Shady

Pratik smirked. "Faulkner fan, are we? Did you actually enjoy the book review, then?"

"May as well," Pratik agreed. "Skunks are better than Faulkner, I'm sure."

"Mm!" Pratik acknowledged, looking up ahead at where he knew the shelter was. Not that he was going to admit to that. "Do you volunteer there often?"

Derik kept nursing his food. Rationally, he knew that it was the same amount of food, no matter how long it took him to eat it. And yet, making it ...

Jerica hesitated and took a deep breath, then sighed and nodded. She'd been so relieved to be done with the wolves that she'd -- momentarily -- forgotten that they were ...

Pratik was tense, waiting for the teasing, and was surprised that it didn't come. The relief carried into a shy smile, but he still didn't properly look at her. "Heh, ...

"Oh... uh... yeah..." Maybe he should just pretend that he was pulling the Classic Stupid Teenage Boy move and that he named Swamilton 'Fish' or some such thing. "Alexander," he ...

Pratik looked at the pieces of the map and grunted, silently acknowledging that his sketch was one of the worst ones so far. Whatever. It's not like drawing was one ...

"We'll ask around," Derik answered. Well, he would ask around. And hopefully puppy boy wouldn't get into too much trouble. "Baldy's been heading in the same general direction for the ...

"Ah, yeah..." Derik made an active effort to slow down. If this was all the food there was, he wanted to stretch it out. Make it feel like more. He ...

Derik eyed him as Kaz acted very suspiciously. Apparently, there were werewolves in this realm. Great. Just what he needed. Still, he was grateful for the food. He shoveled copious ...

"Yes, that does seem to be a rather big hindrance to a healthy relationship," Pratik mused, deciding not to acknowledge the fact that he, in fact, had forgotten about the ...

"I have a betta!" Pratik answered, glad to be moving off the awkwardness. "What about you?"

"I, uh, no -- it's fine." He was being a jerk. He shook his head slightly, forcing himself to snap out of it. "It's fine. Sorry." There was a moment ...

"Okay," Pratik echoed, forcing himself to unclench his jaw and soften his scowl. It wasn't fair to lash out at her. She'd only said facts. It wasn't her fault that ...