Stone Circle Back again...

The lighthearted conversation he may have wished to have upon realizing it was her was all gone now, replaced by reality. Steady had been developing feelings for Mara Susi when she left the first time, which is why he had put himself on the line to bring her back within the pack. Then, she had left again, no words, no goodbye howl. It was obvious to him now that the feelings were one-sided, and Mara Susi simply hadn't thought of him enough to even let him know she was leaving. It was a hard pill to swallow, but not so hard since he had never confessed his feelings for her. Well, I'm happy you got to see him, he said. There wasn't as much genuineness in his voice as he wanted, but he supposed he couldn't help it. 

She brought up Silvertip, asking if he had left. No, I didn't leave like you did, he wanted to say. He was having a hard time suppressing his resentment of her silent departure, now that he knew her reasons for leaving. He felt like she could have said something, anything. Things happened, I became Alpha. But, it got crowded near the mountain, so we relocated here a couple months ago. It wasn't the whole story, not nearly, but the past was drudged up enough in their conversation, and he didn't want to explain the deaths of his family members.