Willow Ridge make the bad guys good for a weekend

Date TBD (first/second week of January); Early morning, before sunrise; Freezing fog; -18° F/-28° C

For those who had known Angier Lyall inside and out, one would bet their eye teeth that the Willow Ridge Leader would absolutely lose it in the absence of his mate and under the pressures of running a pack on his own beside someone else. Described as a follower by his innermost nature, surely, Angier would face the conflicts of especially following Elettra's sister, his sister-in-law. @Sorya. Stubborn as he was, perhaps this was an opportunity to see just how well he could fare, especially after something like this - his children just up and disappearing - had happened before. Three times over between him and his brother Borden. For his mate to go off after Greer the missing prince, just like Borden had done the first time around, had his nerves absolutely frayed.

Inside his head, warnings like terrified birdsong and howling wolves were sounding off one after the other. What if Elettra was held up somewhere? Alone? Injured? Sure, he knew that the Queen of Willow Ridge, a princess of Torbine, could defend herself, but to simply know that she was out in the world on her own was still distressing.

He kept along his path, a trail of hard-packed snow that was solely maintained by him, Sorya and, on occasion, Skoll and Mordacai. A quick sniff, however, told him that the only one to have recently passed this way was Elettra quite a long while ago. His throat tightened and he tried to peer through the fog that still lingered over Relic Lore. He wagged his tail a bit, whining softly.

Oh, how he missed her when she wasn't near... That much was clear.

A shake of his head momentarily cleared the forefront of his mind but he found that he could not continue on his way. His feet were stones, planted firmly into the frozen earth, his shoulders and limbs as rigid as the boughs of the ancient trees. Without thinking, it rose  from him in a needful song that could have covered the whole of Southern Eden if it were capable of such a thing, a lonely, hauntingly hollow summons for the woman who held his heart...

One short, crappy, and overdue post finally up!

A mournful howl had reached rather loudly above the trees to pull Sorya from her dutiful patrol. Had something happened? It was the voice of Angier no doubt and the called sounded needy almost. She started to walk towards the trees, fairly nervous as to what she would find. At this point in time, she was worried as well. Elettra had promised a matter of a few days and already weeks had gone by. She gulped as she slunk through the trees only to find Angier by his lonesome on the border. She frowned, a sad look holding her eyes. She knew her sister's reasons for not telling Angier why she was going or even that she was going, but Elettra should have nevertheless. Sorya stepped out of the treeline. "Angier, she'll be back." The words were what little comfort she could attempt to provide.

The step-in queen knew to an extent what he might be feeling but she didn't have enough experience with emotions such as these to provide anything helpful. She kept a good three wolf distance between them, not knowing how he was going to react to her presence. "She'll be back soon, hopefully with Greer safe and sound with her. There is nothing out there that she cannot handle." The woman whispered the words before turning to walk away, feeling awkward by being there. Sorya was beating herself up mentally, knowing that she should have turned down Elettra's request for her to lead unless she had taken someone with her. Sorya was just as worried about her sister everyone, perhaps even more.

A young deer has been separated from the rest of its herd. Hunt Opportunity

"Angier, she'll be back." The voice was hard to misplace or mistake for anyone else. Everyone within Willow Ridge had taken notice of their Leader's anxiety by now and their first choice of action was to avoid him completely. The only sensible one who would come to answer his call was her. He grimaced as he looked away from her, his gaze landing on a nearby willow's tree trunk. "She'll be back soon," she consoled him.

Being hushed and soothed - especially by Sorya - was something he absolutely did not want. It didn't even matter if they looked alike, somewhat smelled alike, or even spoke alike, it was not Elettra who had come to his beck and call. It frustrated him beyond all measure. "It's-- It's not that," he gruffly snarled, turning at last to face her. He flashed his teeth at her, his hackles threatening to rise.

"You shouldn't 'ave LET 'ER LEAVE!" he openly growled at her now, the bulk of his winter coat rendering him into a possibly intimidating sight. "You an' I both know that there's more than enough able bodies to go out an' look fer Greer! I dunno how ya do it o'er in Torbine but where I'm from, if ya let yer Leader leave, then the whole pack is vulnerable!"

If it wasn't already obvious by the choice of his words, it was apparent now that Angier was more than insecure. "I mean, whut?! YOU couldn't 'ave gone out to look?" Classic Angier... Blaming others, taking no responsibility whatsoever. "Who else is searching?! Tell me she took someone with 'er."

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