White Fire

Chapter Four: Fresh Heartbreaks

A very upset Kasai sits with her mate and her sister, watching over their dying father, Roan. As they sit around him they can't help but feel helpless knowing there was nothing they could do to save him. His breathing was shallow and his wounds from the battle he narrowly escaped, were festered and incredibly infected with no hope of healing. Kasai lays next to her father and lays her head in him gently as Coran whimpers softly with her paw resting on his lifeless one. Hajime stands to leave. He can not watch this anymore. The pain and suffering Roan is going through in his last hours and the heartbreak of the two females was becoming too much for Hajime to bear. He wished he could take it all back, Go back in time and travel with them to war and fight alongside them. “Maybe Roan and Steele would still be alive and healthy and Kasai wouldn't have to go through this must pain herself” He couldn't help but repeat it over and over in his mind. While Hajime was in the midst of his ponderings, he hadn't noticed Coran join him outside the den. She sits next to him and rests her head on his shoulder as she softly sobs. Sensing Hajime’s feelings of regret she looks to him to share her opinion. “You do know if you would have gone and lost your life, there's no guarantee you or my brother or father would have survived. It could have still ended up the way it did, only with you being the one gone from this world and she would still be in pain, my friend.” He heard what she said but didn’t answer, instead, he stayed quiet as he sat looking out over the plains.

Inside the den, Kasai is preparing for the final moments with her father. She sits up and looks down at his nearly lifeless body and weeps as she begins to speak, begging the Gods not to take him from her. Roan weakly reaches up to wipe the tears from her cheek. “My Daughter, My Precious Baby…” He takes a deep but shaking breath “I am not long for this world and I leave behind my only two loves in this life. I will see you both again years from now, but while I wait for you two, I will be in the company of your brother and your dear mother” He pauses for another breath “I want you to take my place as Alpha of this pack. You are by far the greatest choice. You have been trained and raised up perfectly and prepared for this your entire life and you are now ready. You are the new Alpha, my Flame….” He trails off and goes silent as his paw falls like a stone, landing heavy on the den’s floor. Kasai shakes her head swiftly in refusal and begins to howl through her tears. Hajime and Coran, hearing the blood curdling howling of Kasai, Speedly race in to her aid. As they approached Roan and Kasai, they saw that Roan had passed on. Coran darts over and collapses onto her father's lifeless body as Hajime rushes to Kasai, wrapping his front legs around her and trying to comfort her to the best of his abilities.

Eight months have passed and Kasai was just getting the hang of being the Alpha. Coran was jealous but never argued with Roan’s choice. Hajime was still trying to convince Kasai to start a family without success. The pack still mourned for the loss of the Great Alpha and his son. The Spring had come and swept the land with its fertile touch bringing thousand of blossoming plants to life. The plains were covered in every color of the rainbow and every shade. Young pups bounce around and play in the bright yellow rays of the sun. Through the sorrow of the losses, the pack found joy in the coming months.

Kasai was becoming distant and doubting her life as the Alpha. She wondered why her father wanted her to be Alpha instead of her sister and why he chose her as his favorite about her siblings. She didn’t want to become the pack leader this way. She was happy to be Alpha when the time was right and after her brother Steele and her sister Coran had their turn to reign, But she received the title of Alpha long before she felt she was ready for it. She couldn’t help but feel regret for taking over before Coran. Growing up, Roan made sure that Kasai knew every last thing she needed to be prepared for a time like this, But Kasai never imagined it would happen this way.

Kasai sits by the large pond just south of her den and thinks about everything that has happened in the past couple of years. She was prepared to be the Alpha and raised to know how to be a mate and a mother but she was nowhere near prepared for losing so much so fast. She stares into the stillness of the pond and reflects on her life as it was and now is. She reaches out with her paw and strikes at her still image looking back at her from the water’s surface, causing it to ripple and lap against the pond’s banks like tiny waves of the great ocean crashing into the cliff side and its beach. “Why me? Why did the Great Wolf Gods take so much from me and still expect me to be able to carry on and still be able to be strong? If only I could get away long enough to make sense of it all.” She contemplates the possibility of running away. Hajime approaches his mate cautiously and sits down next to her, curling his long, fluffy, snow white tail around her. “Are you alright, my Angel?” She nods slowly in reply to his questioning and leans into him with a sigh. “I will be fine one day, Haj, I promise.” She says sweetly to her partner. She stands and waits for Hajime to follow as she returns to her den.

Back at the den, Kasai and Hajime climb onto the Alpha’s Throne and sit together discussing ideas for the pack. Hajime listens to Kasai talk about her plans as he grooms her neck and shoulder tuft. While she speaks, He stares at her, wondering to himself as to what their pups would look like. As she comes to a close on her discussion with Hajime, she notices him staring at her. “Why are you looking at me that way?” She questions curiously. He smiles and shakes his head “Nothing my dear, just admiring your beauty. Kasai lowers her body to lay on the stoop of the Throne boulder and Hajime lays down with her, resting his head on her shoulders. They drift off to sleep after a few moments.

Kasai wakes a couple hours later, turning her head to see Hajime still deep asleep laying on his back a few inches away. She raises to all four quietly so she doesn't wake the sleeping male. She slowly creeps out of the den and glances out over the plains to see who was awake or on guard. She looks out towards the tree line and sighs. Working her way down the stony path leading from the den that once belonged to her father, She turns towards the opening of the den and sighs as she whispers to herself “I'm sorry my heart, but I can't do this anymore…” She trails off and turns to run as face as she can to the Shadow Woods.

Hajime wakes and yawns, stretching before fully opening his eyes. He glances around the den and realizes he is alone and his mate is nowhere to be seen. He raises and sniffs the air to catch her scent. He follows the scent outside. As he speedily moves down the path, He runs onto Luka, the Leading Male Scout of the pack. “Luka, have you seen Kasai?” Luka shakes his head and looks around. “Luka, Find her!” Hajime yells towards Luka as she turns to search the plains around the pack lands. Luka and his fellow scouts catch Kasai’s scent and howl as they race off to the woods following her trail. Hajime turns to follow as well, howling to Kasai in hopes she is within hearing distance.

Kasai ran along the winding trail through the tall pines and thick oaks. Racing away from the pain and loss, Her father's last words echoing in her head bringing about a headache. The death of her father just three years after the death of her mother struck her harshly, leaving behind an emptiness that felt like her own heart had been torn from her chest. As she sped through the Shadow Woods, tears began to fall to the ground mercilessly from her emerald green eyes. Miles away in the opposite direction, the howls and confusion of her pack can be heard as they try to find their beloved but broken Female Alpha. She races up through the trees until she comes to a break in the treeline.