Swiftcurrent Creek Do you believe in life after love?

When Aditya appeared, Easy's smile was suddenly strained. Kasatka had shared with her the terrible news about what Aditya had done. She remembered with painful clarity the last time she had seen him: See you in another life, brother and a kiss on the cheek. She'd been Blackbear, back then. Or she thought she'd been. Now she knew that souls didn't change; not really. Just circumstances.

"It's alright," she said to him through the sharp ache of betrayal in her chest. She'd come prepared to face and forgive him, and she had no desire to go back on that, now. But it was still painful to think of all that had come to pass, and all the distance she'd put between herself and the ones she loved. "You can use whichever one you want. Easy, Blackbear." Changing her name wouldn't change the fact that they'd both known her since she was small. They were her family, even if Aditya was not bound to her by blood. And even then, she realized, he was now. Because Dawn was pregnant, and there could only be one father, couldn't there?

A tiny piece of her died away as she came to this realization -- because Aditya was still the strong, golden-eyed wolf she'd loved since she was a little girl, and he still belonged to her sister. But her smile was not brittle as she examined the significant swell of her elder sister's sides.

"That's incredible," she breathed, eyes popping wide. "I'm going to be an aunt! Well -- I already am. We both are," she explained, tail wagging. "I did find family out there. Do you remember our aunt, Sunspot? She has a pack to the east called Round Valley. Lavender is there with her, and she's just had a litter of two. A girl called Journey and a boy called Brave. Kasatka was there with me for a time, but we left at the same time. She went to the ocean, and I came here. Spot's got a ton of kids, too -- but I have to confess, I could never keep all their names straight."