Larksong Grotto Let's play catch-up!

"It was," he replied, nodding his head slowly in confirmation. Taking a deep breath, Reek prepared himself to continue the re-telling of his tumultuous history in compliance with Emory's request. However, from here on out, Reek would find it much more difficult to put his feelings and the events that had come to pass into words -- the emotional connection was too fresh, too strong, to speak in an apathetic manner on the subject.

"I was completely despondent," he continued. "Even though she had come back to the rise, Wynter was distant emotionally." The two had hardly spoken to each other after their reunion on the borders of Redtail Rise. That, Reek felt, is what had set him on a collision course for infidelity. "I was angry; bitter to the fact that it seemed she just carry on like everything was okay when it clearly wasn't. I spiraled out of control... but Saena -- she caught me before I could fall too far." She had been the one to set Reek's life back on track. She had made him feel wanted -- made him feel loved.

"There was a spark between us," he said, referring to Saena. "But, it never went realized until we came together one night. I broke my vow with Wynter and claimed Saena for my own. Maybe we were both trying to find some sort of escape from our lonely lives, but I realized then that I couldn't carry on with my broken mateship if I wanted to be happy." After everything, Reek had felt it to be his only choice. "So then, I broke things off with Wynter."

"The relationship that followed with Saena was something of a whirlwind. We claimed this little cave carved into the side of a waterfall for our own, and she made me the Alpha Male of Redtail Rise." A thin, wistful smile played across Reek's face, but it quickly faltered as the memory faded. "The next two weeks were some of the happiest of my life." But, once again, the universe corrected its course, because for some reason, Reek was not allowed to be happy.

He pulled his face away from the scruff of Emory's neck and shifted his gaze flame-kissed mountaintop in the distance -- still mangled and charred with black soot. Deep lines settled into Reek's face and his voice grew tired and strained. "There was a fire that summer," he said. "It wiped everything out and we lost our home." Even after so much time, the memory of losing Redtail Rise was still painful and had a profound effect on Reek emotionally.