Great Bear Wilderness Reach for the dead

He hadn't thought of his brother in a long time, so he took a while to ponder Gunnar's question. In the meantime, he continued digging, albeit slowly, as he was caught up in his head. Peregrine had been very fond of Crete up until his disappearance, which had somehow thrown a pall over everything that had come before. Presently, he tried to summon those memories and give them a quick spit wash to see them in the correct light.

"Let's just say that Crete's doing that was incredibly unexpected and out of character. I really wish it wasn't my last 'memory' of him," he said at length, pausing to make eye contact with the sandy youth. "He was a good dude who made a huge mistake. Two, actually. He messed around with your mom when she was already mated to your dad." That was how Peregrine understood the timeline, anyway, based on that visit Ragnar had made to inform him of the entire scandal.

Realizing that he might have just thrown Thistle under the bus, he added, "I'm not totally sure of the timeline, though. In any case, that was his first fuck-up. His second was, of course, poofing into thin air before the news could break, leaving not only his family but his unborn pups behind." He took a breath and finally resumed digging as he concluded, "And that's why I respect your real dad so much. He took responsibility for you guys, even knowing you weren't his. Even though I think he's a little fruity, he's an admirable man. He's the only father figure you should care about."