Though the dirt was soft and loose, Stellan struggled in his attempts to scoop up enough earth with each swipe of his paw. It felt as though it was never enough, and he knew that he'd be out there for hours digging up a big enough hole, but it didn't matter. The big wolf was panting, wide pink tongue lolling out of his mouth and dripping saliva onto the ground as he frantically continued to dig. Hyper-focused, he hardly noticed when Sig came up behind him to run a hand long his tense shoulder blades, but nose recognized Sig before his brain did, prohibiting from attacking out of instinct. Stellan simply whined, offering his thanks.<br/><br/>He wasn't expecting Sig to return with a pair of shovels. For the first time since dragging Colten's corpse away from Blue and Eivind, Stellan stopped. He continued to pant for a brief moment as he watched Sig sink his shovel into the earth and pull up a heap of fresh dirt. Reluctantly, Stellan shifted, reaching for the handle of his own shovel with shaking fingers. Sig silently digging beside him was more than Stellan had expected, perhaps more than what Colten deserved for the crimes he had committed. Stellan was cognizant enough to realize that Sig wasn't doing it for Colten.<br/><br/>"Thank you, Sig," he muttered gruffly, watching as the blade of the shovel sliced into the earth. The effort would still most likely take them through sundown, but at least Stellan wouldn't be left with bloodied hands by the time they were finished.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center">x - x - x - x - x<br/>​</div>"I don't want to leave!" Blue snapped, following his rage-filled lover through the cabin as the wolf began snatching up things he thought they might need. The shower had been quiet and soothing, slow hands scrubbing the blood from one another's bodies, but Eivind's insistence they leave immediately had come as a shock to the young human. "I don't want to do this, Eivind! I don't want to keep running away from everything that wants to fuck me or kill me." The irony of Blue's statement wasn't lost on him as he shadowed his lover, knowing that<i>running</i>had been the only thing he had ever tried, and each time it had failed in some spectacular fashion or another.<br/><br/>Despite Blue's protests, the older male couldn't be dissuaded. He refused to stay anywhere he believed to be a threat to his mate, and Eivind's stubbornness was an insurmountable challenge Blue didn't have the energy to take on that evening. After a quick moment of petting and gentle kisses, the wolf reassuring his young paramour that their departure wouldn't be forever, Blue begrudgingly dressed and packed himself a bag. A couple changes of clothes, a sketchbook and some pencils, a bottle of lubricant. Eivind would surely want to pacify his sullen partner once they reached their destination, though Blue couldn't be sure he'd be in the mood when they arrived.<br/><br/>Sieger had questions for them. He always seemed to carry them on the tip of his tongue, tossing them into Eivind's face whenever the rogue alpha did something questionable. The past few weeks had been peaceful, Blue and Eivind living together quietly in their cabin with Sieger ignoring them for the most part. But the older wolf was never far away when things smelled wrong, and Eivind didn't take well to his pestering. Blue climbed into the diesel truck's cab at Eivind's bark, keeping his head low. Chances were high Sieger would lose his shit were he to find out Eivind murdered another of Lofgren's wolves.<br/><br/>Once they were on the road, Blue was glum and silent, staring blankly out the passenger side window as trees whooshed by them. "What do you think you're going to do?" he inquired. "Sieger isn't going to start anything with Lofgren's pack, and it's not like you can just run off by yourself and kill them all on your own. You'll get slaughtered. And fuck knows I'm useless enough with you. I'd be dead in two seconds with you gone."<br/><br/>Blue's tetchiness softened mildly as he felt the wolf's hand on his lean thigh. "Yeah... yeah, I'm okay I guess," he mumbled, gingerly placing his hand on top of Eivind's. "I'm just a little rattled, that's all.<br/><br/>"I don't think we should go back to that same hotel as last time," he said quickly, shifting in his seat. "That place was nice but it was too expensive. We shouldn't be spending all this money. You're not working right now and I didn't even get the chance to put up my last canvases." Blue's distress was manifesting itself as an anxious nagging, his body moving restlessly.<br/><br/>"We can just go to some cheap motel or something, can't we? We're not going to be gone for long, right?"