In the same moment that Sequoia’s gaze fell on the jackal that was most certainly not her mother a voice behind her commanded her to stop. She did exactly that, not exactly liking the tone the command was given in. As she stopped she tried to get a better look at the small canine trembling in the bush. She had never seen a wolf, at least she assumed it was a wolf, that was so small. The girl was even in her secui form, yet Sequoia towered over her, nearly twice her size. No wonder the poor thing was whimpering. She was probably just as terrified of Sequoia as she had been of her.
She opened her mouth to explain herself but didn’t have time. Just as she was getting ready to speak X’yrin arrived at the bush and turned to face Sequoia. The large wolf lowered her ears and tail into a submissive posture and shrunk toward the ground. Her fear for her mother had turned into fear for herself but when she flicked her gaze quickly up, she saw that X’yrin was no longer standing aggressively, but warily. It seemed everyone was afraid.
Sequoia flicked her gaze back to the ground when X’yrin started to speak. So she thought the Sequoia had frightened Sira, the same thing that she herself thought. Yet she had been running past when she heard the whimpering. Could the jackal really have thought Sequoia was coming after her? She furrowed her brow in confusion, hesitating in her answer because of it.
When she did speak her voice came out soft and slow, each word said carefully to make sure they understood her. “I didn’t mean to frighten her. I thought it was my mother whimpering, that someone had hurt her.” She took in a deep, shaky breath to calm herself as the fear started to block her throat. “I didn’t know I was so close to your pack. I found a cave nearby and we were gonna sleep there tonight and I heard something so I went to see what it was.” Her words started to run together again toward the end as she became more desperate to explain what she was doing there.
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