Lion Head Mesa I found something in the woods somewhere.

Luke had come to some sort of decision. If Harlyn's pack still had not founded toward the end of fall, he would seek residence elsewhere. He deigned not to spend another winter as a lone wolf. He had fared well, but the unforgiving grasp of winter was not to be trifled with, and there was no guarantee he would be as successful the next time. To say nothing of how much more he craved the closeness of others when the air was most frigid, and the days the darkest.

It had not escaped his mind that he could be at the plateau now, among his companion and his lover both, but nor had it escaped him that such a thing could prove hard on the heart when and if the time came. So, he would go about things as he had been doing, before he had arrived here and shortly after, before he had become tangled in affairs of others and allowed lonesomeness to prick at his fur. He would explore, play, and seek new faces.

There was one now.

His sweeping gaze spotted a gray male, and immediately his tail began to swing. He looked to be older, but the blue-nosed wolf was not deterred as he quickly bounded and sprinted his way to him. "Hey!" he called as he neared, as he so often was inclined to do. For the first time in a while, he truly felt like his carefree self again.