Wapun Meadow grind to a halt

It did not take long for the object of her attention to come along. Just as she thought, then; indeed the red-hued girl lived in Bearclaw valley with those mutts who had smeared the origins of the pack. Once this had been a good place, a place where her and Indra's children grew up together, where she had been Alpha, once. Now it was nothing but the place where Lucas' body had deteriorated and where her deranged nephew now lived.

As though he'd been a shadow waiting just behind the corner he showed up -- speak of the devil -- and greeted her in his own sick way. War meant little to Laurel. She had noticed the bloodshed upon the Easthollow's borders but at the same time, she hadn't been keeping up much with pack politics; inside or out. Laurel had been at war with the world her whole life. This was just more of the same. It wouldn't stop her from going where she wanted. Perhaps some part of her hoped that he would tear her limb from limb and rip out her throat just so that her suffering would end.

She felt defiant now.

But we both know what you'll do when he goes for your neck.

Not because she was afraid to die, but because she was afraid of worse. She hated being afraid with a passion, but she knew she couldn't stop it. Her last encounter with her despicable nephew had taught her that much, and that time she had been at the borders of Easthollow rather than out here in the meadow, between their two packs' territories.

I asked nicely first, she said as she stared at them. The ramblings of a madwoman, perhaps, to anyone who would not dig deeper. Dead inside, but not dead enough not to feel the small heartbeat of life, the small heartbeat of possibility, at the thought of getting Indra back. Not dead enough not to hear the constant screaming inside of her heart.

Everyone is always at war.

Her presence and appearance was haunting, and it would be hard to kill her when it came to that.

But she had to.

There was simply no other way, not right now.

How does it feel to have her back? Laurel asked Merrick as she stared at him, the expression in her eyes as cold as her screaming heart. To have her walking beside you once more? Does it make you feel better?

For now she didn't notice Riley's presence, so focused was she on Indra.