Ravensblood Forest Get off my back

He woke up and, for a split second, he thought he was back home at his den in Moonlight Meadow, curled beside Osprey. Then it all came back to him in a swift, horrible rush. He sat up with a cough that threatened to become a heave, looking frantically around himself. Eventually, his blue-green eyes took on a listless glaze and he stared unseeingly into the foggy woods atop the plateau. Hawkeye's scent filled his nostrils and he retched at the reminder of his new reality.

Without thinking, he rose onto all fours and began to lope through the trees, heading to the plateau's edge. He plummeted down the pathway leading back into neutral territory, passing the spot where he'd met Hawkeye the night before. His heart beating heavily in his chest, he galloped further upriver without looking back. He didn't intend to return; the idea of belonging to a pack other than Flightless Falcons overwhelmed him and he suddenly shied at the commitment to these strange wolves in this alien wilderness.

He reached a forest and didn't stop until he found himself deep within the trees. Sucking in ragged breaths—he felt panicky—Peregrine slowed, stopped and dropped to his haunches, his swarthy head hanging between his shoulder blades so that his nose nearly touched the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut and began to shiver, then shake, his whole body trembling violently with an onslaught of emotion.