Tormented Tarns slipping away

If it was Zephyr's intent to keep him at ease, it was having the opposite effect on Kaertok. His own instincts told him that this was just a front. A fallacy. A straight-up lie. The smile, the wag of the tail, and the ease of Zephyr's posture only made it worse. Kaertok's parents had taught him to trust noone, and the ones who acted like they could be trusted were to be trusted even less.

The boy's tail stiffened, his muscles tightened, and his ears flattened against his skull. Sungiwok's lip quivered, on the brink of showing his fangs to this stranger. Nevermind the fact that the stranger had introduced himself.