Larksong Grotto With apple blossom in her hair

Skipping to wrap up Saena's involvement. Thanks guys! <3

Every word spoken in the absence of her voice felt like bullets in her ears. Casmir's speech rang bright in her ears, only to be slammed down by Reek. Saena's gaze cut to him, chill as a glacier, and she interposed readily on his claims: "all you have done is hurt me." He fucked another wolf in her pack, after they'd agreed to have a family together. He'd not only crawled away the second she told him to, but he'd taken up a new life with his mistress instead of doing everything possible to earn back the respect of his scorned family. He'd threatened her pack with his own (as she still could not recall Sleeping Dragon), and that had been her final straw, the nail in the coffin of his involvement with her daughters. Now he'd stolen them, would not show enough honour or humility to return them to their rightful family, and then claimed he never meant to hurt her.

"You're the reason my family is broken," she said coldly. "You're the reason we had to leave our home. You're the reason I can't trust anyone anymore. And you've taken the last thing I have to live for from me. Everything you do has done harm. I should have taken your worthless life when I had the chance. Give me a reason not to do it right now." She even feigned a step forward, throwing her ears up and snapping her jaws menacingly. He didn't stand a chance against the three of him. Jhala was pregnant, so unless she was the world's biggest idiot, Saena didn't think she would risk her pregnancy to leap to Reek's defense. She could end his life, here and now. And she would have, with enraged static buzzing so loud in her head that she didn't hear anything else that he or Casmir said, if Laurel hadn't stepped between them, rubbed into her father's chest, and utterly broke her mother's heart.

The action stung as much as Laurel's words did. Saena recoiled as if she'd been hit in the face, and her ears flew back at the sheer ease with which Laurel rejected her. There was a split second where Saena was stunned into both silence and inaction, and her sole thought was, when did you become this way? She wanted to be angry, she wanted to hate her daughter for her rejection, but all she could manage to feel was sadness. That Laurel would feel she was worthless unless she was given something spoke volumes to the way her daughter had been treated. That she would seek to hurt her own mother as poignantly as her father had was both despicable and depressing. While Saena was perhaps the biggest culprit for having disappeared in the first place, her heart hardened against everyone else, as well. Silver Creek had evidently not filled the gap she'd left as well as she'd thought they had, for Laurel to become this.

Saena stepped back, her face flickering between hurt and upset, but ultimately, she had to respect the choice her daughters made. Her gaze flicked to the side as Indra turned and fled, and she started as though to chase after her, but held herself in check. She had no respect at all for Reek, his newest mistress, or his entire pack, but there was too much danger in violating their borders to find her softer daughter. After a moment of what looked like indecision, she backed down. "That isn't a promise, Laurel. That's a basic right of life, a given, that all wolves deserve by default. That he would even feel that that is something to offer you shows how little he thinks of you. But fine," she spat, but her tone was filled with more betrayal than anything, "when you grow up, and realize what a child you've been here today, and realize that promises are just empty words and actions are all that matter, just remember: I never replaced you with a new family. We never replaced you. But he did."

With that, she backpedaled and left without even a glance back over her shoulder. To look back would be to falter, perhaps act upon her violent desire to end Reek's life so that her daughters had no choice... but she couldn't do that. Unlike Reek, who seemed to feel that offering them the opportunity to be whoever they wanted was incentive to remain when that was simply true regardless, Saena respected her daughters' autonomy inherently, and would not force them to do anything. Her pace quickened as she left, and soon she was jogging, if only to prevent them all from seeing how her shoulders shook with misery and defeat.

the change was swift; Cas felt anger rise in his breast as he watched Laurel cross to Reek and act like he was a fucking dad of any kind. in that moment, his heart too broke, and he watched with frustrated tears burning behind his eyes as Indra ran off. fuck Reek, and briefly, screw Laurel for being such a spoiled-ass brat. but it wasn't her fault; his anger toward her died down. with a lift of his lip he regarded the bastard in front of them as Saena took the opportunity to speak.

he heard the coil of emotions in her voice; the rage burned again, and if it had not been for the two girls, he too would have leapt forward and let his teeth speak for him. the preggo bitch wouldn't have interfered, not if she wanted to keep breathing. but no. Saena finished and Casmir let his eyes linger with a bittersweet affection first on Laurel, and then with hatred upon Reek's own face, before his tall form turned and followed his cousin, each step pounding into his head that this had all been for nothing.

sorry for the delay! Totally fine with the skipping. <3

Reek's words were somewhat touching, but they reflected off laika like light on a mirror. She didn't care for him what-so-ever, and a jumble of half-hearted rambling wasn't going to fix that. Her icey glare flickered to the pups, her eyes softening to watch them. Oh how she missed them so much, her heart ached. She knew they didn't care for her that much, but she was fine with that. They loved Saena and Casmir and that's what mattered. Her tail lashed as Laurel spoke, a pierce to the heart. She knew that Casmir and Saena would hurt more and she gulped, stepping closer to Cas to comfort him. She closed her eyes and fought back tears, glancing at Reek.

"Great job Reek, you've managed to ruin yet another perfect family. But then again, I guess that's what your good at," she spat at him after Saena and Casmir turned away, casting one more sorrowful glance at Indra and Laurel. With that, she turned back to follow Casmir and Saena. Even though they were filled with defeat, Laika knew in her heart they were not done.