Wheeling Gull Isle snake eyed with a sly smile.

Ava’s cry of pain absolutely devastated him, shattering Caracal’s heart into countless sharp little pieces. He had sworn never to hurt a child. He didn’t want to be like his dad. And though it had been an accident, so had Reyes’s attack on him once upon a time. God, he felt like the worst person in the whole damn world.

He tried to gently kiss her brow and soothe the spot where he knew he’d hit her, big fat tears sliding down his face and wetting hers. Holding her weight in one foreleg, he brought up his free paw to gently wipe her face. It trembled terribly.

I am so, so sorry, Ava, I didn’t mean to… he said, flinching but not reacting otherwise when her teeth sank into the side of his paw.

In fact, he made zero effort to pry it out of her teeth. Let her bite him. He deserved her wrath and welcomed his punishment. Caracal’s head bowed over her, a thread of blood still trickling from his swelling eye along with his tears.