with a graveyard tan carrying a cross

Agreeee! Your writing is still lovely as ever, too. Mine, not so much, lmao. I'm still trying to wake up before I need to go to work ugh.

This time, things didn't really go to plan. His gentle speech wasn't enough to put her at ease. Not that he could blame her for not wanting to be forthcoming, of course. Information was just as much of a commodity as shelter or food. What she did offer him was just as informative as anything, though, and he had no problem giving a little. “I'm Mordecai.” For a moment, he considered adding on that he lived near the forest, but that wasn't entirely true. The Spine was still a bit of a trek off, and certainly not in the direction he had been heading. He would go home later.

“My brother and his mate live in your pack. Do you know Verrine?” So instead he tried to find some common ground between them, curiosity ever getting the better of him. He did not consider that she had wanted to be left alone, not now that he had gotten her to talk.