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This couldn't be Alpha.
Alpha was kind, smart and caring, so this couldn't be Alpha. Yet he looked just like Alpha, his hand raised in front of him in a calming gesture. His voice was just as soothing as Alpha's, and he spoke to her with just as much warmth as Alpha did.
But this couldn't be Alpha.
Alpha, along with the rest of her pack, was dead. Her sisters had died to the False One, the one who tried to usurp Alpha with lies and falsehoods. And her Alpha had left, and in that moment he too died. She was alone, there was no more pack, and the one in front of her was not her Alpha.
The Different Ones were smart, sometimes smarter than even her, and could construct and create many things. They created the walls which she was trapped in, they created the heightened path from which Alpha observed - out of reach, and they created the Noise Makers that caused her flesh to sting. What stood in front of her was no doubt another making of the Different Ones, to hold her still or distract her.
"Come on Blue, come with me."
She quickly scanned the surrounding forest and buildings, looking for whatever waited to pounce on her when she was distracted by the Not Alpha.
"Blue, eyes on me."
The claws on his hand opened up even further, growing stiff as they stretched in the air. His voice grew stiffer, harsher, he wasn’t speaking to her anymore; he was giving her commands. She focused her eyes on the Not Alpha, if only to entertain him.
He sighed in relief, seeming to grow less tense. He was nervous, and she could smell fear on him. Even if it was slight. Her Alpha was smart and cautious, but he was never scared - especially of her. This was not Alpha.
Blue slowly stepped towards the Not Alpha, keeping her stance docile in an attempt to make him drop his guard.
Looking at the Not Alpha hurt, it hurt her more than anything else. It hurt her more than the times when she and her sisters had gotten into fights, after which Alpha would come to tend to them; lessening the pain and helping them heal. It hurt her more than the strikes of the False One, it hurt her more than listening to the lies it spoke. It hurt her more than it hurt seeing Alpha leave; forever gone. It hurt her in a way she didn't understand, because it hurt so much despite her being woundless.
"Come on Blue, come with me. Let's get you back home."
Blue didn't understand the Different Ones language fully, but she knew enough to understand what Not Alpha wanted. He wanted her to return to the enclosure, to where she and her pack once were. Yet home was where the pack was, and there was no pack. There was no home, and Not Alpha wanted to trap her in the large walls again.
Not Alpha was smart, not as smart as her Alpha, but he was not kind and not caring. And Not Alpha made her hurt.
Blue couldn't understand why this was happening, why did this Not Alpha have to appear here, and why looking at him caused her so much pain. All Blue knew was that she wanted to get rid of it.
She stopped a few steps away from Not Alpha, tensing her legs as he slowly inched his way towards her. Blue briefly wondered what he would feel like when she bit him, would Not Alpha be as hard and cold as the other things the Different Ones made?
Probably.
Just as Not Alpha reached for something behind his back she leaped, stretching out her claws as they sailed through the air to meet his chest.
For a brief moment she could see the shock in Not Alpha's eyes, before it was replaced with something else…something painful and saddening. She didn't have time to focus on Not Alpha's eyes, no, Blue needed to focus on stopping the pain rapidly swelling inside her chest.
Her talons pierced the second skin he wore, and her momentum caused him to fall onto the ground, her still atop him. Blue opened her mouth, quickly biting into his shoulder to stop him from fighting back.
And then she froze.
Warmth seeped across her talons, and her teeth bit into softness rather than the cold and hard creation she had expected. The Not Alpha didn't scream, instead gently raising his other hand and stroking her lower jaw. He gently cooed, staying still under her deadly grasp.
"I'm sorry Blue. I'm sorry. I never should have left you."
His teeth were clenched, and he was visibly shaking from pain. Blue opened her lined with Alpha blood jaws, and stepped off him. He did not stand up, instead hissing as he clenched the wound on his shoulder with his hand.
It was Alpha. I harmed Alpha, I wounded Alpha when he was defenceless.
The pain in her chest intensified, threatening to burst through her skin as it swelled and stretched across her.
"Blue, it's alright girl. It's okay." He cooed towards her.
She slowly approached him, pressing her snout into his other shoulder.
"I'm alright girl, I'm alright."
She couldn't stop herself anymore. Blue threw herself down into her Alpha, her larger body pressing him against the ground, and planted her nuzzle underneath his chin. She couldn’t stop the tears flowing from her eyes, or the pained wails that escaped her maw.
The pain that had swelled inside her chest now burst forth, spilling into the world for all to see. She didn't care if anyone heard her anymore, the pain had been in her for too long to bear and now it had come loose.
She felt a soft, warm hand gently rub against the top of her head, drawing small circles as it traveled above her eyes and down her snout. Alpha was kind and Alpha was caring. And that helped the pain go away.
They sat there, man and raptor, for some time, Owen calming the large raptor laying over his chest as she sobbed heavy tears. The droplets of liquid stained his already torn apparel, leaving damp lines from here they flowed across his girl's face.
He clutched the wound on his shoulder with his healthy hand, stroking Blue with his injured one. The bleeding wasn't as severe as he originally thought, it seemed Blue didn't bite too hard, but he'd still need stitches.
Blue had eventually calmed down, resorting to coiling up on top of him in a fetal position, her claws and tail bunched together while her head was firmly planted underneath Owen's chin.
"That's my girl Blue, that's my girl."
To Blue all the sorrows of the world seemed to melt away, if only briefly, as she lay in the grasp of her newly re-discovered Alpha, alive and well. She hoped the wound wasn't too great on Alpha's shoulder, she would never forgive herself if she harmed Alpha.
Yet right now the raptor couldn't be concerned with anything besides Alpha's contact with her. She had let out her worst sorrows in front of Alpha, she had found him, and Alpha was safe.
This could be Alpha. This was Alpha.
And Blue was happy.