Swiftcurrent Creek I'm dying to live in a world I don't belong

Broken before him—the insistence she did not deserve the title and he found himself considering. “And why do you think that?”

He blinked, lifting his gaze up to look to the distance, as if allowing her time to reconsider her thoughts. His jaw clenched—muscles coiled, as he knew she might not wish to hear all he had to say—but he would do so anyhow. He couldn’t stand to see her like this. “If it’s about Gunnar’s accusations… I don’t care who the man was or where he was from. Or the woman. You did exactly what I would have—and what I still would, even knowing his identity now. They tried to interfere in a high stress situation where not only we lost one of our long term and respected members, but her pup needed warmth and nourishment quickly. If the situation were reversed, I’d be willing to bet a deer hide Gunnar would be livid with us, still.”

Then—his eyes drifted back to her, his obsidian fur brushed by the cool autumn air as it swept past. “And if this is about Silvertongue.” Even her name from his lips stirred too many emotions—all of them ending with a sickened twist of his stomach. “She never should have done this to you. This… this is on her and her need to sort out her emotions and thoughts. Cutting you out the way she did it…” A sharp exhale. “It’s nothing you deserved. It’s nothing you did. Or didn’t do.”