Rift. (Rewritten in 2010)

Autumn, Year Three (9th Moon)

The date of Jara's and Jeirio's initiation was approaching. Alex put down the piece of cloth he'd been trimming, let his head loll back onto his shoulders, stretching his neck which had grown sore from bending over his work. Ethan was next to him, resolutely cutting cloth into pieces of an appropriate size for the robes he and Alexei were making. Jara and Jeirio were braiding other pieces to complete the outfit, talking quietly to each other and smiling. The new six - howlers, Jara called them, were all in classes for the morning, but would probably appear later. Alexei thought about Damon. It was noon now, time for meals. He wondered where Damon would be. He hadn't seen him since the night he and Kriston had been brought back. He didn't expect he would see him for a while, because Garron reported that Day had been confined to quarters, exiting only occasionally and only under the strict and direct supervision of his mate. Kriston would not let him run again. There had been no mention of the litter, and Alex wondered what had become of them as well. The bells rang for noonmeal.
"Come on, let's take a break and come back to finish this."
Ethan was standing up, stretching his back.
"We can be done by nighttime and then it's smooth sailing on to next week."
Alexei swallowed all thoughts of Damon and escape and smiled back at Jara, who was beaming at him. Ethan and Jeirio made their way out of the door, but Jara lagged behind with Alex. Alex, sensing that he wanted to say something, put some distance between them, and let Jara speak.
"Thank you, First Alpha Mate, for doing this for me."
Alex smiled sincerely now.
"It's my honor, Jara."
Jara smiled in the sheepish way that he usually did and reached out a hand to pull Alex to his feet.
In the hallway, a wall called his name and Jara stepped away to give him some privacy. Accustomed by now to this phenomenon, Alex responded calmly. The voice from the other side seemed frantic.
"First Alpha Mate, it's Kaz. I - I think I need you. Can you meet me at the noonmeal?"
Alex affirmed that he would and headed down the hall to catch up with Jara, turning over in his head what the problem could possibly be.

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Noonmeal was busy, as expected, with all the sounds of nearly the entire compound coming down to eat. The younger humans and wolfes moved between tables, carrying food out to the adults in their sections before sitting down to eat themselves. Only older youth were allowed to work within the kitchen, where spills, burns, and cuts were a danger. Alexei looked for Kaz in the crowd, and finally found him standing by a wall near to the door, looking anxiously around for Alex. Alex went over to him immediately.
"You sounded worried, Kaz. What's wrong?"
Kaz turned to him, misery written all over his face.
"I think Mikal is sick."
Alex cocked his head, unsure how Kaz expected him to help with this; he wasn't trained as a nurse, or even a medic.
"He's sick?"
"Something's wrong with him!"
"OK, OK." Kaz was getting frantic. "Just calm down. What's wrong with him?"
"He won't leave me alone."
Alex frowned, tried to take this in.
"He won't leave you alone?"
"No!"
"Alright, take it easy."
"And he's just...acting weird. He's...mean."
Now Alex was surprised. Mikal was a lot of things, but he'd never displayed anything short of fanatical adoration towards Kaz.
"He's mean?"
Kaz nodded vigorously. His voice dropped off to a whisper.
"He tried to take me, three times this morning, and on the third time, I told him to stop and he almost bit me."
Comprehension began to dawn. Kaz was chewing hard on his lip.
"And his skin is hot and he's hungry all the time. And he growled at me when I tried to leave our quarters - I only got out because I said I was going for food!"
Kaz was pacing now, in a little line in front of Alex.
"I think he has rabies. I think he's going mad. Maybe he got bit by something when he went on patrol. Maybe something attacked him. But there's nothing they can do if Mikal has rabies! I don't know what to do - what am I going to do?"
Alex shook his head, put both hands on Kaz's shoulders to stem the rising tide of emotion.
"He doesn't have rabies. I think he's just in season. Suddenly possessive, territorial, sexually aggressive, has an elevated metabolism and body temperature? Sounds like season."
Kaz stared for a long time at Alex. Alex glanced away. Kaz kept staring.
"What?"
"Season. Heat. I think he's in heat. You've been bonded a couple of months now - we all knew this was coming."
Kaz's eyes darkened.
"I didn't know this was coming."
"Did you think it wasn't going to come?"
Kaz squared his shoulders, suddenly annoyed by Alex's flippancy.
"I hadn't really thought about it." he sniffed.
Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Ah. Well, time to think about it. Ask the kitchen for enough food for the next week or so, take a supply of relaxer chew, notify his legion leader and cancel all your appointments for the next ten days. Don't fight him and don't talk too much. I'll see you next week."
Alex turned to look for a seat.
"Wait!"
He turned back.
"What's wrong?"
Kaz was biting his lip again, eyes wide with worry, and suddenly he looked very much like he had the day he'd woken up in the infirmary.
"What if he hurts me?"
Alex stared at him for a moment, almost suspecting...he shook his head.
"Kaz, you are his mate. You will be fine. Try to ride it out, and if anything goes wrong, you can always call me, OK?"
Kaz nodded, comforted.
"OK."
"You'll be OK, Kaz."
Kaz bolstered himself enough for a genuine smile.
"I'll be OK."

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It had been six days since Alyssa had been gone. Kriston was pacing slowly in the formal sitting room of his quarters. Damon sat by the window, silent as he'd been for almost two weeks now. In the other room, two of the puppies cried loudly for their mother. Damon ignored them both.
"Damon."
the wolfe's voice was gentle; gentler than Damon expected or wanted. He looked up miserably at Kriston, briefly before turning back to his window.
"We have to find them."
Kriston stared out the window with him.
"I know."
They stood together for a while; just watching, just waiting, listening - as if the weeks-old little pair of them would come suddenly bounding over the hills, asking at the door if Kriston and Damon were in. The wolfe cleared his mind first.
"Your sons are asking after you, my Day."
Damon shook his head, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. His voice was flat, monotone, empty.
"My milk is poison."
Kriston raised both eyebrows. His mate's guilty depression had deepened lately, begun to venture into something worse; something darker.
"Damon, come now - please? Your children are hungry."
One of the young servants appeared in the doorway, looking concerned. In the far room, the crying went on. Damon didn't move.
Frustrated, Kriston paced to the end of the room. The servant looked on in worry.
"Feed them false, let them sleep. He'll nurse later."
The youth nodded and scurried off to do as he was told. Kriston, tail drooping low, made his way back over to his mate.
"Can you come to bed, love? I am aching for a nap, and things will look better in the evening."
Damon didn't respond, but did comply with Kriston's coaxing and allowed himself to be guided into the bedroom, where he lay stiffly sideways beside his mate until both of them fell asleep.

When he slept, he dreamed of his sister. When he woke, he had come to a decision.

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