Tana had learned about the fact that she was just the other woman in Rhyme's life. That she was basically the one that would be left behind eventually. Vail claimed Rhyme was a bad guy but Tana had seen him at his best and worst, she couldn't "see" him as anything but the man who had saved her and that she loved.


The pups were fed and asleep as she had slipped out. She had stopped by and asked Vail if she would watch them for a while while she went and took a walk. Of course no one knew that she was leaving except the companions on her back. She had to get away. He was constantly coming in and she was pretending that she didnt know, but the scents were there. 


It hurt more than she had thought. No one knew that in the pack at her side was one of the pups. Noir was packed with a few furs she had wallowed on to ensure that her scent was there to help keep him quiet. She couldn't bear to part with all of them. She knew once Vail made it to the den she would know and hopefully understand. Rhyme could just move the other two to be with his mate. They didn't have to know that she ever existed. 


He had made his choice and the woman was not about to interfere in his life. The snow storm that had kicked up would hide her scent so no one would come after her hopefully. She would move somewhere else. She steeled herself as she took a deep breath, there was no turning back. Her heart hurt that she was leaving any of her children behind but she knew she was doing what she thought best for everyone. Noir was a mother's boy and their other two would do well with anyone raising them. She stepped over the border. She wasn't going to move too far. She knew of a few small fox holes in the maw she could claim. 


She of course being a gutless coward took yet another pause as she debated this. She loved Rhyme but it hurt to play the role of ignorance, just hoping he would tell her himself. He'd had plenty of opportunities to do so. Her red cloak was pulled up over her head, being a beacon in the whiteout for anyone to find her, but she wasnt sure she wanted to be here with Rhyme right now. He had broken a promise and she didn't know how else to handle this situation.

Rhyme felt a prickling at his neck, an itch he couldn't quite scratch. Something was making him antsy. The last time he'd had this feeling he'd found Epitaph at the edge of the territory. He'd been napping with Shaye and their two tiny girls when he finally decided to go check on Tana and their other three. He had not expected to find Vail there.

As he descended into the den a low growl met his ears as his vision adjusted to the lower light. Instead of the tiny earthen colored she wolf Vail sat curled with Verse and Theory. Surprised, he took a step back with confusion obvious on his features. Vail growled again.

"She's not here, asshole." the pale woman hissed. He knew she hadn't been very happy with him recently but he wasn't exactly sure why. "She knows about Shaye and she took Noir. Not that you deserve to know but she's probably leaving." Rhyme's ears fell to his skull as panic took him. Vail growled again, but settled over the babies and ignored him.

Rhyme grit his teeth and turned, fleeing the den under the maple tree and he started racing to find Tana. The snow was going to make his task difficult, and already his heart raced in his chest. He had meant to tell her about what was going on, but there was no point that felt right. If Vail had been the one to say something.. He growled to himself.

Solitude had seen his master take off and he had a hunch what he was searching for. The white bird was difficult to see in the whipping snow but he called out as his gaze reached the border. Rhyme knew he'd spotted Tana. The slate alpha doubled his efforts, his legs slowing as he pushed through the high drifts of snow. He'd finally catch sight of her himself, her red cloak blazing against the white of the snow.

"Tana!" He called out, unwilling to watch her leave. "Tana, please." His voice rang out over the quiet, muffled by the falling flakes. He slowed as he tried to approach her, unsure what to say now that he'd found her. "Don't go you'll starve." "I'm so sorry." "It's not you it's me." His breath came in gasps as he stood behind her in Abaven lands.

She thought she'd be farther away than this by the time Rhyme caught up. That maybe he wouldn't actually come to stop her. Honestly she had thought he'd be so caught up that he didn't even notice that she was gone. But alas it was not how it happened. Her ears pinned. 


She was still standing there making up her own mind when he had caught up. She knew he wouldn't dare attack her cuz likely he knew she had Noir. To attack her would be to hurt him. She wasnt necessarily good at facing her problems anyway. His approach brought a screeching Squirrel monkey at him and a glaring mouse lemur. She had told them. Basil was fast to leap from Tana's back and charge towards Rhyme. He wasn't pleased one bit with the Male now. 


Tana was his priority though and he stopped with his fur bristling only a few short feet from the Male. He threw his accusation directly at Rhyme while tana stood there still unsure what to even do. "You lied to her! You hurt her!" Alma even dared enough to bare her teeth from her spot on Tana's neck. 


She wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back, but if she did she'd just be hurt more. "I don't want to be just the girl that you go to when Shaye's not wanting sex or who you are to ashamed of to admit your feelings about in public so you have to hide me away from the world." she knew she was being harsh but she was hurt. He had promised to never harm her but here he had done so. Not all pain had to be physical. If he had never wanted her for anything more than an incubator, he should of just said so and not lead her on. 


She didnt even turn in his direction. Likely all he cared about was that his son was returned anyway. Though her head was making up lies about him from her heartbreak and she knew it, but that didn't mean she was going to not let it be a possibility.

He shouldn't have been surprised that Basil would act no differently than Vail had. The primate was so much more willing to bare his teeth than Vail had been as she loomed over their daughters. Rhyme's ears fell to his head and he backed away several paces. Okay, he deserved that. Solitude didn't even bother to come to his rescue. Basil yelled and Alma showed her teeth. He had done both.

"I did." He admitted, knowing he could utter a thousand excuses and none of it would excuse what he'd done. They were parents together, he knew very clearly how she felt about him and he didn't say anything. "I am so sorry. I know it doesn't mean much, but... you can't leave. Not yet." He wasn't going to stop her, but the winter was harsh. She was becoming incredibly self sufficient but she was likely going to her death and taking Noir with her. "I broke one promise I can't break the other." He was going to protect her, he couldn't just let her go. "You were never any of that." But had he loved her? Had he just been stringing her along, pretending everything was still the same as that night? Yes. "What can I do to keep you here? Until spring at least." He asked, desperate to convince her to stay. To be the mother their children needed, and to give him a chance to be a father to Noir. He'd lost one son, and he'd come close to losing the other and their mother. Verse especially deserved to know her.

Whether he had meant to or not, he had hurt her. And she wasn't sure she knew what to do other than running away from the pain. The fact that his own companion didn't come to defend him didn't escape the notice of any of them. Even his raven disagreed with his actions. 


He had no idea how much it had meant to her to have someone who had loved her, or that she thought had. And it had been ripped away. His apology meant nothing to her, he had done it and hadn't even thought about the four others he could hurt from it. But now he was telling her she couldn't go. "I dont want to pretend that you care about me. I love you and I dont want to give you up to Shaye, but I can't get between you either." she loved him too much for that. He didnt even know how much she had thought this out. 


Then he was asking what he could do to get her to stay. She didn't even have any idea. She hadn't even thought of what he could do to make her happy enough to stay. "I don't know."

He could hear the pain in her voice and see it on the faces of her companions. This wasn't the outcome he'd expected nor the consequences he had planned to face. Two families. In the same pack. How had he really seen everything come to pass? Tana was going to stay ignorant or even if he'd told her the truth she wouldn't mind sharing? No Shaye didn't expect that either. It was one or the other and he couldn't have both. Rhyme couldn't have everything.

She hadn't turned back around to face him, a sign of how thoroughly she had made up her mind. He couldn't help find his mind wandering to a time when he'd raged about someone hurting her, but now he'd gone and done the same thing. He knew the physical pain was just as real as the emotional he'd poured upon her.

"I never meant to hurt you." He admitted truthfully, he hadn't done any of it with her pain in mind and that was the problem. He'd only thought of himself and not the woman who gave her heart so freely. She didn't even know if he could do anything to convince her to stay.

"I won't come near you again." He started, flinging options off his cuff. "I'll have one of the warriors escort you to one of our allied packs when the spring returns." He couldn't stand the thought of someone finding her and returning her to slavery. He had to assure her safety. And Noir's. "Please don't let me break my second promise too." His voice became quieter and his head lowered as he felt himself humbled.

She wish he had told her, she really did. At least then she didnt have to be the one who was just an interloper in his life and believed that he had loved her. Sad thing was had he asked she probably would have been okay with sharing. He didn't know that though. "You should have just told me Rhyme. I already knew I wasnt worth an alpha's time." she was quiet again. Deflated even. 


She loved Abaven but Rhyme was here, and she had to face him if she stayed. She had easily fell for him. "You were my fairytale, you know." her companions were with her on this. If she had to run from pain they supported it, just as long as she didnt go back to being the girl that rolled over for everyone. She'd always dreamed of the knight coming to save her and sweep her off her paws, and she thought it had been Rhyme. 


"No." she didnt want him to stay away. Nor did she want to actually leave she just didn't know what else to do. She turned back towards Abaven. He was desperate and she could hear it. "Be honest Rhyme, what did you want for us to do? For shaye to become your mate and me to fade away like a bad memory? Or did you just want us to somehow share you?" she knew he was exhausted every time he came into the den. She could tell he was stressed. "You can't be everywhere at once, and what happens when Shaye decides she doesn't like you coming around me? Because eventually your going to have to choose and I know where I sit. I'm disposable, nothing more than a nice distraction for you." by now her voice was shaking and her heart wrenched. She couldn't help the sobs as they came. 


He'd lead her around by her heart. And now he needed to figure out what he was going to do since his choice was already made. She could feel Noir stirring. She needed to make up her mind now. The former slave took a step towards Abaven only to stop again. Her indecisiveness was written on her face, she just didnt know what to ask of him. She couldn't ask him to leave shaye for her, or to give her his heart entirely. She couldn't take the choice from him and he knew that. She also didnt want to live with the pain of knowing he wanted her there but only because her children were there. She was a slave in her heart and he knew it too. "I'll stay, for now. But I want to know how you actually feel about me, and I want to know that if you do actually want me by your side too that you tell Shaye, so we can all work this out together."

He should have told her, but at first he had been barred by Shaye in claiming their brood. He had chosen Tana as his main squeeze and maybe he'd partake in a few girls on the side. Then he'd really fallen in love with Shaye, and she mirrored his feelings. He was able to be their children's father. Then things got dicey. He should have come clean to Tana right after he left Shaye that day but he hadn't. He'd put it off and then all of his children had been born and they'd buried Darlinor. He didn't feel he'd been able to grasp the right moment. Now.. Now Tana was leaving and he'd broken her heart.

She admitted how highly she held him in her mind, how much he meant to her and he'd just used her and tossed her away. He thought he'd been sparing her feelings, but really he was just dragging her along. Rhyme sat back on his haunches as she turned back towards Abaven and refused his offer to stay away from her. "I should have, and I did intend to." But. there was always a but. Tana wanted the truth.

"I want to raise our children together, I want to keep you safe. I care.. Deeply about you. I want you to be happy, but I don't know how to anymore. I never meant to fall in love with Shaye. I should have given your feelings more consideration, but I was too caught up in myself."

She took a step back towards Abaven, she admitted she would stay, for now. However he had to admit truthfully what she meant to him and the three of them needed to talk out how everything was going to work. His tongue was tied, his emotions whirling. "I'll do whatever I can to keep you here, to keep you safe." He whispered, his gaze unable to stay on Tana he was so ashamed of himself. He'd hurt her thoroughly, and he'd never intended to.

This was how relationships were supposed to work right? That they spoke to each other and all secrets were bared to each other. He had made her a mother and in doing so had made this a relationship that needed work. Especially since he hadn't seen fit to either tell her about him and shaye, or at least have a small meeting with both women to discuss their situation. 


Then he started answering her. Finally they might get somewhere. If he wanted her to stay he would need to work things out. If it meant she and Shaye needed to move their pups in together and raise them together then that was what they needed to do. "Sounds like you need to figure out then if shaye is okay with your heart being both of ours then. Then when you know you can figure out what to do from there." she moved closer letting basil clamber onto her back then moved closer to him. "If it means we have to move dens or dig mine to be bigger, then that's what we do. This between us, between you and shaye, it's going to to require you to work for it. But I know you cant keep going between dens. Your exhausted and strained more than you should be. There has to be a balance." 


She knew they likely had a long road ahead of them. If shaye was willing to sacrifice to make him happy that was. "if shaye doesn't want to be in a relationship where she shares you then me and her will have to talk and figure it out together." she didn't let him know that her plans would then continue and she would give Theory and Verse to Shaye and take Noir to a different location where hopefully Rhyme wouldn't find them so he could eventually forget they existed.

Rhyme could hardly believe that just moments after she was about to run away she mentioned how exhausted he was. She knew acutely how much he was running himself ragged to keep up with everything he put himself to. She spoke of balance and talking everything out with Shaye present. He sighed inwardly, not wanting to think about how well his alpha partner would take this. To keep Tana safe he would attempt anything.

"Whatever it takes to keep you safe." Nothing that happened between them would change the fact that all three of those beautiful babies belonged to both of them. They needed both their parents in their life. Rhyme couldn't live with himself if he allowed her to leave and something happened. It would all be his fault. "Let's go back to the den, the weather is only going to get worse." Though Vail was likely to growl at him more he hoped the albino girl appreciated that he'd been able to convince Tana back for now.

Tana had stepped closer to him, but he didn't think he deserved that proximity. She said she didn't want him to disappear from her presence, and he wouldn't. His shame was too raw though, and he wouldn't push his luck with her.

She sighed as he spoke of keeping her safe. He didn't get it. She was safe now that she knew freedom. Sure she was the kind to just roll over in a fight but now she could say that at least she knew freedom. That even if she did become a slave again that she wouldn't stop trying to escape or at least try to find a way to get help from someone who could help her. 


She nodded as he said he wanted to get her back to the den. Basil was still glaring at him, unbeknownst to her. Though she figured he wouldn't forgive him as easily as she did. She started a slow hobble towards her den then. She did leave a kiss on his shoulder as she passed him. All he had to do was talk to shaye now and see how she felt about the situation. Then he would have to come back and tell her. 


As she entered the den she could still smell Vail and the girls. Relief that she didnt already come to the conclusion and move them washed over her. She wriggled out of her cloak and her companions jumped from her back and moved from the den. She knew they were likely going to try to help imperia out in keeping the cold off her eggs. Tana wished imperia had built the nest in the den where her babies would be better guarded from the elements. She then reached in and grabbed a very clearly disgruntled Noir and returned him to the pile of babies an laid with her basically best friend. Vail was definitely the closest thing to a best friend she had.

He thought he understood, but he really didn't. Rhyme was determined now not to break his second promise. He didn't want to continue hurting her, he only wished Tana happiness. He'd already brought her pain with his actions and couldn't take it back but he could maybe make things better. He hoped Shaye might come to an easy understanding or help him decide the best way to fix what he'd broken. He didn't want her to do the fixing for him, but getting her ideas might help to create a better arrangement. Having all the pups in one den would more than help him catch up on some lost sleep.

He didn't expect her soft kiss as she walked past him, of course Basil didn't let up his scowl. They didn't say anything else as he escorted her to the maple tree. He lingered at the entrance for a moment longer as she slipped inside. He heard Noir begin to squeak and he felt a relief spread through his chest before loping back in the direction of Shaye's den.

The albino hadn't planned on Tana returning, and she was currently debating what she was going to do when their mother reappeared at the entrance of the den. Vail's jaw fell open, and thankfully Tana would be unable to see. She would be lying if she said she hadn't been playing mother. It felt so right to have those little bundles curled beside her. Vail sighed inwardly as Noir was placed back with his sisters and all three struggled to nurse as Tana returned to her proper place.

"Did you have a nice walk." She checked, knowing full well that Tana wouldn't have stolen away Noir for a trip around the maple tree. "I don't suppose Rhyme traded places with you and he wound up leaving?" She asked maybe just a little too eagerly. Rhyme very clearly hurt her best friend though, and her sister, he wouldn't likely ever get back on her good side.

She turned her ears back at the faint sound of Rhyme leaving. She really wished he had stayed but then again he probably had to speak with Shaye as soon as possible. She imagined it probably wouldn't go well, since she couldn't imagine shaye wanting to be in a relationship that wasn't like her sister's. 


She laid her head on Vail's legs and let out a sigh. Emotions were running wild and everything honestly was confusing. She didnt feel Vail's first question needed an answer. "No he found me too fast...." but she gave an answer anyway. And the next question earned a light ligh, though it was more at the audible disdain for Rhyme that Vail held. "Nah but I bet shaye eats him for what he has to ask to get me to stay for good." light humor was in her voice as she twisted her hips to let her pups nurse easier. The sound of wind howling could be heard and she listened for more than that, aware he probably would wait for "the right time" to talk to shaye, so she'd likely hear nothing.

Tana quickly became comfortable in the den, laying her tattered features on Vail's paws as she sighed softly. The Destruction woman couldn't imagine how much turmoil was going on underneath the surface. She leaned down and offered her support in the form of a gentle nuzzle to Tana's neck. She couldn't deny that she was relieved that Rhyme had convinced her back for now, but after a quick chuckle she realized it was only provisional.

She tilted her head curiously as she lifted herself from the easy affection offered. Shaye was going to be eating the waste of wolf fur? That didn't exactly sound like her sister. The alpha had been hell bent on defending him when she first confessed they'd accidentally slept together. Obviously the secret had been temporary and the two had progressed into a real relationship. Not that Vail approved.

"I can't deny the visual makes me happy." She started with a chuckle. "How did he convince you?" If these two gorgeous babies hadn't been enough to keep her what could Rhyme do? "I still don't think he deserves you, but I also don't think you should leave." She was becoming quite attached to her apprentice healer and the last thing she wanted was to hear she'd left Abaven or her children behind.

Tana was happy to receive the affection from Vail. Her attempt at comforting the former slave was much appreciated. Tana still didn't know how she was going to live here if something didn't happen to help her be happy again. 


She tilted her ears to Vail's voice as she asked how Rhyme had convinced her to stay. Did he though was the question? "Honestly I'm not sure it was him completely, but he has to speak with Shaye. He admitted that he cares deeply about me, which I guess is as close to an I love you I'll ever get, so if he wants me and Noir to stay he needs to see how shaye feels about sharing him. If she doesn't like it then I take the girls to her and take Noir and leave. Of course he doesn't know that I won't leave all of them behind." she lifted her head and turned it to her friend. She was starting to play with an idea but she wasnt sure that it would ever work. "I think I could make it. Run to the north or east, claim a small patch of land you know, but I don't think I could defend it if someone tried to take it all." she obviously wasnt a fighter. Nor was she really leader material but it was always fun to imagine things, right? A little pack with healers and those that needed refuge from others. A safe place. Somewhere she wouldn't be afraid ever again. Because here she had to admit she was afraid to see Rhyme but yet she wanted to.