If Kansas was anything, he was smart. Sometimes it wasn't apparent in the way he talked, the cautious, sometimes stuttered words alluding to a duller individual. But the boy was intuitive and intelligent, and he could pick up the intentions of others though they may be subtly displayed. He could see by the bright, careless eyes of Charon that the man was oblivious to the approaching phantom. He seemed to want simply to have this nice conversation about Kansas's kids, perhaps toying with what it might be like to have some of his own. The Sadira could see the wonder in his eyes, and could possibly have felt good about that had not the beast been looming ever closer. "Sure—come over, and meet my other two, also," the boy said immediately after Charon had made his polite request. Despite the formidable circumstances, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to show off his puppies.
Again, Kansas was acutely aware of the space between himself and the dark stranger steadily closing. He was through thinking the best of Merit. There was something too sinister about his manner, his face, his very scent. And so, while Charon talked freely about his home, Kansas absorbed none of the words, for his pale eyes continuously flickered back to the red-eyed male, wary of the worst. And then he lunged, something the Sadira had been expecting to happen, deep within his consciousness, since he'd come upon the two. He instinctively stepped back from the tangle of bodies, an involuntary snarl erupting in his throat. He did nothing in that instant, for he fully expected Charon, large as he was, to buck the red wolf off.
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