Heron Lake Plateau fake happy

It was moving to see such an emotional reaction from Towhee. The girl didn't often wear her feelings on her sleeve, both because of her personality and the lack of intonation in her voice. Elwood moved readily to embrace his family as they hugged, already storing this memory in his mind as an important moment in their history together.

When the four wolves separated a moment later, Finley returned to the previous topic that Clover had mentioned earlier. His daughter's request had been a reasonable one, and there was no surprise in Elwood's expression when his mate agreed with her. Titmouse -- or Screech, as he now seemed to be called -- was still family, but he had a lot of work to do to prove himself to them again. "I agree," he added with a bob of his head. "At least until the boys are older and more independent." There would come a time when Tywyll and Cinder began to make their own decisions, under the adults' guidance, and hopefully by that time Screech would have earned the Redhawks' trust once more.