Dead Empress Backwater You will not be mine

the night comes down like heaven

As each day passed without news of her father's whereabouts Ally felt more and more guilty. Is this what everyone else had felt like when she'd vanished? She'd missed her dad of course and been looking for him, but she was striving to get home. Now here she was, safe, and he was out there somewhere thinking she was still lost.

And she could do absolutely nothing. Even if she was allowed to leave the territory, what good would it do? They might just end up in the same situation again, passing each other like leaves on the wind. At least now more wolves knew where she was; Paradise Falls had sent her to the Cove, and the Cove knew she'd come here. If her dad found any of them, they'd surely send him back.

Right?

Even after her talk with her grandfather she'd slept poorly, and her foot ached where she'd struck it on the root. She gave up trying to rest eventually, going instead to sit next to the pond that gave the pack it's name and stare moodily into the water.

HANDLE YOUR OWN WHEN YOU BECOME A MAN

Eros was physically fatigued each day, but at least he had hope. At this point, his greatest concern was that Ally would manage to vanish again before he found her father. That this would fail because he wasn't quick enough; or even that this was all never meant to work in the first place because of how it had all started. Either way, so much of it would be his own fault. More than he might be able to bear.

He tried not to think of it. To focus on that bright spot where father and daughter might be reunited, and when his own relationship with his favored brother might finally start to recover in earnest.

Eros had come to the water's edge for a drink before seeking more solid sustenance, and was pleased to see his niece present as well. Though, it didn't appear as though she were in the best of moods... understandable, completely. The leader stepped up to her side, giving her a small smile. One that was sincere, but tempered by their shared difficulties.

"Hey, sunshine. How's your paw?"

BECOME A MAN WHEN YOU HANDLE YOUR OWN