For a moment I think he will call me crazy and leave, judging by the way he snorts and withdraw from my company. I wilt before him at his movements, ears flinching back as I sense some conflict within him. Still, I am not adept to reading others for I have long been separated from many. It wasn't simply habit that caused that but rejection and intended violence. I found that now I almost preferred my own company because at least I understood what I wanted. To be happy, to have the essentials to survive, and to be with my brother.

I perk up when he speaks because he has not totally abandoned me like I had imagined, although my face turns into one of confusion at his words and some suspicion. "Why would anyone want to..." I gulp here, "slay you?" Now I rock back a bit as if I want to put distance between us because even if I am a scared little loner, I knew that shit was going down in Molodian. There was a murder first in Diveen and then in Iromar - whoever was out there killing wolves was indiscriminate against pack wolves so why wouldn't a loner be an easy target? "Are you..." I pause, clearly scaring myself. "Are you a killer?" The question comes out breathless and fearful, tail tucking between my legs as I fairly sink down to the ground as if he plans to charge me this minute!

Disappointment stirs in my belly. He isn't my other half and I would be lying to say that I wasn't hopeful I would find THAT wolf if only because he would be fatefully inclined to help me. Imprints were DESTINED that way, even if others didn't mate with theirs. The way Juris watches me almost makes me think we are both confused - that we ARE imprints - but maybe he just likes to stare. It is the loneliness that keeps me here despite asking him if he is a murderer, staring at him with wide doe eyes that clearly screamed 'convince me! oh alright, you already have!'

The barking in the distance startled me and I jolted forward with a gasp, almost running into Juris as I sink into the ground in the same manner I had spied foxes doing. They managed to make it look easy so I tried but I was getting larger and larger with time - soon, that just wouldn't cut it. Where I sink, he rises. Tail and head, staring at me with concern, and I fall hook, line, and sinker. "Okay," I say on a slight whimper, eager to be off with Juris, who I've decided to trust regardless of his cryptic statements. I was foolish like that.