The wind howled through the dense forest, a mournful cry that carried with it the weight of an intense winter. Snowflakes drifted lazily from the greyish sky, dusting the earth in a pale blanket that muffled all sound.

Beau stumbled along, his fur matted with blood and his gait uneven, struggling to keep his balance. His once mighty frame, broad and powerful, now swayed like a sapling in the storm. His wolfen features, normally sharp and regal with authority, were marred by the claw marks of a creature far stronger than any he had faced before. The hunt had gone awry. What should have been a simple chase had turned into a hellish attack, leaving him with a deep gash along his ribs and a searing pain in his leg that made each step feel like walking on broken glass.

He leaned against the icy bark of a tree, his heavy breath clouding the frigid air. It was incredibly rare for Beaumont to demonstrate weakness. As the Alpha, he was the leader of his pack—firm, strong, unwavering, the one his clanmates looked to for guidance and strength. But now, in the unsmiling, unforgiving face of pain and isolation, that image felt fragile, ebbing away like moonlight at dawn.

He wouldn't make it back to them. Not alone.

Beau sank to his knees, the internal war of his own pride and desperation pressing down on him. A part of him—the alpha part—screamed to get up, to fight, to push through the pain for the sake of the pack. But another part, quieter and more vulnerable, whispered that maybe... maybe he wasn't meant to do this alone.

The metallic taste of blood settled on his tongue as he collapsed further into the snow, the cold beginning to dull his senses. He drew a deep breath, snowflakes beginning to pepper his hair and ears. His tail gave a withered twitch, almost a sigh of resignation.

Beau didn't stir at the sound of nearing footsteps, his nose too congested with blood to detect the unfamiliar scent. Someone was approaching. But the alpha had no fight left in him, no strength to snarl a warning. Beaumont was ready to settle into the cold embrace of death.