Now the loner looked worried. Her colours quickly shifted to vibrant yellow and muddled brown as another question rolled off her tongue. His brows snapped together as an initial response, his chin tipping softly to one side. His weeks had muddled together, and it felt as though the coyotes had always been around. A few weeks, he answered after a brief pause, his posture relaxing as he found himself growing more comfortable in her presence. He knew that she was no threat to him—or he hoped. She could still be full of shit and turn on him, so he couldn’t let his guard down completely. Hawthorne, or Askan, would skin him if they learned he had been too trusting.

They only steer clear of pack borders. Everything else, it seems, is fair game. Another shrug; his favourite method of responding, or getting his point across. He wasn’t inviting her to join the Edge wolves; heck, he didn’t even know if she would fit in with them. He was just making an obvious statement. Strength was in numbers—even the stupidest wolf could figure that out.

His nose twitched as regarded her once more, his expression softening (only slightly, of course). Who you lookin’ for?

A frown almost creased his tawny features as she mentioned needing to find her family, but it quickly swallowed it before it could make an appearance. Instead he nodded. Her colours had quickly shifted back to soft amethyst and daffodil; she had resumed her previous optimism. Good for her, he couldn’t help but think. He wished he could be that optimistic, but the tawny Selwyn couldn’t tell if it was a foolish trait or not. Sachiel knew he was better off being cautious and realistic. It left less room for disappointment.

She was dripping with excitement at the boy’s question, causing the colours that surrounded her to grow brighter. Louder. It made him squint as an initial response before he smoothed his features out, his head tipping from side to side as she expelled more words off her cherry tongue. An aunt? He blinked, his ears cupping forward. The name that followed brought back memories of a chocolate-coloured female and orange leaves. His head snapped back as realization dawned on him… how had he not made the connection sooner?! Aside from the splotch of white fur in the middle of her forehead, the dark-coloured girl’s pelt was nearly identical to her… aunt? He had not known that Sahalie had siblings… but then again, he didn’t know much about his former packmates.

She used to live south. With me, he started as the initial shock wore off, but I left. Then I found out the pack disbanded. Sort of. Apparently some of 'em moved west; over the mountain. He shrugged. I don’t know if she was with 'em though. He didn’t know where any of them went. Except for Castel. She was six feet under. His father was somewhere on the west side, too, and his mother? He didn’t know and he didn’t care.

She appeared absolutely thrilled with the information he had provided her, even though it had not been much. Sachiel wished he could have given her more, but he hadn’t stayed in the Vale long enough to figure out where the former members had gone. He didn’t really care, either. Aside from his parents and the now decaying Castel, Sachiel hadn’t been close to any of his former packmates. He remembered most of their faces, as they were tucked away in the back of his mind, but their names evaded him. Sahalie, however, had been a name (and face) that had stuck out to him. She had cared for the other cub in the pack—the one that was always missing. Maybe she had gone off with him…? Or the silver male. His uncle.

His thoughts, however, were disrupted by a sound in the distance. More precisely: sounds.

Shit.

He was hoping that they had gotten lucky without encountering any coyotes.

Just as he was about to motion for the girl to follow him she spoke up, announcing that he should head home and she… she what?! It took everything in him not to roll his eyes as she flung herself in the direction of the coyotes in a feeble attempt at scaring them off.

Maybe she was dumber than he had initially thought…

With a defeated sigh he flung himself in the direction of the girl and her suicide mission. She was never going to find her aunt if she just tossed herself at coyotes… dumbass! C’mon Mudpie, he hissed as he shoved the closest coyote out of the way with his shoulder, I can go home later. Let’s get you out of here, huh? He cheesed as he flicked his nose toward the mountains, encouraging her to follow him as he sprinted past her.

Despite her lack of brains, at least she listened to him instead of refusing his request to help. He would not have offered a second time if that had been the case. If she wanted to get beat up by a trio of coyotes that wasn’t his problem; he had his own problems to deal with. Instead of responding he offered her a sharp nod as he barrelled through the crimson ferns, his gangly legs carrying him quickly through the sea of red. Fortunately he had glanced over his shoulder at the right moment—just in time to watch her slap one of the coyotes with the piece of meat she had collected. Stifling a laugh the boy continued forward, zigzagging through the foliage as he sprinted toward one of the nearby creeks. The water (and mud) would mask their scents and erase their trail… he couldn’t bring a group of coyotes home with him, Askan would be pissed.

Fade — thread complete.