Silvertip Mountain The winds of change

I didn’t want to post prior to knowing how the cougar thread turns out (as Mason could have been carted off the mountain and kidnapped) but it’s going too slow to see a resolution prior to this thread deadline. So this may be edited in due course.

Mason had moved out of the ‘family den’ so he had no real knowledge of what was going on with FitzDutiful and Zaria. What little he did know was gleaned from June – the only wolf he was currently happy to see besides Steady – and June’s version of events only included what she thought was important. It was a bit masochistic anyway, hearing how happy his Dad and Zaria were. He intended to ask June to move out with him into their own den in due course, but for now he felt she would probably be better-kept in Dad’s den. Until Mason had formed a proper little home for them and could hunt successfully on his own, he would leave his charge to eat and sleep back at his old home. 

He heard the howl on the air. It could perhaps be determined lucky that @June was with him. If it were not for her quiet insistent move towards the howl, and Mason’s brotherly instinct to escort her, he would likely have ignored his father and suffered the reprimand. Zaria’s joining howl caused a shudder to rack his body but he shook the flinch off with a twist of his slim neck, and plodded at June’s pace towards the meeting. 

By the time they neared, however, he was a bag of nerves. Mason’s heart fluttered and he had a metallic taste in his mouth he could not describe. He concentrated on June’s tail and moved onto the scene slinking low to the ground. The roar of the waterfall flooded his ears with a happy distraction. Looking around he saw Alastor of a similar demeanour as he, and debated going to join him, but he was too close.

Mason stayed as far back as he could possibly be – and probably still seeming discourteous – but he left June to go where she would. He hovered above the ground, refusing to sit, ready to bolt at any moment. He had had the scare of his life, shortly after news which had shattered his world, and now his nerves were so frayed he was in constant flight mode. He refused to look at Fitz or Zaria. He didn’t care, he told himself.
All the while knowing it wasn’t true.