Emberwood There's no such thing as time to kill, nor time to throw away

He hadn't expected happy memories of the creek pack. There was always a reason the past was the past. He asked anyway, because he'd never known avoiding a topic to save anybody's feelings, in the end. And he wanted to know.

There weren't many details forthcoming. That was fine with him, too. Maybe he would ask her more at a later date or maybe he would just let it lie. Right then, he could see that there were other things on her mind. He followed those thoughts to their conclusion — and no, he didn't need her to elaborate.

The coywolf forgot his flower pile. His aphotic blue gaze was unusually grim while he watched her.

"There's nowhere that's safe, Reverie," he said after a long moment, his voice quiet so as not to carry. He didn't want the kids to hear. He didn't want anyone else to hear, either. "Life is so fragile. Life is so — fucked. And you're gonna lose people when you least expect it because that's the way the world works. These things happen. They keep happening 'til you die, and you're the awful thing that's happening to someone else. So if you've got something you wanna do on the meantime? You'd better fucken do it. 'Cause otherwise you'll be scared and miserable. And maybe you think of this as a just for now sorta thing — and that's fine. That's good, if you wanna rest a while. Maybe we could use it. But those kids are gettin' bigger. Pretty soon their legs are gonna be long enough to walk off in all different directions. If you're hopin' for a family trip, time is running out. Time's always running out, Rev."

He gazed at her, his expression still stoic and solemn. He was ready to face her anger or tears. The truth hurt, sometimes. Dusty Rose knew that as well as anyone.