Mudminnow River i raise my flag and i dye my clothes

Oh.. it made me sad writing this. :( AW, but thinking maybe @Bhreac would make it interesting.

He had first laid eyes upon her over a year ago. A lone wolf waiting upon the borders she had reigned in as Beta, she had greeted him and instantly caught his eye -- and at the time, she had been jealous of any attention even Fox had lavished upon him, during the fiery wolf's desire to seek the strongest male in her pack for mateship.

He had never wanted anyone else other than Bazi during those days, and he had been fueled by his own jealousies and the courtship antics Shadow had attempted with her.

And then, she had cracked under the pressure of taking over Swiftcurrent Creek, and fled, leaving him in charge. It shouldn't have been a surprise that Bazi flaked under pressure -- she had done it countless times in the year they had spent together. But this.. it was different.

She no longer loved him. He could feel it -- and if he truly sought to discover himself, he knew he too was falling out of love with her.

He needed a moment to think. He had been vigilant marking their new borders, but he had crept away when none of his kid were looking, otherwise he would have had a shadow with him. He skirted around the Moors, scared by how tempted he was to check in there and see if Quill was there. But what good would it do?

So now he slumped on his haunches at the shallow bank of a river, noting how still the water was compared to his old pack lands. Within it, he could see his reflection -- and while there was no physical mark left by his mate's stinging bite, he could feel the burn of it all the same.