Curiosity

Bane lay curled up in his hole that now substituted as his den, side expanding and relaxing with each breath the elder wolf took. A leg twitched and his brow softened as a pleasant thought passed through his sleeping head, one of pride and happiness. The pelt of Tahlia soft as he brushed his nose against her cheek and a quick feeling of fur clinging to his tongue as the sign of affection was given. Each pup was then picked up from their mothers side, meat rubbed with milk of the poppy given to them as a trick to say that they could eat trimmed meat for the first time. The antler was then readied as they slept the forced sleep. In the jaws of a well practiced wolf it could take naught but a moment. The sleeping elder was a well practiced wolf, the sign of his pack having been carved into the trees surrounding his den.

The elder wolf roused himself bleary eye'd and shuddered at the thought at what he had to do to kill the infection that set in the vacant cavity in his skull. It took a day and the utmost self control to not go darting into the river. The fly was only allowed to lay a few eggs before being shaken away, and the young that hatched were used thoroughly clean the dead flesh. They were all downstream now. And thankfully his eye no longer oozed foul smelling liquid, a bloody curtain having hardened under his eye. Bane strode out of his den and lapped up his fill of water before tilting his head to wet the left side, a heavy sigh leaving him. A stretch was given and he felt his back pop multiple times, the aged twice banished planning on pacing the neutral zone of Seracia again.

One day a family member would come, when they were ready, but for now he let his pups be pups and his mate... struggle to raise them by herself. Tahlia had been failed, and now she was probably only known as the female who mated with a freak and an outcast, and had an adopted bastard. A loose howl was given, a far too distant attempt to communicate with her. But love knew no bounds.