Pack Dynamics

The Ceasefire

When he regained consciousness, Casey was in a blindingly bright, white room. Machines beeped and hissed to his left, and the bed under his body was stiff with heavily starched sheets. Even before he was overwhelmed with the smell of antiseptic, he knew he was in a hospital.

He struggled, awakening, reaching down to pull the tubes and needles he could feel sunk into his forearms.

“Whoa. Calm down, Casey.”

It was Nora’s warm, low voice. Casey recognized it and blinked his eyes in the direction the sound had come from. Nora was standing from a chair by the bed, her clothes wrinkled and singed.

Casey’s first thought (his only thought) was, “Mason?” His voice came out hoarse, cracked,

“He’s alright.” Nora hesitated a little, as if trying to decide how much information to give out. “A few burns, but he got out of the building alive- both times.”

Casey rubbed at his forehead, a killer headache starting to throb. “Both?”

“He carried you out and then went back in for your friend. Barely made it out the second time - the house was literally being held up with kindling at that point.”

“He went back in for Shelby?” Casey murmured, mostly to himself, perplexed.

Nora gave him an inscrutable look with her large, black eyes. “He pulled Shelby out, but make no mistake, he went back in for you.”

Casey breathed out, trying to piece together the fragments of memories from the fire. He couldn’t make sense of a lot of it, but only one thing really mattered – “He’s okay?”

“Yeah, he didn’t even have to stay in the hospital. Unlike you, sleeping beauty. You’ve been out cold for hours.”

“Where am I exactly?”

“Toronto East General. The shifter ward.”

Casey touched fingers to his sore jaw. Not burned; tender, possibly fractured. “Someone hit me?”

“Yeah. He clocked you one – hard.”

Casey’s brow wrinkled, his memory still not clear. “Mason did?”

“Yeah. Eugene made us stay off the Lavoie grounds – apparently that was your brilliant idea – so by the time to fire was visible and we got there, it was already out of control. We got there just in time to see Mason puling you out of the building. I ran over to try to help. You were struggling. Fighting me and Mason. You kept trying to go back into the burning building, and you were bleeding pretty badly.” She looked down at his chest, shook her head, and lightly rebuked. “You couldn’t have moved out of the way of one lousy bullet?”

Casey exhaled sharply, remembering the pain burning through his underside. He touched his stomach; there was bandages wrapped from his abdomen up to his chest.

“Anyways,” Nora continued, “If you kept struggling you were going tear that wound even wider. He hit you to knock you out, no other way to stop you from hurting yourself.”

Casey lifted the blankets, but couldn’t see anything through the heavy bandages. “Is it bad?”

Nora grimaced lightly. “You gave us all a scare, Case. It was touch and go until we got you to the hospital and the doctors sewed you up. You’re going to have one bad-ass scar, like a seam running up your belly.” Nora added unhelpfully.

It was growing more painful by the second as he became more alert, or as the pain meds wore off, he didn’t know which. Inside, his jaguar mewled weakly for its Alpha, fuelling the question, “Where is Mason now?” Casey wondered if he sounded as pathetic as he thought he did.

“You woke up just a few minutes too late. Eugene and Ty took him out to get some food and a shower. He was this close to mauling your nurses every time they tried to check your vitals. The doctors were going to call security, and Mason really would have gone ape-shit if they had tried to force him away.”

Suddenly, Casey remembered, “And Shelby?”

Nora looked at him, eyes glimmering with a touch of disappointment, “She’s fine, too, checked in to a room down the hall – smoke inhalation.”

Casey struggled to sit upright, “I need to see her.”

“You need to stay in that bed,” Nora jutted her chin towards the IV stand, “with those fancy fluids being fed into your veins. Being shot isn’t conductive to walking around.”

“It...” Casey tried to swallow around the lump in his parched throat. “It was Jess.”

“I know.” Nora said quietly.

Casey trembled with the returning knowledge. “I think I killed her...”

Nora reaches out and lay her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Casey. Mason told us what happened. You didn’t have a choice. She... she wasn’t right in the head, Casey.”

He took a deep breath, trying to stop the tremors that came with the memory of what had happened in that building. “How did I miss it?”

“Everyone did, Case. She never liked humans. Not since our birth pack was killed. But no one knew she was as damaged as she was.”

Casey just looked at her, warily. “Do you hate me?”

“You’re lucky you’re so injured, otherwise I would kick your ass for even asking that.” She tweaked the end of his hair. “I love you like a littermate. I have since Mason dragged your sorry, feline ass home to us.”

“I think, Mason may regret that now.”

Nora looked at him intensely, head cocking to the side a little. “You’re upset, Casey. I think you just need to get some more rest. “

“Maybe... Can you get me something to eat? Tuna?”

“I’ll see what the doctors say. I’ll be back in just a few minutes,” Nora looked at him, assessing his ability to be left alone, “Try to stay in bed, Case, Mason will... He’ll want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Nora paused at the door and looked back. “Casey... I don’t know exactly what happened between you and Mason in there. But I do know that nothing, nothing, would have changed how he felt about you.” With that, she disappeared out the door.

~~~

The moment he was alone, Casey removed the IV needles in his arm and swung his legs off the bed, propping himself against the side table to ride out a wave of nausea. Shit, how much blood had he lost?

Fighting his weak muscles, forcing his body to work, he stood. He lurched out of the room and searched the floor before finding the Shelby’s name on a stack of papers hooked to one room door.

He entered, almost afraid of what he would find.

She was lying in the single bed, looking jaundiced and sunken against the crisp sheets on the hospital mattress.

Holding his breath, Casey approached the side of the bed, and stroked her arm lightly. “Shelby?”

The girl on the bed moaned softly, face scrunching a little before opening her eyes. “Casey?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

Shelby blinked, focusing her eyes, looking him over him over, concerned. “You’re okay?”

“I’m okay.” Casey reached up and stroked Shelby’s smooth black and gold bangs off her forehead, his body thrumming with fraternal tenderness. “You’re okay?”

Shelby nodded. “I’m okay. One of the doctors filled me one what I missed over the last several days. I heard you saved me.”

“Mason did.” Casey corrected. “There was a fire.”

Shelby looked a little confused as she asked, “Mason. Your old Alpha, right?”

Casey nodded jerkily. “I needed my pack to help find you.”

“They let you back in? I thought wolf packs...”

“They don’t usually. Mason did.”

Shelby’s eyes slid over the visible scars covering his neck. The hospital gown did nothing to hide them. “Bite marks? From a fight?”

Casey touched his neck self-consciously. “No, Mason. You know wolves, bite in, bite out.”

“Yeah... I thought that usually only took one bite though.”

“Mason is...thorough.”

“And Mason, he really was the one that saved me?”

Casey nodded, “I wasn’t strong enough to carry you out of the building where you were being kept. “

Shelby smiled softly, trying to break the tension in the room. “You’ll have to put me on a diet when we get home.”

“Yeah,” Casey swallowed lightly, unconsciously averting his eyes and then forcing them back to Shelby’s face, he was no coward, “right.”

For a long, silent moment, they both looked at each other. Shelby final spoke, “You’re not coming home are you?”

“Not to Montreal, no, but I am going home.” Casey said gently, the words hoarse. “I never should have really left.”

Hurt flashed in Shelby’s amber eyes. “You regret it?”

“No.” Casey quickly leaned closer, eyes shining earnestly, “Shelby, no. You were...you’ve been so good for me. You changed my life, Shelby. I love you.”

“Not like you love him.” Shelby concluded without bitterness.

“He’s my alpha. And my mate.” Casey said, by way of explanation.

Shelby nodded slowly.

“I’m sorry...”

Shelby interrupted him, “I’m not. Casey, I think I always knew you weren’t mine for good. But it was a good two years.”

Casey bumped her shoulder softly, “Fuck, you are so mature it’s almost disgusting.”

“I’m not really one to get angry and throw stuff. Plus, right now you just look like shit and I don’t think you could take it.”

Casey snorted derisively. “I feel like shit.”

Shelby shifted over a little. “Lie down before you fall down.”

“I should go back to my room...”

“Just for a few minutes.” Shelby wheeled. “You really look like death warmed over and I don’t want you collapsing on my watch. Some gratitude that would show after you came all the way out here to save me and almost died in the process. ”

Casey was feeling pretty dizzy and growing weaker by the second. Shelby’s bed looked very tempting. He crawled in bedside the slim, familiar body of his now-ex-girlfriend, vowing only to rest for a minute or two...

~~~

He woke up to the gentle weight of Shelby’s head pillowed on his chest, slender arms looped around his waist, something he had become quite used to in the last two years. But they weren’t in their bed, in their small home, in Montreal.

A machine chimed to his left and the bed had a metal rail on the edge. Oh, right, hospital. Damn, he had told Nora he wouldn’t leave his bed. He prayed she somehow hadn’t noticed his disappearance, hopefully he hadn’t slept long.

Slowly, he sat sit up, jostling the sleeping girl as little as possible, easing her onto the pillows instead of his chest. Then he swivelled his torso in the bed and tried to lower his feet to the floor at the same time. The sudden movement pulled at the stitches holding his gut together. He hissed in pain, bringing his hands up over the bandage.

“Be careful.” A low voice grumbled.

Casey’s head whipped around. “Mase...”

Mason made a sound of acknowledgement from his position leaning against the far wall by the door, arms crossed over his chest.

“What are you doing here?”

“Nora texted me that you had woken up.” Mason’s voice, like his expression, was cool and indifferent. “You weren’t in your room; I figured I’d find you here.”

Casey felt an unaccountable flutter of guilt (for leaving his hospital bed or for getting into Shelby’s, he wasn’t sure) but he said regardless, “Sorry.”

Mason shook his head, “Don’t bother. I just... I wanted to see you awake. I’ll go now.”

“Where are you going?” Casey hated how needy he sounded as he flung his legs over the edge of bed, sitting up, fighting to hide the twinges of pain burning his stomach.

“Away. Far away from,” he gestured to Casey, the bed, “here.”

“No, Mason...” Casey craved the contact of his Alpha. He needed Mason to stay with him, hold him. Even his cat was nuzzling to get out, to get closer. “Stay, please, I want to thank you...”

Mason’s expression stiffened, his teeth gnashing and the corners of his eyes tensing. “I don’t want your fucking gratitude.”

“It’s – ”

“No, Casey, I’m done. I’m outta here.”

“Mase...”

They were interrupted by a doctor, flanked by two nurses, coming into the room. They clucked away at finding Casey out of his bed, the doctor started giving orders, and Shelby woke up, mumbling groggily.

Mason slipped out in the commotion.

~~~

I’m done. I’m outta here.

I’m done. I’m outta here.

What did that even mean?

Casey didn’t know, but he had three days with basically nothing to do but lie around in the hospital bed and agonize over it. The only thing that made it bearable was that Shelby was still in the hospital with him and Nora and Ty visited every day.

Mason never once showed up. Casey couldn’t get the last words he had spoken out of his head. What did he mean by ‘I’m done’? And where was he going that was away from here? Gone from the hospital? Gone from the city? Gone from Casey? Forever?

Casey tried asking the others – Penny, Ty, even Eugene – but they claimed he was around – somewhere – and then they changed the subject. This evasiveness drove Casey mad. His cat was suffering too, awake and pacing restlessly near 24 hours a day. Needy for his Alpha.

“Case? Case-yyy?”

Huh? He ducked his head, Shelby was settled against his side, lying in the hospital bed with him. They had turned on the wall mounted TV, and some cartoon was playing, volume down low.

“Sorry, I musta zoned out.”

“Doing that a lot.” Shelby pointed out. “Is the pain bothering you?”

“No, it’s not too bad.”

“Something else bothering you?”

“Nah.”

“Come on, Casey, this is me you’re talking to. And we’re alone for like the first time since we ended up here. Without your bodyguards.”

“They’re just a little protective...”

“That thin, shaggy haired one always looks like he wants to eat my face off.”

“That’s just how Eugene looks at everyone.”

“The gorgeous dark haired girl with legs up to here,” Shelby gestured towards her shoulders, “Isn’t really my biggest fan either.”

“Nora just needs to warm up to you. She’s usually not so glare-y.”

Shelby’s lips quirked a little, “And the blond mountain?”

“Ty.”

“How come I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the infamous Mason yet?”

Casey shrugged, trying to look indifferent. “Probably busy, you know, tying up loose ends with the whole Lavoie, poison thing.”

“You haven’t seen him either?”

“Nope.”

“Why don’t you go find him then?”

“I’m not cleared to leave.” Casey gave her a look that said ‘Duh’. The doctors weren’t letting him out; apparently the bullet had really ripped him up despite the fact it only sliced across the skin and muscle and not into any internal organs.

Shelby grinned a little, “Have I taught you nothing? You don’t have to bow down to The Man. If you feel like you’re healthy enough to leave, you leave. Take matters into your own hands. I’ll even help you.”

~~~

“You couldn’t find anything in a bigger size?” Casey groused, hopping around trying to pull on a pair of too tight pants.

Shelby stood in the doorway in a soft yellow bathrobe, holding onto a portable IV stand. “Beggars can’t be choosers. Those were the only ones close to your size; I searched the whole laundry room off the nurses’ lounge for clothes to...borrow.”

Casey plucked at the clothes, wrinkling his nose a little. “They’ll have to do.”

“I’ll say, unless you want to break out wearing just that hospital gown.”

“Thank you, Shelby.”

“No problem.”

“No, I mean it. Thank you. For everything.”

She walked closer, reaching out to cup his cheeks. “Don’t be a stranger. Come to visit me in Montreal.”

Casey grinned softly, “I will.”

Shelby wrapped her arms around his middle, hugging him close. “Promise.”

Casey returned her hug, affectionately rubbing his cheek up against her hair. “I promise.”

Shelby rubbed back against him; motions slow and languid, feline.

~~~

After Casey left the hospital, he went straight back to Mason’s apartment. It was empty when he got there, quiet and lifeless. He used his key to get in. Mason’s scent was weakened; he clearly hadn’t been there in days.

Casey felt a crushing fear. Was it true? Was he gone?

He searched through the apartment, looking for some clue as to where Mason might have gone. Nothing.

It was starting to get dark. He could go back to the hospital... Or he could try to get a hold of Nora or Ty...

Neither option held any appeal to him, so he stumbled into the bedroom. He pulled the grey and black hatched dog bed over to the side of the bed and curled up on it. He started trembling violently, tears following close behind. He was embarrassed by his loss of control, but he really didn’t have the energy to hold it together any longer, feeling empty and sick to his stomach.

“Stop crying.”

The command was soft and came from directly above him. Casey peered up, knowing he probably looked like a fucked up mess; red eyes, snotty nose, and flushed, tear-stained cheeks.

Mason was staring down at him in disapproval.

Casey sat up quickly, arms wrapped protectively around his mid section, holding himself.

“The hospital called me. They said you left against their advice.”

Casey rubbed the heel of his hand over his eyes, frustrated to feel more tears falling down his cheeks.

Mason’s jaw clenched. “What’s your problem now? Last I heard that Shelby girl was okay.”

Casey hesitated, “She is. They’re letting her out tomorrow.”

“Which begs the question, why are you here?”

“Thought you were gone.”

Mason snorted derisively, “Me? Where the hell would I go?”

Casey stood and rolled his shoulders lightly, frown creasing his face. “You said you were leaving.”

Mason shook his head in disgust. “I had to get out of there.”

Stood shakily, “Why?”

Mason’s eyes blackened. “ Why? Did you really just ask me that? Because I wasn’t about to watch your reunion with the fucking love of your life. I needed to be alone.”

“You...you want me to go?”

Mason’s eyes flashed. “Go?”

“Go away? I could go back to Montreal.”

“You can’t go back there. You belong here. You’re m...” Mason swallowed the end of the sentence with great effort, his expression grief-stricken.

“Mason?” Casey prompted when he didn’t continue.

“Nothing.”

Casey swallowed his pride, stepping forward, “I’ll stay. Mason, if you want me too. But, I want things to go back to normal.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Mason questioned. His eyes were cold and distant.

“How things were before.”

“Well, that’s just too damn bad, Casey, because it’s too late.”

Casey felt a cold shock slither through his chest. Too late? He felt sick to his stomach. “Mason...”

“No. Casey, just no.”

He needed Mason, he needed his Alpha. And now Mason was pushing him aside? The animal inside Casey mewled and whined in pain, clawing submissively for its mate. He couldn’t help the pathetic whimper that broke out of his throat.

“You may be able to live that, Casey. But I can’t.”

Casey tightened his jaw, challenging, desperation gleaming in his eyes. “You did before.”

“You didn’t have a girlfriend before.”

“She’s... She’s not, you know, what you said before, the love of my life. She’s just a girl. A really kind, really smart – ”

“STOP!” Mason roared.

Casey startled, but continued doggedly, “...But still just a girl. You would probably like her if you just...”

Mason growled, “You don’t understand! It’s not just me, my wolf goes berserk. Clawing to get out. There is no guarantee I’ll always be able to control it. I can’t stand by and watch that, Casey.”

“You won’t have to.”

Mason looked at him sharply.

“Shelby’s going back to Montreal.”

“And you?”

“I already told her I was staying here. We broke up.”

“BULLSHIT! I can smell her ALL over you.” Mason snarled. “So don’t you fucking lie to me.”

Casey flinched but otherwise held his ground. “I’m not lying. I just smell like her because we’ve been hanging out, and we hugged before I left the hospital.”

Mason’s eyes narrowed minutely, “Why did you break up?”

Casey opened his mouth and then closed it, flushing.

Mason hardened his jaw. “Well?”

“Because, you know... We... had sex.”

Mason started laughing – it wasn’t a humorous laugh. “We fucked. You want to stay because we fucked? You really like taking it up the ass that much?”

“No! Well, yes, I mean, it was good.” He blushed pinker, “But...it was more than just fucking.”

“What was it then?” Mason asked, still closed off, not giving so much as an inch.

“It was...” Casey touched the marks on his throat, fresh and old, “It was...we mated, Mason.”

“That doesn’t mean shit, Casey, and you know it, unless the shifters recognize the bond. And if in eight years your cat doesn’t sense it – it isn’t there.”

“I think I did.” Casey said quietly. “Near the end. Those last few months. And it scared the shit out of me. You already owned such a large part of me; you were my Alpha, my pack, my family. If you had become my mate, too... Fuck. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I went so suddenly with Shelby. She was easy, safe – and I know she could never own me like you could have...like you do, Mason.”

“Don’t...”

“No it’s true. What you were about to say tonight and what you said two years ago before I left.” Casey shook his head. His own voice was soft and strained as he commanded, “You can say it, Mason. It’s true, and I’m ready to accept it.”

Mason softened with disbelief; a ragged, hurtful hope flickering in his black eyes. “You’re...” He swallowed, again, his tongue sliding out to wet his lips. His whispered words, when they finally came, were guttural, “You’re mine.”

Casey couldn’t prevent the shiver that ran through him. His cat mewed softly, craving contact with the Alpha.

“You’re mine?” Mason repeated. Just the slightest hesitation turned it into a question to Casey’s ears.

“Yours.” Casey murmured, sensing the Alpha needed the words. “Always was, always will be.”

Mason growled, pulling him in for a hard kiss with a large hand on the back of his head, cradling him with a possessive firmness.

When they broke apart several minutes later, Casey was breathless and flushed pink.

“I want to take you.”

Casey’s stomach clenched. “Now?”

“You got a problem with now?”

“Well, it’s just, ah...I wasn’t expecting...”

Mason snapped his teeth and held Casey a little tighter. “We should really start this how we mean to go on.”

“What’s that mean?”

Mason growled lightly, “It means you need to remember who’s the Alpha in this relationship.”

For once Casey didn’t say anything to that, the clenching low in his stomach constricted further, “What if I’m not a good submissive...”

“Not a good submissive...?” A smirk quirked the corner of Mason’s mouth, “Baby, you’re the perfect submissive.”

Casey growled. “First, never, ever, ever call me ‘Baby’. Second, what the fuck? I’ve always been dominant,” The tips of his ears pinkened, “More or less.”

“Dominant over everyone else. But not me.” Mason’s hand slipped down, gripping the back of Casey’s neck, massaging firmly. “You’re my bitch.”

Being called a bitch, shouldn’t be a turn on, Casey reminded himself steadfastly. His dick gave a throb of disagreement – when Mason said it, the word was filled with nothing but tenderness.

“And that means, that from now on, this,” Mason’s hand slid down his back and squeezed an ass cheek, “and this,” slowly the hand drew forward and palmed the bulge in the front of Casey’s pants, “are mine to use whenever, and wherever, and however I want.”

“You know that dominant bullshit irritates me.”

“Maybe, but it turns you on, too. Before you try to lie about it you should remember that my hand is on your dick and your response to that ‘dominant bullshit’ is kind of obvious.”

Casey just furrowed his brow.

Mason leaned forward, biting Casey’s lower lip as he growled, “Tell me again.”

Casey didn’t pretend to misunderstand. Their breath mingled as he responded, “I’m yours.”

Mason stroked his sides slowly, causing Casey to quiver, leaning into Mason’s heat with a soft moan. “Good boy.”

Casey’s eyes flickered, when he looked up at Mason next his irises were full on feline.

Mason hummed in appreciation. “Gorgeous.”

Those gorgeous cat eyes just blinked.

Mason cupped his cheek, looking deeply into those golden eyes. Mason slowly stripped off Casey’s clothing, dropping the borrowed hospital items right on the cushion beside them. Then he pushed Casey back so he was lying on top of them.

Casey let himself be manhandled around, body sandwiched between Mason and the dog bed. His body relaxed, giving over control.

Casey looked up at him trustingly, his heart pounding faster. Mason’s hands travelled over inch of Casey’s skin as if he owned it.

Casey whimpered, his skin tingled everywhere Mason touched. His cock hardened at once, painfully so despite the fact Mason wasn’t giving it anyone more attention. “Mmrrrr.”

“Fuck, I love it when you purr.”

Mason slowly pressed one finger into him and then another, causing Casey to groan and writhe against the cushion. “Ngh, Mason.”

“That’s it. Give it up to me.”

Casey groaned and dutifully wrapped his legs around Mason’s waist when the older shifter prompted him.

“That’s it.” Mason stroked him slowly, urging his knees up higher.

There was some fumbling as Mason reached down, freeing his own cock and guiding it against Casey’s tight entrance.

“Mason...” Casey’s whisper came out more of a plea.

“Mine.” Mason growled, pushing into him forcefully.

Casey yelled, arching under him as the blunt head of Mason’s cock split him open.

“Fuck, yes, so tight. Mine, fuck, yes, Case.” Mason kept up a steady stream of obscenities as he slammed into the cat shifter, pushing himself in as deep as possible.

Casey could do nothing but clutch at him and take it. The hammering against his prostate made him see stars. It didn’t take long before he was crying out, cumming, toes curling.

Mason growled, feeling the wet cum pulse from Casey’s cock, which was trapped between their bodies. He scooped his hips, pounded hard and fast, losing the rhythm shortly before reaching his own orgasm, pumping his seed into Casey.

They both recovered, panting, and slick with sweat.

After a few minutes, Casey started to shift away.

“I need to shower.” Casey said.

Mason bite his shoulder and then licked the line of this throat. “No. I love how you smell right now, like sweat, and jungle, and me.”

“God, you’re possessive.”

“Yup.”

“And domineering.”

“Definitely.”

“And a real ass sometimes.”

Mason just grinned a little and stroked his hand over Casey’s bare throat, changing the subject. “I hate that they took your collar off you at the hospital.”

“I don’t need a collar to know who I belong to.” Casey whispered sincerely.

“I want it back on regardless, I’m rather fond of the thing. Plus, it will serve as a reminder that you must always strive to please your Alpha.”

Casey smiled and moved languidly against the larger body. “You should be more concerned about pleasing your newly reinstated Beta, I hear he has issues with authority.”

Mason shrugged lightly, “I love him anyway.”

Casey swallowed. “You’ve never said that to me before.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “Go to sleep.”

Casey wrinkled his nose. “Here? I mean, there’s a perfectly good bed like three feet away.”

“Stop arguing with me and go to sleep.”

“Fine, fine, fine.” Casey snarked, pressing close, eyelids heavy.

Mason wrapped strong arms around him and closed his eyes to sleep as well.

Before drifting off, Casey rubbed his cheek against Mason, mumbling, “By the way, I love you, too...Alpha.”

~~~

~~~

The End

I want to sincerely thank everyone for their wonderful comments and reviews. You guys are the only reason I managed to finish this. And this is officially the first story I’ve ever actually finished, so - thank you, thank you, thank you!

That being said, I know there might be some loose ends here in my effort to wrap it up, so if there’s something you wanted to see that wasn’t included in the story please leave it in a review, I’d love to write an epilogue, or even some “deleted scenes”.

Let me know what you think, and again, thank you for sticking by me through this story!