Nova Peak If you must live, darling one, just live

Ugh sorry for the wait! Busy week

It was a good thing Wylla didn't voice her counterarguments. She would have found a rare brand of obstinance in Stag in that moment. He had made up his mind and no amount of logic, arguing, or pointing out the flaws of his decision would sway his mind.

It shook him to the core to learn that the pack -- the thing that Wylla had practically revived and built herself alongside Mahler -- did not have her back. It shook him even worse, to see that the man Wylla laid with did not have her back either.

It was not just loyalty then that drove Stag to Wylla's side -- though there was a heaping spoonful of it driving him to do so. It was the realization that he and they were not the same. That Wylla and they were not the same. Both of them would fight tooth and nail to defend what they needed to.. and to learn that the wolves that shared their home, their resources, and their lives would not do the same was a slap to Stag's face.

"I will." Stag affirmed, hastily tacking in: "say goodbye, I mean. I'll find you tomorrow morning."