Thank you for that thoughtful comment, @alheath. Yes, I will connect with you on Discord. Just back from 10 days of travel with limited time and internet access.
Just to clarify, I was merely meaning to say that I had no ability to be objective on the content and comment effectively on it. It would never cross my mind that you condone violence to animals. It’s ckear in those 50 words that evil is at work, and that is an essential aspect of your story. You did that very well, and perhaps the fact that it was a gut punch for me, as a reader, and I ended up in tears and kind of a wreck for a bit is testimonial to the quality of your writing.
Much love.