Cerulean Cape where the moon is made of gold

Oh!

Owing to the boy’s skittish nature, Coelacanth had not expected Screech to make any overtures of friendliness toward her — not that she minded! Quite the opposite, she welcomed him! She sat up on her haunches and spread her forelegs wide, then dropped bonelessly to her belly with a soft whuff — and when Screech outstretched his forelimbs to pillow his chin she just barely contained the urge to rush over and curl up beside him. Admittedly, her hips wriggled like an overstimulated feline about to pounce, but she reined in her enthusiasm as he sighed deeply and then began to speak. As before, her tufted ears canted forward upon her gently sloping skull as if what he had to say was the most interesting thing she could possibly have been listening to.

Right now, it most definitely was.

“Your family is…nice.”

The way to Seelie’s heart was through her ears the wolves dearest to it, and although Screech could not have known this, his compliment was one of the nicest she had been given. Up until now, none of the wolves from the Teekons had been given the opportunity to interact with the Cortens on such a large scale. Her heart was filled with their love — filled with the knowledge that Aditya, Grayday, Sunny, and Dawn were now part of it — and although she had only just met the silver-furred boy, she, the empress of “love first, ask questions later,” loved him, too. Neptune eyes went soft and warm, and she was so overwhelmed by his kindness that she did not look away even when he complimented her directly — something that would normally have sent her recoiling in an overwhelming mixture of, “No! I cannot possibly deserve this!” and, “Thank you! I worked so hard!”

The color of his eye was like her father’s — like her uncles’ and aunts’ and cousins’ — but he turned away from her, depriving her of it. It was cold and flat, and his smile was oddly empty of warmth or emotion, but she believed with a dog’s foolish hope that these things were there — she just had to work harder to bring them to the surface. Shimmying closer, she outstretched her nose — at this distance, he could savage her if he wished, but she trusted him not to — and allowed it to brush against his paw. A soft, airy whine passed from her lips, moved the velveteen fur atop his paw.

Had she done something wrong, to make him turn from her this way?