Willow Ridge Keys? I don't know of any keys.

Just like that. Thwarted. While she may have expected one of her brothers to join her in tormenting the terrified loner, it was not a litter mate, but a much larger adult that came across the scene, her stern voice cutting through the air and breaking the spell she had placed over the hapless lad who had dared to stray too close.

She attempted to mask her displeasure with the approaching adult but she couldn’t contain the exasperated sigh that slipped from her lips or the way her ears folded back and her brow creased in displeasure as Senka joined the interrogation. Her stance didn’t lower in the presence of an adult, though she managed to contain the desire to turn on the woman and offer her and outright growl of annoyance or a flash of her teeth. She was old enough to handle this on her own. Or so she thought.

Morganna looked as though she had eaten something sour as the tawny man began to retreat. Her peach-hued eyes memorized every line, and although he was thin the outline of every muscle, and the exact placement of each and every hair. She would find this wolf again one day, because she very much believed that she would have use of him, but with an adult looming over her she had to be content to watch him make his escape for now...

Unless Senka decided to give chase...?

The more the woman stared at him, the more frantic he became. He scurried across the grass on his elbows and heels without even a backward glance for fear of the Princess Morganna's face. His bit back several whines and once he thought he was far enough from them, he glanced backwards only to catch their eyes again. He jerked his head away to avert his eyes, whimpering now as he made himself scarce, wanting to put as much space between them as was possible within a few seconds.

Ambling through the trees that made up the very edges of Cedarwood forest, he ran. He ran until his limbs ached and his paw pads felt as though they were on fire. Just like Morganna had inwardly thought before him, he, too, made up a plan to return to her, to find her again. If she was telling the truth that she was no descendant of the Corvinus clan, then perhaps he would find himself in her favor in hopes of protecting himself from the Corvinus's themselves. Power was power, and though Tannis feared it with every fiber of his scrawny being, he knew that a royal like Morganna could provide him with a sort of diplomatic immunity that would shield him from whatever and whoever else was out for his hide.

Along the banks of Heartleaf Creek and in the shade of the empress trees that lined its edges he collapsed to the ground, sorely wishing that he had asked for permission to stay...

(Fin.)