A/N: Trigger warning for violence and gore.
Ethan could not take his eyes off Bannerman's charred remains. The captain's eyeless sockets bore into the alpha, accusatory whispers filling his head.
This is your fault. You did this. You should've protected me, Alpha. You failed me.
Ethan's heart trembled, and a low, mournful howl rolled out his mouth.
This was his fault. He knew what he must do - what he should have done the moment his warriors started struggling to subdue the infected without killing them.
The solution had been evident when the nonchalant tower hags had tossed fires in their midst, not caring if it killed their enslaved victims or the wolves who had come to rescue them. It had been right in his face when he connected with Ana back at the hospital.
This was why Luna blessed him with a blooded warrior as a mate: to show him how to defeat the black snakes. She gave Ethan the tools to fight back.
But he had been too scared to use it, too selfish that he might fail and the witches would overpower him.
"I'm so sorry, Bannerman," he murmured futilely over the pack link. His words would never be enough.
The captain's squad gathered around the ashes. Their soft huffs and gentle whines sang of their anguish.
Ethan backed away, allowing them to grieve.
Boom! Boom! The building shook, and more plaster flaked off the walls as fighting raged in the hallways around them. A dust cloud rained on Ethan's head, but he hardly blinked. The deadly calm in his heart was complete. It wrapped him like a second skin.
The alpha knew what to do.
"Brent, protect my body. Eri, watch over Jan." Then he closed his eyes.
He fed his orange flames with the pain of Bannerman's death, his fears for Cody and Damien, his rage at the hags, and the senseless torture of his people. The inferno grew around the blue orb tucked at its center. Then, it tightened into a fiery tornado, lighting every corner of his mental space.
"Ethan?" The worried lilting tenor sounded mere inches from his pointed ear.
The gray wolf was tempted to nuzzle his mate to calm him, but he wrestled control back to the task at hand. He was putting Jan in more danger if he could not get this done.
He fired off the first tendril, letting his instincts guide him into the abyss to Luna's children. Two more probes followed it, patting forward in the dim shelves, seeking the golf-sized ball of any Lycan's essence.
"No, Ethan. Don't!" Jan warned, drawing the gray wolf into his arms.
Ethan felt his mate's unease. He grabbed it and fed it to his flames, replacing it with the calm tides blanketing his heart.
Soon, one of his tendrils brushed another fiery awareness.
"Alpha?" A directionless male voice queried in his head.
Ethan did not respond to the nameless warrior in his pack. A glow of the goddess's power singed a path between them, establishing a connection. Then Ethan let go, moving on to the next.
"Alpha!" A surprised she-wolf gasped when he connected with her.
Throughout the channel, whispers and murmurs of "Alpha" echoed as Ethan pushed his probes further, reaching out to every wolf he could reach. Surprise. Shock. Delight. The warriors responded differently, but none rejected him.
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Blooded Mate
Fantasy[[MATURE CONTENT]] Pack, family, mate. Loyalty, respect, honor. These are the words that form the foundation of the wolf society. At six years old, Ethan had to choose between his Alpha title and his survival on the night of his father's death. As a...
