and wild plum trees in tremulous white

Despite Sunny’s gentler nature, Seelie treated the young wolf exactly as she had treated the Cairn children — with a healthy dose of respect bordering on servitude. Dipping her finely tapered muzzle low, she backed away carefully from his kill, tapered ears folding like sleeping grass as her Neptune gaze darted apologetically awry. It was deeply ingrained in her not to touch or take what did not belong to her, and even though Sunny had given the mouse to her, the wrongness she felt outweighed her desire to simply accept it out of politeness. In truth, she longed to nudge the prize with her nose, returning it to the boy who now sat apprehensively beside his father — but that would mean touching it. She didn’t dare.

Luminous seablue eyes flitted toward the pair as a nervous flutter danced its way down her spine and shimmied up through the length of her tail. She whuffed softly, her catlike paws shifting shyly as the older male rose partially to his paws; he was taller and older than she, and she harbored a natural inclination to submit to him. She was a little disappointed when he seemed to rethink his actions and sat down instead, a larger nesting doll to the boy who nestled at his side like a near carbon copy. A toneless, airy whine wheedled from her lips, more sigh than sound, as she tilted her head first to one side, then the other. It was an uncomfortable setup — both of them sitting across from her — that she tried immediately to assuage.

Following instinct, she sidestepped up to the grayscale patriarch, the cant of her hips low. She didn’t quite cower and her tail didn’t quite tuck, but her meaning was plain as she made to touch the tip of her quivering nose to the underside of the umber-eyed male’s jaw. Berry juice smeared her chin, but it had likely dried to the point of not leaving a purplish smear on the pale fur of his chin, cheeks, and throat.