Please Don't Hate Me For What I've Done

He let her cry, snuggling his nose into the fur at her nape, and making no sound except low crooning nothings, humming a rumbling version of one of their grandmother’s lullabies while Rasiel let it all out. This was what he was here for. Not to be the one that broke against the rock, but to be the rock that moored everyone safely together during the harshest seas. He might have forgotten that a bit in his own grief. And maybe that was why Laisren had gone elsewhere.

As she drew back, he listened to her apologies and confessions, but drew her back in without hesitation. “We all get lost sometimes. I was a little lost, myself. But always know I’m here for you, sis. Me, our siblings, the pack. We’re here to hold one another up as best as we can.” She didn’t know about their father, he guessed… and he wasn’t sure how to bring it up to her. Wait too long, and he’d only hurt her more… tell her too soon and… he wasn’t sure. Perhaps now was the best time.

So, he took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “I wish I could tell you the good news first, but it’s best you know now rather than later. Father’s with mother.” He was quick to add, “But I think it would make them both ache to see us drift apart, so we need to be strong, hold out heads up. You’re almost two. We’re all grown.” It didn’t help the pain, but it was a comfort to know that his parents were together, wherever wolves went when they died. Falk had been wasting away, even before Surreal’s death. Being blinded had changed him, taken away a vibrant power.

“The good news is that Solveiga’s back, and so is one of Kavdaya and Creed’s children, Justice.”