I looked over the bodies strewn in front of me. Six humans, three keelish, and I knew more names of my enemies than of my allies. One of the two with names laid dead before me, a companion from my first days of life, and I couldn't summon any emotion. A part of me thought it the shock, another part thought it might be a result of deliberate emotional detachment, and the rest of me couldn't muster the energy to care. Maybe it was just that, the exhaustion... I didn't really think so, but a part of me hoped.

I couldn't bring myself to keep thinking about it, but the detached part of me realized that a group of 11 keelish had fought 6 human hunters equipped specifically for combatting keelish, and the keelish had won with only 3 casualties. In my experience, the humans should have been able to put up a much better fight, and possibly even rout us. Instead, we had absolutely obliterated them. This analytical part of me started to realize that the swarm I was in currently was amazingly frightening, with more elites in one location than I had ever heard about in a body of keelish. A double edged sword, since if any group of humanity became aware of our existence, they would rally to ensure that we were eradicated as soon as possible...

I only realized that I was deliberately trying to separate myself from the emotions of the hunt when Cazala came close. "Alpha?"

I shook my head. "Sorry. They were a tough foe, and I momentarily lost myself." I looked to Silf. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." Then I faced the rest. "From now on, half of all the swarm who step outside the den will have their eyes peeled, in the 'other' vision. They were invisible to us because of their preparation, and we will better see them if we have all eyes open. Now, eat what you can, gather what you can carry, and we're going back home." I gestured for Silf to come forward. He came.

"I want you to not carry anything for now, and range ahead of us, quietly. See if there's any more of these..." I had a sudden flash of inspiration, "Nievtala forsaken cowards ahead of us." The curse felt at once foreign, yet comfortable coming from my snarling tongue.

Silf nodded, started to walk away, then looked back. "Are you alright?"

I nodded, "Sorry again, I don't know what came over me."

He shook his head. "That's not... Never mind." He looked over at Treel's body, sighed, and walked off into the forest. Treel's body was large, probably almost as heavy as one of the human's, but we continued to prioritize the return of our own. We had seven that would be carrying back bodies, and nine bodies to carry. I hauled the comparatively smaller body of the woman I'd killed first under my left arm, grabbed the mostly complete corpse of the burliest warrior in my jaws, and began plodding back towards the den.

...

I was surprised to see that were able to carry everything we hadn't eaten back to the den. We ate almost two complete bodies of the humans, leaving 4 to carry back, and I had two by myself. As I stumbled towards the opening of the den, a fiery sunset to our faces, a thought occurred. I turned to the two who had brought Treel back, and dropped my own load, "Please, let me carry her down." They quickly nodded and stepped back to pick up my dropped quarry.

Treel wasn't too heavy in my arms, but as I carried her with care instead of just dragging her to my destination, I was surprised by how much more difficult it was to carry her. I stepped into the pathway down, and I found myself subconsciously slowing my pace. With a shake of my head, I rallied myself and walked more strongly into our den.

I was only able to make it four steps.

On the fourth step, Foire noticed me, or, more correctly, Treel.

He looked at her, then at me, then back to her. His head sagged, but he stepped forward, almost hesitatingly. I slowly lowered her to the ground, and stepped back. After a moment's observation, he spoke, softly. "The wound... it's in her chest. She was charging in, taking the risks?"

He didn't look up, so I spoke, simply. "Yes."

"She almost feels proud."

"She was. Happy to be on the line."

He slowly nodded. "That's where she loved to be."

Suddenly, memories of Took, and then, briefly, of Oncli flashed through me. Her quiet stoicism, and happiness in success and positivity, her stalwart presence on the line, her quiet yet obvious support of me as Alpha, Oncli's happy jabbering, excitement to find his purpose, his insistence that we eat him, let him continue to support the pack...

I asked Foire, "Who do you want to have join you tonight?"

"You, Took, Cazala, and Silf. Her brothers in arms." I nodded, and retreated. All too quickly, Took found her way forward, and I saw Foire making invitations to her, Cazala and Silf for the ritualistic feeding. All too soon, we were in a corner of the room, and Foire began.

I didn't let myself think about it, until I saw underdeveloped eggs where Foire was feeding. They were smaller than the ones I had seen thus far, but not by much. She'd been maybe three days off of laying them, but they almost certainly wouldn't be able to survive.

Immediately, emotion I thought I had distanced myself from washed over me. I hunched, and while this body didn't instinctively sob, I began to breathe in shudders. A friend, the one who was always with me, that always protected me before herself, the one who had been a silent support to me in more ways that I probably knew, had lost her future today. Another of my friends had lost his mate. We all had lost a friend.

Recriminating self-hatred washed over me as I thought about how I had almost mourned the loss of human life today. I'd felt badly for those who I hadn't known, and now I wished that there had been more for me to slaughter. Foire carefully extracted the eggs and looked to me. I spoke, "I'll do what I can, and see if Vefir can help as well. It's unlikely, but if we can save any, we will." He nodded, and Silf stepped out to find his brother.

We continued our meal until nothing was left, and by that point, Vefir, Sybil and another female had come in, collected the eggs, and left.

Foire stood, nodded to us, then walked out to find those who had taken the eggs. Silf followed, and Took looked to me, "A tough loss. Now, there's just three of us original few." She shook her head, then looked at me, unadulterated rage seeming to emanate from her. "I won't rest until I have ripped the throat from every one of their kin, I won't eat unless it is of the flesh of their kind, and I won't drink unless it is from the river of their blood." She stood proud "Where you lead, I follow," and she bowed low, "Alpha."

I nodded back. "We won't rest until we have honed our fangs on the bones of our foes." Then, I walked to my room, finally ready to check my updated [Status].