Bearclaw Valley re:stacks

Tagging for reference !

The possibility was a reality—the yipping of the lesser canine had not registered as a request for anyone when it pierced his ears. Rather, he’d perceived it as a threat, the thought of vermin in his home pushing the male to take action. Being nearer to the whelping den than @Laurel’s, he checked there first—and though he intended to check on the both of them and make sure neither were in the path of the wily cretins, the absence of a body in his mother’s old den forced him down a different path. Sniffing around, he sought out the most recent of Reigi’s scent trails to follow, only for his efforts to be cut short by a howl—her voice, lacking any panic or fear, allowed him to settle and recollect himself. Uncomfortable with the idea of just leaving her at the borders alone for any longer than necessary, he told himself he’d check on the other female after addressing whatever was happening just outside the valley’s walls.

When Alexander reached the end of the path, it was not a wolf that he saw, but a coyote. Was this the source of the earlier yips? The male’s muscles tensed and his tail arched over his back, irked by the smaller male’s presence, having learned to view them the same as foxes—small, shifty scavengers that could not be trusted. And despite his obvious submission, that did not allow the albino to settle, nor did it prevent his tone from turning harsh when he said: “I think you’re lost. This valley belongs to wolves, not your kind.”