Rising Sun Valley the knife's edge

I weep for these guys!

Bazi could feel her teeth squeal under the pressure of her clenched jaws. Fox saw much of the world in black and white, and her Beta guessed that Jace's failure to distance himself dramatically from Ferdie had landed him on the wrong side of that ruthless divide - and perhaps unfairly. But the Swiftcurrent ghost had picked her side now. She had openly pledged her allegiance to Fox and fed slanderous lies about the exiled males to whoever deigned to receive. No doubt her words at the meeting had contributed to Njal washing his paws of the pair.

Given hindsight, that unthinking decision so support Fox filled her with a hollow, all-consuming hopelessness. The older, wiser wolves had spoken up for Jace, but Fox had shot them both down with what Bazi had thought to be a reasonable argument at the time. But had it been right? Tears pricked the girl's eyes and she struggled hard to maintain the venom in her stare. It melted away with every gulped breath.

"I miss you," she eventually croaked. There was nothing else to say. If she tried to reason with Fox, there was a chance - a strong chance - that she would be turfed out too.