𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝: 𝙴𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚙𝚜𝚎 (𝙳𝙺 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚏 𝚡 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚒)

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 12

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𝙵𝙸𝙽𝙳𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚃𝚁𝚄𝚃𝙷

{𝙳𝙴𝙺𝙰𝚈𝙻𝙸𝙽}

The wind died down by the time morning came around.

The ground was white with snow, and our campsite was eerily quiet. I climbed out the tent to find a young wolf starin' at me, sitting on his haunches.

"Hey, Marcus," I smiled.

He began to pant, which was probably his way of sayin' "hey" back.

"Where's Jorja?" I asked him. "Did she already-"

"Not yet," Mani answered, rounding the peak as she smiled at me. "She's makin' sure the woods are clear before she heads back."

She nodded Marcus's way before he jogged off, me wrappin' my arm around her as she drew closer to me.

"Sorry about last night," I said. "I know it couldn't have been easy on you."

"It was okay," she shrugged. "It won't make my list of top ten favorite evenings, though."

"You got a list?"

"All ten were spent with you. Number one was when you proposed to me...Mr. Knowles..."

"Mmmm..." I moaned as she kissed me, "...so I'm the one changin' names?"

"Our family name sounds better," she chuckled.

"You're marrying her?"

I spun around to find Jorja starin' back at us in utter devastation. She was already fightin' tears as her limbs began to tremble with subdued rage...betrayal...

"Jorja," I started before realization struck me.

I turned to Mani as she looked up at me with nothing but guilt in her eyes.

"You knew she was listening..." I said.

"She deserves to know, D..." she responded.

I turned back to Jorja right as she rushed back towards the woods. I started to run after her.

"Jorja, wait! Let me explain!"

"D, let her-"

"Don't, Mani...just...let me talk to her, alone..."

Her eyes dulled a little as she nodded, me racing after Jorja.

"Jorja, please..."

"I'm fucking done," she seethed.

"Tell me how I can fix this."

"You can't!" she exclaimed, spinning towards me as she abruptly stopped. "But I can...by goin' down there and killing something..."

"No! Not like this. You're not thinking clearly-"

"Maybe I'll get killed and make things simple for you, then."

"Jorja, stop! Just...just stay here."

"Why?" she challenged, her teary eyes boring into mine with fire as she sized me up. "Give me one fuckin' reason..."

I looked right back at her, my emotions bubbling up the more I did.

"...because I don't wanna lose you..." I uttered.

She searched my eyes for only a moment before headin' off again.

"Not good enough..." she said.

"Because..." I continued, now in panic mode as I tried to catch up to her, "...because you're my best friend!"