Dawnlark Plains It's Been Months And You Ain't Off My Mind

"you told me," aditya agreed. his breathing had begun to calm, the sharpness in his eyes receding. now he was trapped between the resolve of a dead man and the words of one still living. between his father, of sorts, and a good friend. biases came into play here; misunderstandings did as well.

in the end, though, he wanted to let it go. he wanted desperately to believe engel, to hold onto the notion that wolves were inherently more good than bad. grayday's revelation had shattered him, but if there was the slightest bit of doubt. . .

"i lead morningside, now," adi commented, mouth twitching as if it wanted to smile but had forgotten how. "we've got new pups. catori had some with grayday, pema with shale. dawn leads alongside me, but we're. . .no longer together." his throat burned. why was he sharing all this? he had gone from snarling protector of the plains to shameless gossip in mere minutes.

"i can't let you stay here, engel," he continued, and it clicked, finally, why he was so candid--because as much as he wanted to invite his ex-friend back into the fold, repair their relationship, he couldn't. by virtue of his new station in life, he simply could not. "i promised grayday i'd keep his family safe from you, and i. . .i can't break that promise. even if you didn't do what he said you did."