Kavik did not reply when the fearful young female made her confusion known. Clearly they were at his den—wasn’t that obvious? He shot her a mildly bemused peek, wondering if she doubted his intentions of if she thought he was going to lead her somewhere else. Still vaguely puzzled, Kavik pawed at the side of the small hollow. My home, the muddy brute tried to tell her without words. Another low rumble resonated behind his velveteen jowls. Of course Kirastasia had left when he needed her most; the pale princess was the only wolf in the pack that could make sense of the silent language Kavik used to communicate. Oh well. Not like this girl would be staying, or anything . . .

At least, Kavik hoped.

For a moment the white-faced monster turned away, inspecting the inside of the den to see if Kira had stopped by. Unfortunately, there were no signs of her delicate pawsteps on the dirt floor, no fresh rosettes made my perfect toes to show Kavik that his sister actually cared about him. He clawed the ground in frustration. What was so great about the rest of the territory that Kirastasia need to go romping off without him? Now Kavik not only had to deal with the anxiety of being left alone, he had to entertain this annoying little intruder—and he couldn’t even tell her his name!

A hash sniff blew crisply from Kavik’s nose. Huh. He didn’t care whether or not Tsu knew his name—where had that thought even come from? She was probably going to run off crying for her mommy at any second, and he could be rid of her forever. Then Kira would be upset that she had missed out on the chance to meet a real-life trespasser. Served her right! Grinning fiercely, Kavik glanced back over one sharp-boned shoulder to see if Tsu were still gaping at the den.

She wasn’t. The dark-pelted lass had sat down heavily on her haunches, an expression of profound sadness glistening in her eyes. A thrill of horror shook through Kavik’s heart. Was she . . . going to cry?! Kavik didn’t know how to react to tears! Queens had never showed weakness before himself or his sister; even Kira rarely shed a tear when confronted with her worst fear—spiders—instead shrieking her lungs out and gnashing her teeth. Kavik could not remember a moment where he had felt the need to produce water from his eyes. And yet there Tsu sat, looking as though she were about to unleash a storm from her coffee-toned optics. Kavik’s white-and-brown hackles spiked. Without thinking, the shadowy lad pounced over to the distraught girl and knocked her down so that she was lying on her side. From there, he gently draped a forearm across her face, warily hiding her sad lanterns from view. A worried whine eked thinly from his lips.