It still haunted her the scene of her mother's death, everyday she saw the cougar attack her mother. The blood running out into the ground covering her dark fur before it washed away down the river. Her mother's face had not faded from her memory and all she could be happy about was that she and Kisla had reconciled before her death. She was glad she would not have to be haunted with her mother's disappointed face for the rest of her life.
The man was a stranger to her having never met him before but he didn't feel so much a stranger as they shared in their grief over Kisla. Lorcan had comforted her the best way he could in the situation. This was the comfort she needed, someone that understood what she was feeling and could offer her words she needed to hear. He told her not to think like she was and perhaps she was right. Constantly trying to save her mother in her dreams would only eat at her and make it harder for her to accept that her mother was gone and not coming back. It had been different with Maksim she had not seen his attack so she couldn't torture herself with trying to come up with new ways to save him that never succeeded.
He was right she couldn't have known, Inna knew that, she hadn't even known it was happening until it had already begun. “I know you're right,” she whispered, “But my mind keeps playing these scenarios over and over. I don't know how to make them stop.” Maybe with time it would get easier? Inna could only hope. She didn't want to remember her mother's death, she wanted to remember the strong woman that Kisla was. The kind mother and steadfast leader. Inna could only ever hope to be like her mother in that way. She knew that she was like Kisla in many other ways that she wished neither of them had to endure.
It was her strength that Inna wanted most to share with Kisla, she wanted to have the strength to raise her daughter and care for her pack. She didn't think she had that kind of strength especially after recent events. Ice’s words struck something inside her that maybe she hadn't realized before. “Thank you, I hope she would be proud to know that.” To know that her daughter was strong and that she had raised her to be. Maybe one day Inna would follow in her mother's footsteps but now was not the time. Now she needed to concentrate on healing after losing Kisla.
Inna had made a connection between her half brother and sister and the man before her. The questions about their well being and now their names only helped to solidify what she thought. She wondered if he thought the same as she did about Kisla's most recent litter. If she was right then she felt he deserved to know about his children just as Lorcan deserved to know about Oksana. She didn't come out right and say that she thought he was their father but she didn't see any harm in him knowing their names from her. “Kisla named them Matheo and Risaela.” Inna couldn't say where her mother had gotten their names but she could only assume that Risa’s had come from past family.