The Sunspire Nerves

Against her better judgement, Red decided to let Ferdie’s grooming relax her, and relax her it did. He had found her weakness — being touched. She craved touch. Needed it. It was a must for her. And so, being touched like this by her Alpha, even if all he was doing was grooming her, was heaven. She let her eyes close, and gave a great sigh of relief, allowing a smile to tug at the corners of her mouth. In a little while, though, he was done with his nit-picking, which he signaled by nudging her shoulder. She sighed again, this time in disappointment, but said nothing about it.

“You fought bravely,” Ferdie said after a time, which caused Red to nearly jump out of her fur. She had resigned herself to the silence, so this sudden intrusion was a bit frightening. It was quiet that night, so his voice seemed to boom in her ears. His next words stabbed more guilt into her heart about leaving, and she whined and flattened her ears against her head.

“Ferdie…” she whimpered out, but could not go on. What was she to tell him? I’m leaving the pack to start my own, have a nice life? No. That wouldn’t do at all. She needed to come up with a way to say it without it sounding like she was just abandoning them all.