Swiftcurrent Creek Insidious disaster

His belly felt full for one time in a long time; it sloshed and made him feel uncomfortable though satisfied. A belly full of water would have to do for now—food would come later. He was aware of Fox wading towards him then, and the wolf stiffened at first beneath her touch, before eventually easing into a serenity created by her own devices.

He licked her back, re-familiarizing himself with the smell, the taste of her. He could remember (albeit hazily) many stormy nights curled up beside her; witnessing the arrival of spring and recalling hope in a time he'd thought himself hopeless. The yearling before him had given the heinous and mistreated malice a place to stay. And now he was worse and she cared for him all the same. "Always," he responded to her automatically. Because it felt to be the most natural thing in the world: returning to Fox.

Haunter began exploring the fringes of her freshest wound with his tongue, the metallic taste of dead skin stinging his sensitive tongue. "What happened?" he rumbled, nape spiking nervously and eyes growing wild with barely masked madness.