Blackfeather Woods blood ran cold

At the mention of his mother’s name, the child’s fur bristled. The words were not directed towards him, but towards the other boy. He knew that not to be possible, and it seemed Leo did, too. Neither knew where the woman was—or rather, no one knew where she was. No one he could speak with, anyways. Xan had a direction, and that was it. A direction that could stretch on for miles on end without presenting even a sliver of evidence that the albino had been there. Had he known where the lady was, perhaps he would have led the younger whelp there right away. He didn’t want to see his mother, but he knew she would take the lion back in. She liked him, after all, which gave her no reason to turn him away. That couldn’t happen, though, given his lack of knowledge concerning her whereabouts, and clearly the grey wolf was going to be of no help. Of course he wouldn’t help. It wasn’t in their nature.
 
The boy’s glare refused to let up, especially after the beast had stepped between himself and the sandy wolf. “Leo could have been one of our own,” he argued, reluctant to let the discussion be dropped right then and there. He did not view the male as a leader of any sort, just some guard who resided near Meldresi’s place of rest. Every time he’d been told of the woods, he’d been told of it being led by a Queen. That the dark woman who’d met him and his father at the borders was his leader, not some guy from within the pack. Because of that, he did not—could not—view the older wolf as being the ruler. Those thoughts remained unspoken, however, as more and more words continued to leave Burke’s mouth. Alexander knew he couldn’t pick Leo over his dad. Kove was the only real family he had left. The others had left them, leaving father and son alone to journey through the Wilds. His body became stiff at the idea of being the reason the elder Inuit would have to leave his home. The place he’d spoken highly of and had undoubtedly missed. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t be the one to do that, not to the parent who had stayed while everyone else took their own paths.
 
Xan’s eyes trailed past the larger wolf, meeting the face of his adopted brother. Bringing him to the woods was meant to be an act of kindness, the only thing he’d ever actually done for the younger. Things had turned sour right from the start, though, and had quickly led up to yet another farewell. “Bye, Leo,” he returned, strange eyes trailing after his departing form. Soon after, they were back on the dust-coloured man, narrowed into slits. “You aren’t my family,” he announced then. “My dad might see it that way, but I don’t.” Not as of yet, anyways. He was still reeling over the loss of his actual family, Leo included, and didn’t yet possess the capacity to allow another familial presence into his life. He didn’t want to let them in, to see them that way, certain they would leave just as his mother and sisters had done the moment he did. With that bit of information let out into the open, Alexander turned and headed off into the woods, not waiting to hear what else the adult might’ve had to say. At that point, he just wanted to be with Kove.