3rd Person

Paisley blinked her tired eyes open, stretching and yawning as she looked around her darkened room.

The other pups were cuddled around and beneath her. As the smallest of her siblings, Paisley always got to be on the top of the puppy pile – but Riley, Parker and Ryder hadn’t stirred, remaining sound asleep even as she slid out of bed.

She couldn’t be sure how late it was, but the sky outside her window was still pitch black. She planned on sneaking into her Daddy’s room and crawling into his bed – just like she had done every night since returning to the Nightfang pack.

However this night was more important than all the others, because it was their last night before returning to the Dark Moon pack. In the morning Jane was going to pile the children into the car and return home at long last – she’d even invited Devon along since they were traveling in the same direction.

Paisley wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her father, and she felt completely at odds with her siblings.

They didn’t understand why she still wanted to stay with Ethan when he’d been so mean, and she couldn’t tell them his secret. She was still furious with Ethan too, but for different reasons. She both understood why he couldn’t let her stay – yet hated him for putting his foot down. It was too many big emotions for the young pup, and all she knew at the end of the day was that she loved her father more than she was angry. So she kept crawling into his bed at night, trying to soak up as much affection as possible before they were parted.

Paisley didn’t pause to knock on Ethan’s door, though that wouldn’t have done any good because when she entered the master bedroom she found it empty. Confused, she scented the air, following his trail to his office. She didn’t know why she hesitated outside the door, but she did. She peeked through the keyhole to spy on the scene within, feeling her stomach sink when she saw her father bent over his desk with his head in his hands – weeping.

Paisley immediately started crying herself, but she still waited. As she watched, she saw Ethan’s edges blur and shake with terrifying violence. She could see his claws extend from his clenched fists, before retracting, then extending again. His entire body was vibrating, leaking raw power and overflowing with palpable anguish and rage.

Ethan’s eyes were clenched tightly shut, his fangs bared as he tried to weather the pain wracking his form. Belatedly Paisley realized what she was seeing – her father’s wolf trying to escape but remaining trapped by the bonds of his human flesh.

He forced himself out of his chair then, as if he thought it might not hurt so badly if he was standing. However the movement was too sudden, and he crumpled to the floor, landing with a crash.

Paisley watched as Ethan’s shoulders slumped in resignation, and he simply sobbed his grief into the carpet, settling in to wait out the agony.

watching any longer. Her young heart had been through so

pack, she could see how badly her father needed her. She could see he was just being stubborn. Paisley knew that she had to find a way to stay with Ethan, even if she had to run away from Jane and her siblings. She

Paisley was going to find a way to remain with Ethan even if she had to

in the attic, and despite an epic tantrum, Ethan dragged her kicking and screaming to the car. Jane and the other pups were also crying by the time Paisley was settled in the

Paisley was furious.

the city, and nothing Jane or her brothers and sister could say would calm her. Eventually she

wasn’t relieved. She continued weeping even as the pups settled, apologizing profusely to Devon, even

this.” Jane confessed. “And I don’t mean to be such terrible company, it’s just that you’re only ever as happy as your unhappiest child –

Devon sympathized, squeezing

you’re going through this, Jane. And you don’t need to

enough to smile at

not anything I can say to make any of this any better, but I truly believe

she was most worried about this experience scarring Paisley. However before she could say a word in reply, a furious little voice piped up from the back seat, “You don’t know what

seemed that Paisley’s nap

Devon’s analysis. “You have no rights to talk about

is doing a very generous

insisted. “I understand if Paisley needs to be mad at

call hers that!” Paisley shouted. “Only Daddy calls

know better than to lash out at other people when you

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