Say A Prayer

Speech

Aranea turned around and it nearly broke him right then and there, the pain in her gaze as she looked towards him, the slight tip of her head as if she wanted to reach out to him. He flinched back, a forepaw lifting to his chest as he did so, it was an instinct, the last vestiges of his self worth telling him that he couldn't let her back in. If he did he'd be truly lost. He loved Derecho, with his whole being, much like his father he'd probably never be able to move on from her and the surging of emotion he felt looking at the first crush he'd ever had... well it was worse than all the other pain because some part of him already felt he was betraying his one true love.

The woman spoke, she said words that felt like lead, they felt like a feather. So full of all the worst things he'd felt about himself, so empty of any meaning. The part of Torin that had had to learn to be hard, to protect himself and his kids clicked over. The adult Torin, the alpha Torin. It wasn't the young boy she'd once offered a meaningless kiss to anymore, all the grief in his eyes was still there but it was hardened and his jaws locked, his face transforming into a stone mask. "How?" His tone was harsh, maybe harsher than it should have been but the part of him that had learned not to trust, learned it from her, wasn't willing to just let her sweet talk her way into anything. If she was going to try and get back into his life, she'd have to earn it.