Stick Stickly

He had been patrolling, despite remonstrations from Paladin that he needed to rest. Really, he wanted to keep moving, hoping it would settle his thoughts into a solid decision. Emotionally, he would have no qualms about attacking Talis and razing it to the ground. Logically thinking, he needed to be careful with what he did. It wasn’t just him to consider but the whole pack. A wrong step could lead them to ruin.

There was the issue of yet another missing child, or children. Marina’s daughter had gone over the wall, and had escaped notice long enough, somehow, for the scent trail to be rather stale, and that frustrated him. The wall was tall enough, now, that there would be none of that, again, but there were openings, to allow prey in and out.

He wondered, vaguely, if the litter’s sire had tracked them down and stolen the pup away for lunch, but the male’s scent had been nowhere to be found when he’d checked.

A flash of rainbow colors ahead caught his eye, pulling him from his reverie. He studied the hostility that radiated off every line in the female’s body, circling around to her good eye’s side. He knew wolves recently blinded in one side could be liable to explode when approached from a now vulnerable area.

Of course, looking at her now, he figured she’d be exploding at any time, approached from that side or not. He could hardly blame her. He’d been through enough missing family members to understand some of her pain, but he couldn’t imagine what would be going through his mind if one of his children, unborn as yet, were to go missing, so soon after an attack on the pack.

He remained silent, letting her make the first move.