Big Salmon Lake i imagine death so much, it feels more like a memory

his barbed words had found their mark — merrick lifted his chin, a low laugh spiraling out from his chest. mocking; it assured The Hunter that they each knew he had failed the boy.
what merrick and astara had done to the pup would not be forgotten. they had left their stamp upon his small body, upon his mind —
tadec
his own deceitful sire embodied in the enraged form of the hunter.
”he came so willingly with me,” merrick marveled, ”like he’d always known my face. thought his mother had sent me.”
tongue lashing slowly along the edge of his mouth —
”— a man he clearly knew. so was that what was going on? you’re not even around and,”
— laughter, laughter, cascading
”i just plucked him up like a weed because his mom was being fucked by this complete rando?”
”father of the year,” merrick purred, hoping that what he had gathered piecemeal was the truth, and would lodge in the other’s craw a wormwood arrow.