Neither April nor Cyan announced their presence, but when the group saw them stepping into the circle of log seats they rushed forward with exclamations of relief and concern, Ingrid immediately dropping her argument to hurry over to April and embrace her.
"Thank goodness, I was so worried about you! When you didn't come back..."
"Where's Harper?" Blackthorn cut in, his steely gaze fixed on Cyan.
"We ran into the ferals. He's dead," April said, emotion creeping into her voice as Ingrid backed away, cupping the younger woman's face in her hands as her brow furrowed with disbelief.
A thick silence descended on the group for a few heavy moments until Blackthorn spoke again. "What did you do?" His eyes narrowed at Cyan, fingers curling into fists as his stern expression cracked with anger.
"He was on the bridge west of here," Cyan said. "There was an avalanche, or landslide. He couldn't get away in time?"
"Oh, April." Ingrid embraced her again, and this time she returned the hug, sniffing audibly.
"An avalanche?" Blackthorn took a step forward, his tone incredulous. "We don't have avalanches this far down the mountain. Do you think we'd be stupid enough to build a bridge where something like that could happen? And what were you even doing out there in the first place?!"
"That's what I saw," Cyan replied. "It took Harper and a chunk of the bridge with it. There was no way he could have survived the fall."
"And what were you doing while all this happened? Harper wouldn't go chasing after ferals like that! Was he chasing them, or was he chasing you?"
"Stop it Blackthorn!" April cut in, tugging herself away from Ingrid and clutching the male by the arm. "If Cyan hadn't been there I'd be dead too! He fought off three of the ferals all by himself and got me back to the hunting cabin, I don't know what I'd have done without him!"
"Three of them?" Blackthorn snorted in disbelief. "Why would an outsider do that for one of us? Did you go out hunting them and drag Harper along with you?!"
Cyan remained silent, his arms folded, and April tugged at Blackthorn's arm again, taking him by the hand.
"I know it's hard," she said softly, "but don't take it out on Cyan. He saved my life, and he would have saved Harper's too if he could. We should let him stay here as long as he wants, he's earned that much from us." She glanced at Ingrid for confirmation, and the older woman nodded, her expression heavy with grief as she stepped in front of Blackthorn and took Cyan's hand.
"Thank you for being out there," she said. "At least we have one person coming home today rather than none. April's right, you can stay with us for... well, we'll see, but our camp's yours for the time being."
He nodded his thanks, and Blackthorn turned away, shaking his head as he paced back and forth in the snow, raising a gloved hand to his brow every few seconds as he paused to take deep breaths.
Cyan left the group to grieve, sitting down on one of the benches as they comforted April and gave voice to their own sorrows. There were tears, words of reassurance, determined plans to put an end to the feral wolves once and for all, and even a few desperate hopes that Harper might somehow have survived the fatal drop down the mountain chasm.
"You protected April," a stony voice said from behind him, and he turned around to see Blackthorn standing there, his eyes red-rimmed and furious, but that fury no longer seemed to be directed at Cyan.
"Yes. I was an alpha once. It's not in my nature to stand by when I could help."
"Those ferals could have killed you."
"They could have, but they'd have killed April for sure."
Blackthorn grit his teeth, tapping a boot heel agitatedly against the ground. "I don't trust outsiders, but if April says you didn't have anything to do with what happened I'll have to believe her."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me," he said sharply. "I meant what I said. Avalanches don't just "happen", especially not at the perfect moment to hit a wolf on a bridge that's been there for decades without a single solitary rock tumbling down on it. What are the odds of that happening the moment Harper went out there?"
Cyan frowned. He hadn't given it much thought amongst everything else that had happened the previous evening.
"I'm going to make sure April's alright, and then I want you to tell me exactly what happened out there," Blackthorn said. "Because if anyone else was involved in Harper's death—you, those wild animals, anyone—I'm going to make sure they pay for it."
"I can only tell you what I saw," Cyan said carefully.
"Good. Make sure you get it all right by the time I come back," Blackthorn said as he turned away, before adding one last pointed comment over his shoulder: "And stay away from April. She needs her own pack right now."
# # #
To be continued in Part Three, coming soon.
# # #
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Claudia King is a writer based in the United Kingdom, she studied Creative Arts at university and continues to maintain a passionate interest in storytelling (both erotic and non-erotic!) across many forms of media. She owns a banana plant.
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Broken Moon: Part 2 Page 4
