A heart spent

She clung to Vail’s grave, never wanting to leave her side. She whispered apologies to the small white girl, begging forgiveness for not fixing this, for not concentrating on the two of them for so long, and knowing how much she missed her, now that she was gone. Vail what was Shaye without her? She was the calm and steady presence in Shaye’s world. She was the laughter, and the goodness. She was the one who made Shaye who she was today, someone who wished to look out for others. Her part in raising Vail had insured it.

She almost didn’t hear the voice of her alpha partner, and she sniffed, failing to stop her tears as she looked up at him. He had lost so much as well, but she saw nothing but understanding and comfort in his eyes when she managed to look at him.

She turned and buried her face into his coat, forgetting for a moment the distance between them. “Rh-Rhyme. I can’t do this anymore. I clung to Abaven to keep alive the memories of the past, but without Vail that passed meant nothing” she was choking on her tears, and she took a moment to find her breath, to clear her airways. The tears where still there, shimmering in her gaze, but for a moment she could breath again. This was an important thing she needed to tell him. “I wish to train the next Alpha, and when they are ready, step down to raise Vail’s children. I-I-I” -pause, as she lost her breath, and needed a moment to catch it. Her heart squeezed painfully as she thought of Motif. Here she was about to take on the role of parenthood, when she had already failed her own. “I wish to ask a favour of you, a favour so great I shouldn’t, but I must” she said, clinging to her Alpha partner. “I ask if you will step down as well, and search for Motif, for our child, and return her to us. And when you return, its up to you what you wish to do, to continue as an Alpha figure and role model, or retire yourself. Regardless, Abaven will never be the same after this.”