"Oh my fucking god!" the words left Korū's mouth as a screech. He looked around, somewhere deep within the forest, as a horrifying sight met his eyes. He scanned the patches of blood that were everywhere, before he froze. "Hikari," he said, his voice becoming uncharacteristically soft, laced with barely suppressed emotion. "Look."
Bloodied feathers and scales were strewn all over the place like jewels of red, black and brown, contrasting the peaceful sections of forest that surrounded them. Trees were bloodstained, their brown bark turning a rusty colour. It was impossible to tell if the ground underneath them was wet from the rain from the previous day, or that it was simply soaked in blood.
Takara and Ryota's broken, half-shifted bodies lay twisted on the ground, lifeless. Eyes open in death. Kaito was slumped beside them.
"Okaa-san," Korū whispered, stumbling over to his mother. "Okaa-san, wake up, damn it, wake up..!" He dropped to his knees beside her, his head bowed, his hair shielding his face from the others. "Izanami-sama, please..." He brought his hand up to his mother's face, and used a shivering hand to move some hair away. The skin was cold. White.
Hikari went to her brother's side and wordlessly wrapped her arms around him, both of them unaware that Kaito was actually alive but silently begging Izanami, "Take me already. My siblings are dead. There's nothing left for me".
Alina and Linda rushed to the scene seconds after, crashing through the trees. They had been nearby, also looking desperately for their Gammas, and had sprinted there the moment they received a mindlink from Hikari. The pair of them, much like the twins, were soaked in their own sweat from trekking through the forest since even before the first rays of sun shone through the clouds from the night before. Now, however, the sun was shining harshly through the dense shade of the trees, highlighting the scene before them, like it was laughing, "Look, you finally found them."
For the past ten days, they had sent out groups of trackers and search parties, venturing further and further away from Bloodlust territory each day.
Hoping.
Always hoping. For good news, that Bethany and Duke were alive and well. That the pack could assist them if they insisted on continuing with their seemingly outrageous mission.
But instead, what they got was empty bodies. Not just of the people they were intending to find, but of the family of the twins.
As if they weren't broken enough.
Alina froze as soon as the bodies came into view, while Linda made herself step towards the twins, her heart hammering in her chest as she knelt beside them, speechless.
Alina didn't know what to do as she watched her friends fall apart, cold washing throughout her entire body. You'd think she was used to the dead by now.
A short distance away, two more mangled bodies could be seen. She could just imagine as Bethany Hawkes stumbled back to her mate with her last breath.
No bodies of who, or what, attacked them, but the sheer amount of shed blood was evidence enough that the opposing party had lost more than just some members.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to calm herself, "Do something useful, don't just stand there, do something!" She took deep breaths, the pungent smell of the blood mixed with that of fresh rain invading her nose, especially strong with her supernatural sense of smell.
She tried concentrating on the sounds around her. The loud thumping of her own heart, the weeping of the twins, the murmuring of Linda as she tried to comfort them, the stuttering breath and heart of a fifth person. Wait, what?
"IDIOTS, HE'S ALIVE!" Alina shrieked, running to the barely living form of Kaito, rapidly mindlinking her mother, Alpha, Beta, and new Gamma. "HURRY YOUR ASSES HERE!"
She crouched beside the body, trying to assess which wounds were the most serious. Settling on a deep gash in his abdomen, she slipped off her shirt, leaving herself in her sports bra, before folding the shirt and pressing it on the wound, eliciting a groan from him. That was the best she could do. One sweaty shirt. Was she always that useless? She watched as the fabric was quickly stained a deep red, and as the colour slowly creeped up to her hands
A deep gash in his abdomen.
That looked familiar.
He cracked open an eye, and didn't even react to the fact that there was a girl in a sports bra leaning over him, before he closed it again.
Tired. He was so tired.
All in due time, four more people burst from the trees. Three of them hesitated for a moment, while one made her way to Kaito as quickly as she could.
"I don't have all my equipment, but I'll do what I can." She muttered, her hands flying as she reached for the first aid that she brought with her, cleaning, and wrapping the wounds. "He should be able to survive. Harry, could you mindlink the Alpha of Copper Fang? I need to borrow their hospital. John, check if anyone else is alive."
John gave a resolute nod as he made his way to the other bodies, praying for some miracle.
They can't be gone. They simply can't. Both of them were so young, so amazing. What did they do to deserve to die so early, in such a brutal way? He still needed them. Their own daughter still needed them. The pack did too…
But there was no pulse. No sign of breathing. In fact, if John had to guess, they had been dead for a while.
Hikari was crouched beside Kaito, worry in her gaze. Kaito didn't open his eyes. "Hikari… I'm sorry..."
For what? He never did anything wrong.
"It's okay, Oji-san," she said softly. "It's gonna be okay. And Yonaga-san's on his way."
Stay alive.