Stone Circle my beating heart grew still

PP is always ok between them! <3

Riley's jaws were just about to seize the forbidden russet of his aunt's coat when suddenly, he was upside down and pinned. He had no time to react, no time to even mount a defense - one second he was about to be fed and the next second he was pinned under seventy pounds of hysterical fury.

His reaction even to that was woefully sluggish; he yelped, paws curled over his chest as he shielded his throat and turned his head away, feeling a sudden burning need to pee in fear -- followed by a sense of deep and unsettling shame and betrayal. His own mother had hit him -- had struck him down in front of an audience -- humiliated him, even.

How could she be so cruel and hit her baby? Riley was straddling the thin toddler-line between absolute hysterics and absolute hatred; he could not decide which emotion took precedence -- his feelings of betrayal, his feelings of terror, his feelings of rage, his feelings of shame -- all of them vied for top-dog position, leaving Riley blustery and bewildered.

Managing to worm out from his mother rather roughly, Riley felt tears burning hot on his face and cheeks. He did not even acknowledge Valette and her kind offer of food, nor Greyback as he arrived shortly thereafter -- all Riley could think of in that moment was his mother, that terrifying image of his mother, searing ugly and horrifying in his head -- the boy bolted into a flat run away from them, refusing to let them see his humiliation a moment longer.