Spectral Woods even if it breaks your heart

Shred it all to pieces, my sanity and reason

Darkness stretched on into an endless void. There was nothing else. No danger, no time. Only a simpledreamless sleep that held him in a tight embrace. A sudden bite of coldness began to cut through his coat, working its way to his skin, his bones. The dark wolf's clouded mind tried to make sense of it. Why suddenly something was amiss. Eyes scanned the formal den, they did not need to see to know she was not there. "Nayeli?" Hoarsely, he questioned, gingerly pushing himself off the dirt floor. Alarm bells rang alarm harshly in his head when he heard no swift reply. Some trouble he exited into the evening light, forcing his eyes into action and his leathery nose. There was nothing.

A cramp contorted his chest as he heaved a painful sigh. Trying not to overact, and push off the urge to call for Jessie he  began to trail the scent of his mate. He was sure he had finally driven her from him. Much as Triell had tried to give her space during the past months, his efforts were likely sabotaged by his troubled spirit. More than likely the Tainn had smothered her. Though he had never insist she eat, or force her to rest, he did not let her stray from his sight. He often let her believe she could be from his side, with other pack wolves, or take a quiet walk for a drink. In reality he was always there, far past paranoid he would lose her. Even after the demise of their fears, he found no peace. He could not believe a threat was gone. Something else would not happen.

The further he ambled he wondered if she knew all of this, and simply never said. Maybe, this wasn't the first time she had left him to sleep alone. The very thought made him distraught. For all he was he wanted to believe she was only getting her space. A depressed mind is far more convincing with its terrible voice so keen to keep company in misery.

A weathered log, a giant oak tree once upon a time, but now fallen and hollow caught his attention. Maybe, because he would often choose such places for dens. It seemed to be something more. He titled his head, against the gentle breeze. Sure enough faint meowlings of cubs teased his ears, pulling him closer. "Nayeli?" For the second time he would question, hoping to believe he would see her resting within with their children.

Love, lower your eyes

Leave me a sign

It hadn’t been entirely unexpected given her proximity to Nova during those vital weeks. Her body had responded much as her daughters had, swelling disproportionate to her barren state at the completion of this years breeding season. Her milk had come in rapidly once her granddaughter had been born, but with no children of her own to suckle she had retreated from the Fen, hoping distance would ease her discomfort some. She supposed Triell would be busy with children of his own at this time of year, but still she wished to bring him the news of Nova’s child herself, and to see if he had cooled off at all after their previous encounter.

She grew more cautious as she approached the woods where the Bend wolves lived, sticking to the shadows like a thief in the night as she picked a path towards a location she knew Triell frequented on his regular morning patrols - he should be sleeping for now.

She still had a ways to go when the dampness began to soak the fur on her underside, her muzzle wrinkling at the cold stench of birth and new life. The hair along her spine stood on end as she realised just what a precarious position she found herself in. A new mother might be exhausted from her endeavours but she would fight to the death if she thought her children were threatened. Large tawny head swung about looking for some sort of concealed birthing den or hollow when the vocal squeaks drew her in.

She had scented the mother before somewhere, this close the only logical explanation would be it was one of Triell’s pack that had birthed the little urchins. What was the story behind them she wondered as she moved in closer, the rustling of fern fronds drawing her in.

He was there. His dark fur shining with a silver halo in the moonlight. Even from here she could see the pain in his eyes, hear the catch in his voice. How many times had she left him standing there like that? Not daring to look over her shoulder lest she lost her resolve to leave? She hung back in the shadows for now. He should know she wasn’t far. A paw lifted to step forward but hovered over the leaf litter of the forest floor, torn. She was still concealed enough that if another approached she could melt back into the shadows and watch it all play out from a distance.