He laughed then, but the sound was without humor. “In truth it was they that made me feel like an outcast.” He said, his eyes lowering as he recalled his childhood. “I was ambitious, I wanted to be their leader, I worked hard for it, met as many people as I could, learned as much as I was able.” His features darkened then. “The leader I was born under- Bass, he lost his mind. My sisters went missing and he left to search for them, leaving the pack in the hands of a…consort. Temporarily. “ Vali. Anger twisted within him at the thought of the pale woman. The woman who had overlooked him, the woman who was unimpressed by him, the woman who only saw a bastard, but more importantly saw a boy who was not a Destruction. “She passed leadership to a girl who was…inferior to me.” For the first time in his life he wondered if that were true, if Sparrow truly had been the meek, unqualified woman he had always thought her to be. As he recalled the days that followed her ascension and her meager attempts of holding together a pack that was crumbling he realized that it was true.
He composed himself and looked at the man directly. “I don’t say that lightly, she was ill-suited, passive in nature and weak of body, but then I suppose she didn’t need to be strong.” He sighed. “The girl was Bass’s daughter you see, and his son was unwilling to take on the role of leader for himself. I was never even considered.” His mouth twisted wryly “I never had a chance. I was a bastard with no lineage save for my mother’s. The son of a healer with no passion for healing, nothing more.” He shook out his fur suddenly, as if it would dislodge the bitterness and anger that followed him to this day. “When the opportunity to start my own pack arose, I took it, and I never once looked back.”
He paused then, looking out over the surrounding forest. “Which reminds me.” With that he tipped his head back and let out a call, watching as his slight son slipped from the underbrush they had left behind to join his father and grandfather. “This is Rain. Your grandson.”
Speaking Thinking You
