#Chapter 222 – Following the Scent

Victor raises his snout to scent the air, relishing the strength he feels in this form.

He and Ian have been running through the woods for what feels like hours, doing nothing but searching for the scents which they know they have to follow. They haven’t found them yet, but neither of them is frustrated.

There’s no room for that, in the body of a wolf – no room for doubt, or dissatisfaction, or annoyance. Instead, Victor knows that he and Ian simply have faith. They will find Evelyn, and they will find Alvin, they just need to keep looking.

And they have, apparently, all he time in the world for that.

Victor closes his eyes, seeking her, but he snaps his head to the side when he hears a little yelp from his pup. His body goes still with alertness, seeking his son, wanting to protect him from whatever happened –

But Ian just tumbled off a boulder he had climbed to the top of, either to find the scent or just to see if he could get to the peak. The gray pup rolls at the bottom of the rock, looking towards his father with a wolfish little grin, his tongue lolling from his mouth.

Victor laughs inside himself, then, knowing the boy feels no real pain or regrets. Given the chance, he’d climb the boulder again.

Victor moves to the pup, though, giving him a little nudge with his nose, reminding him not to get distracted. Ian shoots him an apologetic glance he doesn’t really mean and then puts on a bolt of speed, running off into the trees. Victor gives a little woof of encouragement and follows, dodging through the branches as he chases his son.

It just feels so good to be in this form, Victor thinks. No doubts, no hesitations, just…action. Movement. Intuition.

He knows that Ian feels the same, darting through the forest, listening to the wisdom of his body and taking immediate action on his impulses.

So much.

And perhaps

mistake. He had himself to blame for it, telling himself that being

really, had that

he had taken his wolf form, would it have become all too clear the mistakes he had been

as he runs, to Amelia. To his fights with Evelyn yesterday, to

his fault. Because if he had just listened to himself, to what his body had been telling him the moment he saw Evelyn

have turned, instead, to Evelyn and made it clear to her – immediately – that she was the Luna he wanted, the

in his throat, feeling fiercely the mistake. It hadn’t been fair, not to either

joy. Catching up with Ian, Victor again lowers his snout to the boy’s coat, nuzzling it, letting the boy feel the pride and joy that runs through his

rather that his wolf is part of his identity. Half of him. And

and the lack of care. He knows, in his heart, that this is who he is – a creature of rock and stone and forest and instinct. Not really a little

Who is a little boy who likes to stay inside and read

misses his brother terribly in that moment, wishing he were here to share this with

air, while Alvin needed to be with their mother doing…well, whatever they were doing. Ian stops, then, and tucks himself beneath his father’s belly, moving to stand between his tall forelegs, wanting his protection in this moment

quite real about the differences between him and his brother. That he truly is a

Alvin was

this difference between himself and his twin. He wants, fervently, for them to

things simply are how they

his connection to him, is not lessened in any way by the knowledge of their difference. That there

wanting to know if he is okay. Ian happily raises his face to his father, tapping his nose against Victor’s and then dashing out from between his

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