one more day

After a midnight patrol Rhyme did not return to the den and his pups, they should have been fast asleep and he had a bit too much on his mind to go back to sleep yet. Icy white paws carried him unknowingly towards what had been his personal retreat was turned into a graveyard. He felt the gash in his heart reopened as he realized where he’d walked. Tana and Darilnor. Dark ears fell to his skull as he lowered his towering form to the ground between his son and his son’s mother.

He sighed heavily and placed his head on his paws, eyes on the fast moving water in front of him. The seasons were changing, and the cold of winter would be quick on the heels of Autumn’s grasp. His children were approaching yearling status, and he was forced to remember another milestone his lost son would miss. He turned his head slightly to look at the fresh grave that held his mother. He’d come to terms with her loss a long time ago, but he knew her death affected their children so much heavier than himself.