Noctisardor Bypass bedauert

Wylla reached a thin ankle out for the rabbit haunch and pulled it toward herself. She ought to be starving, but found she still didn't have much of an appetite. Laurel's scent wafting into the open cave certainly didn't help matters, causing Wylla's tongue to stick to the roof of her mouth as her stomach curdled with envy.

Do not, she scolded herself, snipping small bites from the haunch while she watched Mahler watching her. Her time had come and past this season and she had made her decision: children were not important enough to her. Not as important as remaining faithful to her love, even when it crumbled around her. It wasn't, she thought, that she was jealous of other she-wolves bearing pups, but the possibility that they were Mahler's, that he was hiding them from her, that he would lie about it...

How many pups are there here? wondered Wylla. She couldn't help herself, but formed it in that manner rather than outright asking how many were his. He had said none. She owed him some trust in this. If she could choose to avoid all men during her season, why should he be unable to control himself with women? She took another bite in hopes of concealing the way she picked at his expression, unfairly seeking a lie in his face, waiting for the livid closing of his features that always came in these moments.

Self-sabotage; that was all Wylla was good for, wasn't it?