Blacktail Deer Plateau With ice cold hands taking hold on me

Grayday had, unfortunately, slept through Sunny's ordeal until he'd been brought back to the den. The male had been shocked and confused by the boy's sudden bad turn. Sunny always seemed so strong, and it just didn't make sense to Grayday that he should have to worry about the boy even now, when he was big and grown.

The father curled closer to his son, his puppy, his baby boy. "Daddy's here," he said urgently, the words twisting a knife in the depths of his heart. He thought guiltily of the months he'd left Sunny on his own, gone off to pursue his own life while his boy was still young and small. "I'm not goin' anywhere, buck-o. I've got you."

He turned to lick Lavender's forehead as his words seemed to bring her out of her own fitful slumber. "Go back to sleep, baby," he said to her. "Sunny's got a bad dream, is all." The painted child settled back down, and Grayday turned his attention back to Sunny, laying his head across the boy - the man's neck. "Daddy's here," he repeated, chest squeezing uncomfortably.