Silver Creek And moth-like stars were flickering out

"Mm," said Saena noncommittally. She was much too prone to dwelling on what could have been to see the point Heston made. She was so caught up on the belief that remaining and fighting would have been the better option that she could not entertain the notion that this was the best thing that could have happened for her pack. There were better outcomes, surely. Outcomes that didn't end with her daughters being kidnapped by their father, likely oblivious to the danger he presented, or else all too familiar with it and scared out of their minds. Had they just done what they should have and killed him, Silver Creek would never have had to deal with Reek again.

She listened half-heartedly as Heston insisted that the pack was flourishing, but there was an uncomfortable pang in her chest when he spoke about Spring. It was an unfair feeling, but Saena was jealous, naturally. This pack was hers in her eyes. She had made all the hard calls. Done everything she could for the pack. She felt owed the reins, and yet they hadn't been given to her. Spring's offer to share leadership was still between them and was far more than Saena deserved, yet the more she thought on it and the less guilty she felt for her disappearance, the more she didn't want to share it. Hearing Heston praise Spring was nice, but reprehensible jealousy still squeezed her chest. She was proud of her friend, grateful that she'd kept Silver Creek afloat while its true Alpha was missing, true... but Saena still felt the position belonged to her, and that was something she warred with beneath the concern for her children.

"Yeah," she said with a barely hidden grimace, "Spring's really great." If only Saena was a subordinate wolf. If only she hadn't been a leader for over half her life. If only following someone else was something she was capable of doing without feeling like she'd failed herself. Everything would be easier that way. With a wistful sigh to answer Heston's apology and offer, Saena rolled her shoulders and said, "thank you. You're very kind." But Heston was not a wolf of hers, and so she couldn't see herself taking him up on his offer. She didn't want to owe him later.

"I think I'll head back home," she told him, lifting herself off the ground. The overhang she'd hidden in for several days was quiet, dry enough, and allowed her to be alone with her dark and possibly treasonous thoughts. "It was nice meeting you," she said with a thin smile that didn't do a great job of hiding her inner misery, and then she set off into the rain with her ears draped across her scalp in an effort to stay dry.