Dragoncrest Cliffs Tangie

Much to everyone’s surprise, Njord’s relative was allowed to leave unscathed. Thank heavens.

But for miles after leaving Sapphique’s borders, Shea’s copper-branded ears would remain flattened atop his head, anchoring a whirlwind of thoughts and questions that he wished he could have asked the scarred she-wolf.

What about Njord’s family – his wife and children? Where were they? How had he drawn the bear to them? Surely it was not intentional. Did they know why he’d run? Was it due to the trauma of the war on Meares Island? Did they intend to hunt him? Did they intend to exact revenge?

All of these questions were selfish in nature, and none of them were anything he could have asked of the wounded pack. Not while the resentment was still so fresh in the leader’s mind, so clear in her eyes. He couldn’t even have helped them, as much as he would have liked to. Shea was not naïve enough to believe that they would want him, a brother to the betrayer, nor did he think he could mollify them without dropping dead at their paws.

Mind still locked in a conundrum, the wolf carried on, suffused with newfound worries. Having searched the beaches thoroughly beforehand, Shea knew he would not find Njord on the coast; he traveled inland to revive his search.