. As soon as she got her eye on one, she raised her chin a little. “You’re on private territory,” she said, but the guest didn’t back off. She could feel how anger was building in the chest of the person who was approaching. The emotions of others started to fill the area. “Leave this area and no one will get hurt,” she spoke in French, simply just trying anything that and hoping that it would get through. The slightly unruly fear spread in the pups as more uninvited werewolves appeared. “What do you want?” she growled. But there was no response, only more hatred. What was wrong with these werewolves?
As soon as Selene and Walter arrived, she could only feel how the anger grew from the intruders. What the hell was going on? Walter didn’t need to speak in order to understand what the problem was. This was most certainly the Russian pack that had invaded Athena.

Selene managed to get herself in front of Elisabeth and the four wolves standing there looking at them. Now, she didn’t know much about this unwanted pack that was moving in on Athena. Other that they were running with a codex that didn’t allowed women in packs. And in general, the females were just tools to be used to make sure that the line of purebloods continued. Strong male werewolves. She growled as one of them turned their head towards her. Not only was she a female werewolf, but she was also a beta at that. That had to piss them off.
“Move around them” Selene, looked over her shoulder, wanting her and the kids out of here before it turned ugly. At least she had the full trust in Walter, knowing he would be able to hold his ground. Especially since it seemed like they were all just normal purebloods. Not that it meant they should let their guard down. Clearly, they had been stupid enough to walk into the ground.
“Where is the boy?” one of the men asked, long curly hair going down to his shoulders. His entire aura made it run down cold of Selene’s back. She narrowed he eyes and didn’t respond. She had no idea who this boy was, other than Damian and Melanie had reached out and told people that they were looking for Stephen’s boy. But he wasn’t here, and no one could know which rouge mother was running around raising an alpha’s boy.

Elisabeth appreciated that Selene got in front of her, so she hopefully could focus on the pups that had gathered. As Selene commanded them to get moving, Elisabeth turned her full attention to the pups, “You heard her,” she said and scooted to the kids, so they got moving. She made sure to keep an eye on everyone and made sure that they kept holding hands as they walked away from the uninvited pack. Elisabeth was going to keep a third eye on Walter and Selene, to make sure they didn’t need her help.

Walter narrowed his eyes as one of them asked for a boy. “Even if I knew the boy, I wouldn’t tell you. So, make good use of your own time and leave,” he said giving them a nod. Now, he knew that the werewolves would either pick up a fight or leave, so why not just get to the point, correct?

The wolf that had been speaking snared at Walter as he told them that he wouldn’t tell him. “You owe us Shaw; don’t you forget that” he growled putting the otherwise beautiful face in angry folds that made him look worse than he was. Selene looked towards Walter after the words had been spoken, and even though she knew there was a debt, she wasn’t really sure how far it rooted. After all, he had bitten Irina, a meeting that still hadn’t happened.
But the male squared his shoulders, rolling them back as he closed his eyes for a moment. Then looked towards Selene “You were to bite the Russian whore and then kill her when she had felt the poison go through her veins, not leave her be” the soft crack of his neck could be heard by everyone. Then, out of nowhere the four wolves ran towards Selene, the look in the eyes told her all she needed to know, they were going to try and kill her.

Walter understood their reason to be angry. They didn’t understand how life was supposed to be. He felt sad that their view of life was so narrow, having to kill children and female werewolves. “It doesn’t change that I don’t have the boy you’re looking for,” he snarled back. Now, there was a small temper within werewolves, and the higher the rank, the smaller the temper, and the way that these men had already set their small minds to hurt Selene didn’t really please the tall alpha. Even though he knew that Selene looked at him, he wasn’t about to break eye contact with these idiots. The roots of Walter’s debt were so deep that it had spread from Bratva to this God-awful pack. He doubted that this was the last pack that he was going to hear from. This was no good.
As soon as the werewolf started to mention what Walter had been assigned to do, he interrupted: “Shut your mouth,” he almost roared, but it wasn’t enough to stop the werewolves from trying to charge towards Selene. Now, they could scare the kids and worry Elisabeth, but specifically planning to kill Selene, that was a boundary he knew they should never had thought of. If she was getting badly hurt, he was definitely not going to play by the book. He knew very well that she could fight for herself, but that didn’t change the fact that he didn’t want her to get hurt. The constant fear of loosing her would haunt him to the end of his days. So, naturally, he ran directly towards Selene to get in front of her, almost like a human shield. Which he could be to some extent. “It’s no use to kill her,” he growled at them, throwing the first werewolf towards the incoming one, “She’ll come back every time,” a fist was planted solid onto another’s face.

Selene’s eyes started to shine in a brighter colour as she heard how Walter roared that they should shut their mouth. She could feel how her wolf begged to come out to play, but she tried to pull back the reins so she would get herself into too much trouble, mostly because even though she would get back if she was killed. It took a toll on her, every time.
She could hear the crack of the jaw that was broken when Walter’s fist connected with it. Turning her attention, she looked towards the last wolf that came rushing towards her. Every time she managed to use her own abilities to move out of the way and land a solid kick or hit towards his body. That was, until she heard something behind her and then a burning sensation as a bullet tore through her shin. A roar left her as she almost buckled but managed to grab the man in front of her arm and snapped it while she roared in both anger and pain.

Walter noticed how the last werewolf was fighting Selene, and he could almost feel how his body tensed up as he approached. He was about to interfere, and pin the other werewolf down, but he never got that far, since he could hear something behind him, and shortly after how Selene roared in pain and anger. Walter’s eyes shifted color, showing his rank, and his aura almost thickened by the second. With a quick flex of his fingers, his hands shifted, and he turned to face the one that had gotten up and chosen to shoot Selene. With a simple jump he tackled the man with the gun. Midair, he noticed how the other werewolf was holding the gun, aiming at him now, that was when his eyes turned completely red, and he turned berserk. He received two gunshots in the chest and with a simple movement his claws tore the gunman’s throat, resulting in blood splattering onto Walter. He was transforming more and more for every second, getting hairier and taller. The one who had broken his jaw, tried to knock Walter out with a rock, but it only resulted in Walter looking over his shoulder with a growl before he jumped onto the person with the stone in his hands. He bit the man’s throat, now that his head had transformed completely, leaving blood in all of Walter’s face. He pulled his face up, pulling the trachea out of the throat and turned to the man he had thrown. Walter stood up in his full height and looked down at the guy who couldn’t match the height. A low growl left him before he ran towards the untransformed werewolf and tore his back up with teeth can claws, leaving a terrified scream, as he bled out. First when the man was done screaming, he pulled himself away and searched for the next target. Two people, both of them hurt. One was shot, the other had a broken arm.

It wasn’t the first time that Selene had seen just what Walter was capable off. The first time, she had been scared, not knowing what to do, as he had torn through men as a knife cut through melted butter. Her legs buckled under her, as she felt how the silver and nightshade started the enter her system, almost paralysing her from the wound where the bullet had entered, and out her left arm and shoulder.
Not long after, almost all of the men were killed, leaving only to behind, for a moment it looked like they were just going to attack, but the one that had been shot grabbed his companion and they started to run away, clearly seeing that they were in over their heads, and hadn’t expected an alpha being so strong. First mistake really, to count on the fact that he wasn’t strong enough to take on the Russian pack. Especially when they had gone after Elisabeth and the kids, she would be alright after all.
To make sure that Walter wouldn’t run off after them, she staggered as quickly as she could towards him, and almost as if she wasn’t hurt at all, she managed to grab him around his neck, and pressed her head against his coat of dark hair. “come back to me” she said in high enough whisper so he would hear her, not letting go even though she knew that he had a hard time differentiate between foe and friend.

The two survivors started running. It was like pouring gasoline on a fire and he started to approach them, slowly accelerating until he felt something jump onto his back. A whisper caught him, and he turned to look over his shoulder, seeing a woman. He quickly tried to turn around, though it didn’t seem like she was shaken off. He growled at her and tried to turn around the other way. Her voice was almost like an echo in his mind and before he could even finish turning around he tumbled onto all fours, grunting. He shook his head, almost as if he was trying to shake the voice out of his ears. His eyes were closed shut.

Elisabeth finally came running, after having made sure that the kids were assigned a parent or more. She noticed how Walter had transformed fully, with Selene clinging onto him as if it depened on her life. The only Russians here were dead men. Keeping her distance, she made sure to spread the feeling that Selene had made Walter feel. He sounded like a tortured dog, which made sense, since he was coming more back to himself, which also meant that he would be able to feel what had happened to him.

All tension in his body was lessened and the eyes looked like a normal alpha again. He hadn’t transformed back. Elisabeth could feel his confusion and hurried towards the couple. She had a hand on each of them and looked up when she noticed another person approach. This time, it was someone who she felt like she knew – but there was something about the hormonal smell that made her confused. “We have to tend your wounds,” she commanded, hoping to get them home as quickly as possible. She knew very well that she was in a lower rank, but she also knew that she had much more sense than both of them combined right now. Whoever was approaching was not someone who should witness what had been going on. No matter if it was a friend or foe.

Maybe it was foolish to think that she was still able to pull this type of weight. But she hadn’t even thought about the fact that she wasn’t his luna anymore. No, she had just done what she always had done. Get through that barrier that was put up when he turned on that side of him on. The animal that just didn’t think but did what it needed to do, to protect the ones that it loved. Even if it sometimes ended up with him killing even them, he had tried to protect. It was like a double-edged sword.
As Walter tried to shake her off, she just whispered the words again, letting her arms hold a little tighter around his neck. But in the same process she could feel the poison spread through her like rapid wildfire.

As she could see and feel that he was back, she slowly let go. Staggering on her feet to gain footing. She looked towards Elisabeth as she spoke about tending her wounds. “Yeah that, might be a good idea” she whispered, feeling how sweat was gliding down her forehead. She hadn’t missed this feeling. The burning sensation of a bullet piercing through her skin. Nor the effects of nightshade. Both things that she had experienced last year. “I’ll just sit down” she whispered, ending up falling on her behind. A groan left her as she held onto the wound that didn’t seem to heal up as it should. “Shit” she whispered, lying down on the cold ground. It was almost soothing, as it felt like her entire body was burning up.

Walter growled a little as Selene agreed to Elisabeth. Of course, the stubborn alpha believed he could continue fighting with gunshots in his stomach. Elisabeth was quick to support Selene so she could sit down without falling. “I should’ve stayed,” she mumbled, mostly to herself, receiving another growl from Walter. “Shut up,” Elisabeth hissed, and he rolled down onto his side. “Sit still,” she whispered and did everything she could to make both relax as much as possible. “I’ll take the bullet, okay,” she whispered to Selene with a caring tone. Now this wasn’t really because it was the most sanitary thing to do, but she chose to dig her fingers into the wound to get the silver bullet out. It wasn’t an easy task and it also hurt Elisabeth. She continuously tried to look up to see who it was who approached, but as Walter caught the smell of the person, he called for it with a howl. “Fuck- Walter!” she hissed thinking he was causing more trouble than good.

From some trees Riley came running. Short hair, thick brows and having started on testosterone. “What the-” the odd voice sounded, and he walked straight over to Elisabeth, “Let me carry her, I can’t carry him,” he said and glanced towards the fully transformed alpha. Elisabeth was slightly shaken but managed to pull the bullet out and put Selene over Riley’s shoulder. Riley started leaving with Selene immediately while tiny Elisabeth could pull the gigantic alpha onto her back and start to pull him home.
As soon as they reached the nearest home; Elisabeth’s. She arrived before Riley and immediately tended to his wounds, wrapped him up and threw him onto the couch when Riley entered with the sickly-looking Selene. “Nightshade?” she wondered and started to mix some goods she had in her cabinet that should ease the poison.

“You shouldn’t” Selene tried to warn her because she thought the bullet might be coated in nightshade, but she had also seen bullets that almost exploded inside when it had hit. She just didn’t want Elisabeth to hurt when she at least could take it. Her eyes flickered towards Walter as he started growling and she hissed as fingers started looking around after the bullet. “Damn it, Elisabeth” she mumbled and turned her eyes towards the newcomer. Just like everyone else it took a while before she recognised the young boy, then a toothy smile formed on her lips. “Hi Riley” she greeted, and then let out a low growl of pain as the bullet was finally out.

Maybe she had lost consciousness as they walked through the forest, because she was pretty sure that it had gone faster than it should have done. She felt so heavy and tired in her body, and she wasn’t sure if anything would come of it. Maybe she just needed to sleep, yeah maybe that was it.
“Yeah, seems like it injected the poison into the blood stream” she added having tried a little of everything at this point. “How is he” she asked nodding towards the couch closing her eyes and hissed as she felt how the poison tried to get to her heart.

Elisabeth hushed at Selene as she told Elisabeth to stop. Elisabeth could do her part, taking the bullet out would only feel uncomfortable to her, compared to having it inside a body, and if it was covered in nightshade, it was better to get it out now than have it stay inside. Elisabeth could take it better than the others. “A little longer,” she spoke softly to Selene as she cursed at her. Riley greeted Selene with a slightly worried smile before he carried her home.

“You did well Selene,” she whispered as she walked back to Selene. She looked at Selene as she asked about how he was. She followed her eyes to the couch and held her breath for a moment only to turn her gaze back to Selene as she hissed. “I’ll tell you when you’re okay,” she said while she moved closer to her, picking up her head, “Drink,” she told the tanned woman before she poured some of the liquid into Selene’s mouth. As it seemed like there were some left, she poured some of it into the gun hole and took the thick paste that was left and smeared it in the cuts behind Selene’s knees.

A sharp laugh left Selene as Elisabeth told her she would tell her when she felt better. That didn’t really reassure her. “That is some backwards way of telling me that I should focus on myself instead” she licked her lips before parting them as she was ordered to drink something she wasn’t sure what was.
Pulling a face, she swallowed, not that she was much for it. Coughing, she almost snorted some liquid up her nose as Elisabeth poured the mixture into the wound. “Fuck, Elisabeth!” she coughed, gripping onto the chair she was sitting in. “How are you both putting it down my throat and in the wound! That doesn’t seem remotely right!” she looked towards Riley, pulling another face before seeing the paste closing off the nasty entry wound that the bullet had made. “Anything else?” she murmured, leaning back, feeling like she had been plastered like a wall. She was trying not to overthink the odour that came from the paste.

Elisabeth chuckled very shortly as Selene mentioned that Elisabeth was trying to convince her to focus on herself. But it might as well have been what Elisabeth had said, because Selene truly needed to focus on herself as of right now. Selene did as told, even though it was visible that she truly didn’t like what was going on. Even more so when she vocalized it. Elisabeth just calmly and very focused hushed her and made sure that Selene wasn’t ruining her healing for herself. “The nightshade is already in your system,” Elisabeth explained, “Which is why you have to drink it too,” she explained.
Riley’s eyes simply widened as he kept his eyes on everything. Well, it only made him very, very sure that he didn’t want to get too close to nightshade. “Well, that depends if you’re hurt anywhere else that I haven’t already treated you,” Elisabeth said looking up at Selene for a moment, looking for anything abnormal about her, “Riley, dearest, would you please fetch some water for Selene?” Elisabeth asked without taking her eyes of Selene. Riley simply nodded before he turned around and poured a glass. “You have to drink a lot of water so we’re certain that your kidneys can get rid of it all, okay?” Elisabeth said stretching her arm out, just in time for Riley to give the water to her. Elisabeth handed it to Selene. “You have to take care of your body, darling,” she said and narrowed her eyes a little. Selene was quite good ad handling things herself, but sometimes, she just had to remember herself a little more than everyone else around her – just like Elisabeth had to remember that sometimes you had to save your own ass before you save others.

Selene raised a brow as Elisabeth asked her if there was anywhere else she was hurting. At this point, she wasn’t sure what was hurting, what were old scars, and what was related to the times she had died and come back to life. So she just shook her head and gave Riley a small smile as she was handed a glass of water. “Thanks”, she mumbled, and then a short dry laugh left her as she was told to take care of her body. “Stop mothering me, Elisabeth; it’s not like I’ll die”, she said, not really thinking about how harsh her tone was, but at the moment, she was in pay, and all she really wanted was some peace and quiet. And for someone to tell her how Walter was doing. Not that she asked again, but the thought was still there as her eyes flickered towards her love lying on the couch. Bloody hell. What an afternoon it had turned out to be. Selene drank the rest of the water before she handed it back to Riley, closing her eyes for a moment as she leaned back in the chair she had been placed in and closed her eyes, hoping that rest might find her.

Elisabeth gave Selene a look that told Selene that she shouldn’t be saying such things. “Sure dear,” she mumbled a little bitterly, “But you can still take care of your body” she added. “Rest,” she mumbled, “I’ll make sure Walter will be right back,” she said almost humming while she found a blanket for Selene. She glanced towards Riley who now stood with the glass, “Another round, pup,” she said which made Riley turn around without a word to fill the glass again. She handed Selene the blanket, almost folded out for her. She gave her a short nod and squeezed her hand shortly before she turned to give Walter more care. As she sat down on her knees next to him, he grabbed her wrist before she could even touch him. “Walter,” she hissed at him, he hit her hands before he with a pained grunt tried to turn away from her, “Walter,” she said softer, and she put her hands on his shoulder and arm trying to convince him to look at her so she could take care of the wounds he had. Her hands however only just touched him before she took her hands back with a sigh. “Alright,” she mumbled, placing her hands on her thighs before she got back up and walked back to Selene. “He won’t let me tend his wounds,” she mumbled and inspected how Selene was sitting and how she could move her closer to Walter without getting her out of the chair. She looked over at Walter who was still facing the backrest. “He’s ashamed,” she mumbled to her, “So, I’m going to move you closer to him so he can warm up a little, hm?” she told her, mostly waiting for Selene to approve before she would squat down and carry the stool with her in it over to Walter, so she would be able to see his face.

Selene observed how Elisabeth tried to get Walter to talk to her, only to get the cold shoulder. A soft sigh left the female werewolf, and when Elisabeth told her that she would move her close, she was just about to argue that she could walk perfectly fine on her own two legs. However, she knew better, so she just nodded to give her consent and then tried to sit as still as possible so it wouldn’t be too much trouble for the older tribrid.
“Walter?” she whispered as she finally was close enough; her hand found his arm and slowly forced him to turn so she could look at him. “Come on, don’t be such a sour wolf; we only need that from Roman”, she chuckled, leaning down and giving him a soft kiss against his cheek. “We're are fine” she mumbled, “but I really need you to let Elisabeth tend your wounds”, she whispered by his ear before letting her lips press against his earlobe.

He heard how Elisabeth moved Selene closer and couldn’t help but be slightly bothered by it. He wished for solitude so his thoughts could tear him a little down, so he could settle. He felt so responsible for Selene’s wounds. Selene’s voice spoke his name, and he closed his eyes with a soft sigh, opening them as she turned him. She joked with how Roman was the sour wolf, and it made him tug a bit on a smile. He couldn’t help but find it a little funny. His eyes closed as she leaned down to give him a soft kiss. She assured him that there were no hard feelings about what had happened. He didn’t fully believe it, because he knew that when he went berserk things could go really, really wrong and it wasn’t okay. She told him to let Elisabeth take care of his wounds, which made him raise his hand to gently caress her head, looking towards her. “I’m sorry,” he whispered almost impossible to hear. Walter was truly not the man who apologized often, which only made the words mean and fill so much more. Finally, he turned the last bit so his back was against the sitting cushion, inviting Elisabeth to approach again, though he didn’t promise he wouldn’t bite.

Elisabeth took the opportunity to tend his wounds. It was some bad shots he had gotten, but there were no bullets in him and just needed extra care to heal. With her, she had another home-mixed paste that she put on each of his wounds. While she put it on, she could feel how Walter stared at her, not liking any moment of it. Clenched jaw, flared nostrils, and eyes that could possibly kill. But she knew that he didn’t mean it, he was just very, very upset. He believed he was getting old and incapable of protecting Selene, his pack, and his family. Elisabeth cleaned a little up before she managed to make him sit up so she could wrap his torso so the paste could get peace to work. When she was done, she gave Walter a quick look before she turned her gaze to Selene, giving her a welcoming smile; telling her that Selene could relax and get some alone time with Walter. “Call me if you need me,” she told them before she found Riley and took him out to her chickens.

With a clenched jaw, he leaned back, grimacing a little from the pain. “That was a shitshow,” he mumbled, clearly bothered by all of it. He was almost certain that Selene had lots of questions. After all, the Russian werewolves had reminded all of them that he owed the Russian mafia, and thereby that pack too.

Selene moved just enough so Elisabeth could tend to and care for the wounds. Her eyes stared at the slender hands moving over his dark sun-kissed skin, working so fast that she wasn’t really able to follow, not while tiredness still hung so heavily in her eyes and body. It took everything in her to not just lean back and close her eyes, but if she did so, she was sure that she wouldn’t wake up before her body once again felt healed and rested.
Not that she could fit it, even if she tried with every fibre of her body. Darkness quickly engulfed her and lulled her into a dreamless sleep.

She blinked. Had she fallen asleep? A little unsure what was happening around her, she turned her head, letting her dark eyes look at Elisabeth when she told them they should just call. It seemed that she had fallen asleep, even if she had just told herself not to.
“Okay,” she whispered, her voice heavy from the sleep she had just awoken from.
Her hand found Walters and gave it a slight squeeze as he told her what he thought about recent events. A low chuckle formed in the back of her throat. “Yeah, you can say that again,” she whispered, then she tilted her head “stop blaming yourself for today; it won’t do us any good”, she told him, even if she knew that Walter didn’t want to listen to her reason, it would be hard for her to convince him. Still, she had to try.

She squeezed his hand, but it didn’t regain his eyes, it was first when he heard the small laugh that he looked toward her. She could always ease his mood. The way her lips pulled up in a smile, showing her teeth, the way it made her cheeks gain that reddish glow, and the round sweet small apples of her cheeks. He loved how her eyes looked when she laughed or chuckled. He even picked up how her eyebrows moved when she laughed or smiled. Her voice was like a warm blanket on a cold winter night and her eyes knew just how to find which part of his soul she wanted to be in contact with. He could get lost in those eyes. A small, amused hum left him as she agreed with how he had thought about the event in the forest. His eyes caught hers when she told him not to blame himself. The hum that had been so kindly amused a moment ago now almost resembled a disagreeing growl, “If it had been any other alpha things wouldn’t have escalated like that,” he mumbled. But it wasn’t even the truth. As soon as a female werewolf was involved the pack would have a motive to kill. “I could have handled it differently,” he mostly just thought out loud, so she understood why he was so conflicted. He twisted his body a bit and felt how the wounds made him wince a bit in pain. “I don’t care if you respawn, I have to-” he stopped himself clenching his teeth. “I don’t want to see you die again. Selene, I can’t-” he didn’t even know what words he wished to say, because his mind was simply replaying the pain that he had felt for so long. Animating any kind of death that could have happened today. His voice was showing vulnerability. It hurt him way more than those flesh wounds.