Heron Lake Plateau Just smell with your eyes

Aaa!  <3  Have I mentioned I'm glad you're back?  You kinda write awesome posts, haha.  And sorry, my boy is apparently an introspective mess again, whoops.

It was probably the only thing he'd kept from her and it was also probably stupid to do -- he wasn't good at lying, so the only option became to just try to bail when it was effecting him the most.  He tried to be strong, to try to make sure that he wasn't somehow stealing all her attention with what he thought were unimportant problems and preventing her from doing the thing he thought would help the pack the most -- stepping back up to alpha.  But she'd already decided to do so, he just couldn't ruin it now.  He'd be fine. ... Right?  It went away before, but would it stay gone?

But think of the season.  Though at the moment they weren't imminently expecting pups -- he hadn't thought much of that yet, there was still enough time yet that he wasn't going to worry something was wrong -- but if they were, the ghosts would surely come back.  Perhaps they'd haunt him more strongly when the pups were his own.  Yeah, it was probably a good thing that Quixote hadn't arrived on the scene.

And honestly, as her scent drifted towards him, he felt bad for even trying to hide it.  She had to be able to tell.  Raven was the one who grounded him, after all, and he was not one that would typically drift astray.  Raven and the children were his world, and he didn't care what the rest of the pack thought of him as long as they were safe and happy.  He could be the bad guy, the jerk, but he meant well and did what he thought was right with unyielding dedication.

Soon she was with him, the brush of her shoulder still felt electric.  Raven knew something, and so she was here.  She was always here for him.  She was far too good to him.  His ears tipped back guiltily for more than one reason, and perhaps if it had only been because his departure must have woken her, perhaps he'd stay silent and they could just enjoy the morning together.  Instead he opted for a rather pathetic attempt at a misdirect, as he tried to convince himself that was the only problem, Sorry I woke you.  He reached out to nuzzle her cheek as they walked, his focus on the borders waning and shifting to solely rest on her.