Wapun Meadow grind to a halt

last for me <3 tysm to u both, needed this arc

riley turned away with foul stupid lolloping steps that carried him not toward laurel, but away from her. merrick, who had expected his body to writhe into a snapping frenzy of murderous intent, savage enough to divorce his cousin's blood from body, found himself still.
in the distance, laurel turned, disappeared over the gliding land toward easthollow.
in the distance, the bearwolf's throat constricted to watch her abandon this long-legged idiot boy whose worst mistake was loving such a putrid bitch, the stench of failed motherhood clinging to the smudge of shadow through the grass that was his aunt.
a blink that drained light from his face.
riley, stammering away, helpless and yet loyal.
merrick's torn lip curled.
it was laurel. it had always been laurel.
she did not even care to defend the little bastard — merrick blinked again, spat into the dirt, turned back to ursus.
what, then, the point of slaying riley when it would do nothing to shift the rotten gears within laurel's hapless mind.