Neverwinter Forest Billy Jean

"Yes. I think so." He said. "She was just...Outraged." He said. He felt bad, making Fox feel even worse, but there was no way he could have upset her children and her entire life by stepping in alongside her. He never would have cared about her in the right way. He'd thought about it on his walk to the Forest, how things would be if he had accepted her offer...No, not her offer, her demand. Her threat. He would have been miserable. The other pack wolves would have hated him for getting with Fox the day after her mate died. Gannet and Whip would have despised him for stepping into their father's role without so much as being consulted. The pack needed to grieve, he thought, before they accepted anyone into Peregrine's role- but that hadn't been his choice. "But I couldn't do it." He said softly. 

What she said next warmed him, and he moved forward to run his nose along her jaw and set his chin upon her shoulder, with his chest pressed up against hers. What she said about her father raised a flag in his mind, but all he wanted to do just then was hold her and he simply assumed her father was out looking for Rannoch. Had he taken Fox into his grasp he would have felt empty and dead, horrified at the fact that he was holding his cousin's widow in his grasp, but with Allure everything felt right. This was why he had denied Fox- because this was the feeling he was meant to have when he held someone. 

"Thank you, Allure." He murmured into her soft, dark fur. He wasn't sure, still, if Fox would calm down and want him back in the pack, and if she did, would it be right for him to refuse? He would be abandoning them when they needed him most...But he was able to console himself with the knowledge that Fox had kicked him out. If she wanted him back, she would have to find him; otherwise, he would simply be obeying her orders, and at least in that one way, he could fulfill her wish. Affectionately, overwhelmed with relief and gratitude, Shrike gently ran his teeth through the fur at the nape of Allure's neck. This was the feeling he wanted, the reason he'd left his former life in the Caldera behind. This was worth everything. "I want to be here. With you."