Phoenix Maplewood canaid lia fáil

Someone else approached through the trees and Meerkat instinctively scoured the nearby woods for her brother. Caracal was nowhere to be seen, though it turned out it was only Lane. The yearling felt relieved for a moment, right before her stomach tightened and sank.

When Lane brought up the sense of weirdness between them, Meerkat felt her whole soul cringe. Was she that obvious? "...and I think I know why." Now her soul left her body, though it thankfully didn't get far by the time Lane went on to apologize about dropping the ball on her scouting task.

"Oh, uh," Meerkat said, blinking a little stupidly, "it's fine." Her voice came out slightly squeakier than usual. Unable to meet Lane's eyes, she turned away to glance through the trees—where was Caracal when she needed him?—before clearing her throat and facing her new Alpha again, gaze still indirect.

"Really, though, don't worry about it. I just went by there myself." By myself, a little voice in her head amended. She thought of Issorartuyok and whether he and Lane might have some sort of connection, one which they would surely foster as they led the pack together, side by side.

A flare of jealous heat in her stomach prompted her to say, "I asked Issorartuyok to come with me when I take Caracal back." She took it for granted that Lane knew about her younger brother's visit via her fellow leader. "We were actually planning to go together the first time but that was before everything happened."

Meerkat had the presence of mind to stop herself there. She fidgeted a little, wondering what was wrong with her. Why was she so jealous of the two of them? Why did she feel so possessive of him? Of course, she could admit to herself by now that she had feelings for Issorartuyok. But that's all they were: feelings. And she kept them to herself. He probably didn't feel the same way. He almost definitely didn't, especially now with Lane being his partner.

She felt her heart sink and let out a long, breathy sigh. She had no right. She had no chance.