Shadewood Even though we know it, everyone remains in play.

She felt a little guilty as she bent to tear into the meat before her mate had a chance to join her. When he showed up with fresh wounds, her stomach practically curdled. Not even bothering to clean the blood off her chops, she swung to nose at him. Her marigold eyes quickly darted to each of his injuries, full of assessing concern.

For the first time since running off toward the horizon, Masquerade felt her insides clench with real, sickening fear. They were both injured now. What if they couldn’t hunt? There was nobody else around to support them. Never mind her pregnancy, the two of them might starve to death before any new life could take.

We fucked around and found out, she muttered darkly under her breath. I should clean these. Are you ready? she queried in a slightly louder voice, complete with a slight tremor.

The slain piglet cooled in the backdrop, entirely forgotten. Quite frankly, Masque wasn’t sure she could eat any more, not with these terrifying possibilities swirling around in her brain.