Blacktail Deer Plateau [Meeting] Trying to take what's lost and broken, make it right

Malachi listened with ears intent, though Dante spoke of many things he didn't understand. With every new day, he felt less prepared to deal with the politics of these packs, and this was no exception. But the mess of this life was his life now, and the pack's concerns were his own.

His chest gave a sickening twist, and his gaze jumped to the children. Two at the front - he felt a rush of heat and his eyes searched for the last before he remembered the one breathing his presence behind Mordecai. But if the children hadn't been stolen, then who? Dante continued, and no one seemed curious to ask - or maybe they simply considered the answer a finality that could not be changed. Malachi felt a rise in his hackles, but he stilled his own probing tongue and willed his fur to lie flat again.

The man had seen the South not long ago, but he'd given little thought to the consequence of disobeying Dante's initial orders to stay out of that zone. Greater restrictions met him now, many of which he did not understand. In one punch, Dante identified the entire South as their enemies, and Malachi felt his gaze darken. A rival pack had been too much to stomach, but a whole region? If the Caldera was anything like the Sound, then for the sake of the children, he would stay away, lest he bring war upon their heads as he had at the Glacier. But if Dante rallied them to fight? Malachi could only think of the red woman and her child, of the wariness and life in them both. It had been easy to demonize the Sound with Caiaphas at their head, but when it came to the South and the recollection of his only memory there, Malachi just didn't know.