Hideaway Strath Stay a thousand years.

He froze when she called out at him, and stared at her while she explained herself. It made sense that she'd not notice the irritating bird from hell if she was actually deaf; a part of him wanted to laugh and make a joke of it — but even Dingo knew that he couldn't burn through the budding connection he'd been fostering with Towhee. Alienating her now would sever one more connection to those kids and Dingo couldn't let that happen. Plus what if he said something and she got so pissed that she chased him off? He'd survive, find a new target — but ooof, he'd regret not seeing that little damsel grow up pretty.

I said -- I found Roo wandering around, introduced her to Phox, and she seems like a good addition to the group. And uh, I asked where the kids went. His smirking, charming, scheming self faltered a little after that; Towhee was being a little more forceful than he'd experienced before and he really liked it, deafness aside. So, uh -- deaf. Guess that means you can't hear my sexy, sexy voice. What a drag! On the plus side that meant — if he ever wanted to be alone with those kids, he'd have to focus on managing Towhee. Her broken ears would come in handy later.