What was that old saying? Moss grows on the north side of trees? Or was it the south side? Was that conditional, or was it a standing fact? Goddess, it was so much easier to navigate by the stars, but there were no stars to be seen near midday.

Aiden was pretty sure he had been traveling in circles for the last few hours. Or, maybe he hadn’t? Everywhere he looked, it was a lot of the same: green moss, green trees, green stones. This new forest could turn him around and he’d never even know. He supposed it didn’t really matter, though, did it? Maybe if he had a clue where he was headed there would be cause for worry, but he was currently quite objectiveless.

It had been like this for close to a week now. The boy had set off under the impression that the more distance he put between himself and his problems, the clearer his path would become… But, he wasn’t so sure now. Far from putting his mind to rest, wandering alone only seemed to give him cause to wallow introspectively. As much as he would have liked to forget that wicked woman and everything she had put him through, he kept returning to the question: Why?

Why did she hate him so much? Why did she feel so threatened? Why couldn’t she have just let him live in ignorance like everyone else had?

Maybe he should have been dwelling more on the fact that, for the last year and a half, he’d had no clue he was the bastard son of the alpha. Far as he knew, his mother was only a lowly omega who had died in childbirth. He’d grown up a happy pup of several surrogates, and he’d never questioned his lineage or pack standing.

Then the old man had to go find himself that young wolfess from across the dale, and boy did she just turn up the heat. Suddenly, he was the target of some complete stranger’s every frustration, and he had no clue why until, just last week, she got a little too hot around the ruff and roared off on a tangent about how he was some great bastard child and a conspiring usurper. As much as it was news to him, the entire pack was thrown on end by the news. So much trouble that he hadn’t asked for – he didn’t even know what to think about the accusation. Honestly, he had been completely fine with just being another wolf in the ranks, but what was to happen was not left to his decision.

To calm the waves rippling through the pack, it was the alpha’s plan to send him away – to another pack, in fact. The neighboring pack beyond the river was content to take him, and the deal had been made. He was going to be a trade: one young male for another. Of course, nobody had asked him about his feelings on the subject. He was just pushed off into the valley with a chaperone for the tradeoff.

Aiden never did make it to that meeting, though. Everyone was so comfortable making all his decisions for him, but he wasn’t too keen on that, himself. Once he saw an opportunity, he gave his watcher the slip and set his sights on distant horizons.

It was a bold move for a boy only halfway through his second year, but… here he was. Fairly unscathed, too. He had weather a storm a few days back, and he’d come closer than he’d liked to a mountain lion this morning, but it could have been worse.

At least he wasn’t being treated like a bastard scandal out here, very alone, just a bright white speck surrounded by nothing but green and… slightly darker green…