Silvertip Mountain Most pitbulls are just three shih tzus wearing a trench coat

Aventus fidgeted in place. No, no, he should definitely just go. Arielle had way better things to do than nurse some tiny, inconsequential boo-boo on his toe. He was just wasting her time coming here. She had her paws full with Merrick. He knew his father was unhinged and there was no herbal remedy for that, but Arielle was an amazing listener on top of her budding skill as a healer.

His thoughts screeched to an abrupt halt when her face popped out of the den. She was as clean and tidy and fragrant-smelling as ever, but for some reason he imagined her with bedhead and that little smile and it made his stomach do a series of cartwheels. It was a good thing she went right to business, else he might have stood there staring at her for a ridiculous length of time.

Oh, er, yeah, he said, wiggling his toe. The nail was barely hanging on. Stupid rocks. Hit it when I was hunting. This morning. It wasn't entirely a lie, but he absolutely could not admit that he had thrown a little tantrum when he could not find Moonglow's trail past the stream. That wasn't attractive. Not that he cared if she thought he was attractive. Since when did he care what anyone thought? Nope, not him.

It's not that bad, he said, tripping over his own tongue in an abrupt backpedal. She wanted to help him with it, and wanted him to come inside, and now he felt like a big baby for some reason. A big baby whose belly was full of hopping frogs. He hesitated to follow. This was all so horribly confusing. Really, I mean, if you're busy I can just go soak it. In the water. Yeah. It's nothing.