Wolves of Stone

Nadia was weeping in the rain. Indigo almost couldn't see her. Her sister was on her knees, bent over the broken corpse of her mate, letting the rain pour over her once curly hair. She had not stood up for the past fifteen minutes.

Indigo sat nearby, blood on her clothes and a baby in her arms. Nadia's son, just a few months old, burrowing into his blanket for warmth. The shelter over the porch kept him dry, but that would only do so much against the cold fall wind and the pouring rain. Plus, the fire had burned most of it, so water was still dripping down the back of Indigo's shirt. It was a wonder that the rain had put it out at all.

It was quiet, which was ironic given what had happened. What had fallen over their small family in just a matter of hours.

They had no home. No where to go. And, there was one less of them than before.

Plus, it was raining. Rain always made things more miserable.

Indigo and Nadia used to play in the rain when they were pups, back when they had been part of a pack. It had always felt safe and warm then, though Indigo didn't remember much of it.

Now it was cold and quiet. All she could hear was Nadia, begging and begging, her voice lost against the sound of the rain.

Indigo had managed to spare a few things from the wreckage of their small house. Lux's diaper bag had a hole in it and not nearly enough diapers, only salvaged because it was right by the door, but they had to take what they could get. Her phone had stayed in one piece but had no signal anymore. Orion had managed to salvage a few pictures that were now tucked safely away in Lux's diaper bag before everything had gone to shit.

"Nadia, you need to get up," Indigo said, covering Lux with her jacket as she moved over to her sister.

Nadia said nothing, but stopped crying. She remained crouched over Orion's body, which Indigo couldn't even bear to look at.

"Get up, Nadia," she repeated. Still, her sister didn't move. Indigo was frustrated now. She was holding her sisters baby, the baby Nadia should have been taking care of now instead of crying in the rain.

"If we stay here, they'll come back, and they'll want the same thing. If you don't get up I'm going to leave and take Lux with me," she stated. That got Nadia's attention, turning her sister's gaze up to her.

"We have no where to go. Orion's family lives in a pack three hours away. I can't drive and neither can you," Nadia snapped, sniffling as she turned back to her mate.

"I'll drive. Wrap your arm, hold Lux, and I'll drive. Just tell me where to go," Indigo said. She had never learned how to drive but at that moment she didn't care. She'd never been to Orion's pack as his and Nadia's mating ceremony had been a private occasion that they'd had at a venue a little ways away. There had also been a more formal ceremony at the pack, but Indigo hadn’t attended.

Nadia, however, had made several trips up there with her mate and probably knew it well enough to get them there.

"I can't leave him here," her sister cried.

"We have to," Indigo said. She didn't want to leave him either, but they couldn't stay around. Orion would have wanted them to be safe.

"Please, Nadia. I can't do this without you," Indigo begged. Lux started to cry as the rain got to him, which was probably what coaxed Nadia to get up.

It was a start, but it was enough for Indigo.

***

Using a piece of Indigo's already-torn shirt, Nadia managed to wrap her forearm up to keep it as clean as they could. The blade used was silver meaning her healing would be as slow as a human's now. Plus, with her wolf in such agony over the loss of her mate, she would be weaker anyway. It was a wonder Indigo had actually gotten her into the car.

They had some extra money in the car for emergencies that they used to buy first aid items and a sling for Nadia's arm. They also got some food and drinks to keep them going, though neither of them felt like eating.

After about an hour Nadia had fallen asleep with Lux. She'd written the directions on their receipt since Indigo still couldn't get any signal.

Driving the car wasn't as difficult as it seemed, especially since no one else was on the road at that time. It had taken a while to get used to it but after a rough start she had gotten the hang of it.

The quiet drive made her think about what had happened. The fire, the cloaked attackers, blood leaking from Orion's neck as he crumpled to the ground. Nadia's cry as he hit the ground.

Indigo had not experienced loss like this before. Her dad died when she was young and her mother had moved quite a ways away to be with her new boyfriend, leaving Nadia and Indigo to fend for themselves. Those losses didn't hurt like this.

Most wolves found their mates after they turned eighteen, but Orion and Nadia had found each other right on Nadia's eighteenth birthday. Indigo had been twelve at the time but Orion ended up being like the older brother she never had. He helped her with her math homework and taught her how to spar. If Indigo was hurting this badly, she couldn't even imagine how Nadia was feeling.

There had never been two people more in love. Indigo didn't think there would be ever again.

***

The rain stopped by morning. Indigo had stopped so that she could try to sleep but images of what had happened plagued her mind and chased sleep away for good. Nadia had woken her up from a particularly bad nightmare to tell her that the sun was now shining.

Nadia fed Lux and then they were back on the road. It was much easier to drive when it wasn't raining.

After another hour and a half of driving they were close to Orion's family's' pack. Nadia had gotten a bit more animated as time went on but she barely spoke and refused to eat, which was concerning since she was the one who had to feed Lux.

Indigo hadn't been to a pack since she was four and she barely remembered that. Her parents had moved them out of whatever pack they had been in to live a more secluded and safer life. Her dad had died shortly after, leaving just her mom and sister.

Nadia knew the rules and customs better than Indigo but she feared that her sister wouldn't be much help given the state she was in. She knew that she couldn't just drive into the territory and head for Orion's parents' house, but she didn't know what she was supposed to do to get in. Hopefully Nadia would find her voice before then.

"They are going to think I'm crazy. They're going to take Lux away from me," Nadia whispered. Her baby was fussing quietly in her arms but she didn't seem to notice.

"They won't do that. They love you. And I wouldn't let that happen," Indigo said. Nadia looked haunted. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen with dark bags underneath. She was pale and looked almost lifeless.

It looked like she was fading away with every passing minute and Indigo had no idea how to help her.

"Cloaked people, wolves, witches, whatever they were. Showing up just to burn our house down and kill my mate. It doesn't make any sense even to me," her sister said.

"They clearly wanted something," Indigo replied. She remembered the way they had approached her, grabbed her before Orion threw her out of the way to defend his family. It was like their eyes were burning holes in her soul.

"But we can't think about that now. We just need to focus on getting there and getting your arm looked at," she said, jerking the car around another turn gracelessly. Nadia jostled but her eyes stayed on the road ahead, empty, almost lifeless.

They didn't speak the rest of the ride. Nadia didn't want to and Indigo didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do to fix her sister.

So she drove on, hoping to find someone who could.