swallow my heart whole and leave me to the wolves

The youth looked startled at his words, probably because he had been sunken in thoughts. Looking at his face, he was younger than Charon had thought; he had looked almost an adult from afar, but looking at his face, Charon could see how young he was still. Probably between four and six months, he guessed; nearly grown in body but far from in spirit.

Moments of silence passed before the youth finally spoke. Charon wondered if anything'd happened between him and his parents to drive him away (he didn't even consider his parents might not be Dhole's). He thought of keeping the boy here, if not only to sting Dhole's parents by taking him. But then he considered he might be a risk for his own girls, and he hesitated. The boy furthermore didn't seem all too interested in his pack, so maybe not. If he'd get lost somewhere else in the wilds Charon was content enough. He even toyed with the thought of killing the boy, thinking back to the day that he and his had been harmed gravely because of the Redhawk Alpha pair. Maybe he would've, had he not become a father himself.

The fleeting murderous thoughts passed as quickly as they'd gone, and Charon followed, if not only to keep his borders safe. "What happened?" he asked, then followed: "Seems like a pretty dumb plan to get lost out in the wilds, so must've been pretty shitty what happened." He was still harbouring his casually murderous thoughts, figuring it'd be fairer to kill him now than let him starve in the wilds, though nothing in his body language reflected his negative thoughts towards the boy (and, mostly, towards the boy's parents).