I am not the man you thought I was

The weight of his brother's ultimatum settled over him like a heavy, wet blanket, smotheringly. He stared back at Pyrrhic without expression for a long moment, until Riva stood and came up beside her mate to confront him. He flinched away from the accusation in her eyes and her voice. "Do you think I wanted this?" he snarled. "That I do not love your children as though they were my own? I didn't want this!"

He snapped off the last words, tilting his head to stare at the sky so he did not confront their righteous hatred of him. The ooze made new tracks down his fur like the tears he had never been able to cry, but he ignored the sensation. His eyes closed and as they did a sense of peace flowed over him, of acceptance, cushioning the weight of his brother's words, of Riva's. He looked to Pyrrhic once more.

"I will leave you to mourn your daughter," he said. "I will leave pack lands to give you time to do what needs be done for her. But I will not willingly abandon my name or my pack. I will return. You may have your reckoning then. Do what you must."

He dropped his gaze to his niece, then turned aside and walked away. He would leave pack lands, not returning until the disease had either subsided or killed him. He couldn't risk the madness rearing its head when Pyrrhic finally had his vengeance for his daughter - he would not harm his brother. Let him do what he must.

-exit?-