Blacktail Deer Plateau hear the sound of the mightiest of guns

omg mine, Dante needs a buddy right now

I have no clue where this came from, but Dante insists, so here it goes!b let's turn up the awkward in this joint :P

The oncoming storm had an air of appropriateness about it... It matched the Alpha male's mood and internal turmoil rather perfectly.  Though his pack thrived, he felt as though his personal struggles threatened to suffocate him.  He couldn't deny it anymore.... Osprey had been the reason he had neglected to give Lasher an answer that day.  He couldn't turn down the male outright, but... What?  Why couldn't he admit it, even to himself?

He liked her.  There.  He'd admitted it.  At first, it had been a mere friendship.  Even when they'd spoken of what they searched for, he hadn't seen it.  Hell, he didn't know when it had started.

But here it was.  And now that he'd admitted it, it seemed so obvious.  What was it he'd told her he wanted? Someone who challenged him.  Something she'd done every moment since first they met.  She'd drawn him from his comfort zone with ease and every time he left her presence he found himself looking forward to their next encounter.

That had to mean something, right?

Funny, though, how hindsight was 20/20.  Because with their last conversation, any hope he might have had of something there was shattered.  And it wasn't likely anything could be done to pick up the pieces.  

Spotting Mordecai through the haze of his thoughts, Dante toyed with the idea of avoiding him.  But then he called out instead.  He had few friends who were truly neutral in this situation, and Mordecai was here before him now.

"Mordecai!  Hey, you got a minute?". Because now there was only one question weighing on him, an answer he knew he needed to give soon, but one that seemed all the sudden much harder to determine.