four. five. seconds

He laughed as Spectra reacted to the news. She was lucky that she hadn't had to smell Peregrine after he had been skunked; he remembered the odor with a wince. "Yeah, very smelly is right. It was hard to be around him for a while; I kept my conversations with him pretty short," Elwood chuckled.

"And I'm pretty sure the stink affected his ability to hunt; I think the prey could smell him before they saw him!" He wasn't sure if Peregrine had actually tested that theory, but imagined that it had been difficult to catch anything until the odor subsided.

And then, unexpectedly, Spectra popped a question that made Elwood roll his eyes playfully. What was with wolves wanting to give him nicknames? Was his proper name really so hard to remember? Or maybe it was just too easy to morph into other monikers. "Normally, I would say no," he said, leveling Spectra with a jokingly serious stare. "But I guess I can make an exception for you, since you're so kind -- and a friend of Perry's."