Swiftcurrent Creek I'm first in the water

All was quiet within in the Frostfur-Mayfair den. Durnehviir's pale gaze flitted between her four youngsters - as she'd learned that silence tended to rouse suspicion among her brood - but they seemed unusually settled. Despite always feeling on edge as a mother often did, the russet wolfess was content to rest her muzzle atop her outstretched limbs and close her tired eyes.

A familiar bark from beyond their hollow caused each member of the family to perk, and her three sons padded out into the open before Durnehviir could gather to her paws. Knowing that Talos was likely to assert herself for having been left behind by her brothers, the crimson beauty grumbled with the mental preperation of intervening. 

What she did not expect was the broken little body of a cub that was not her own. Ginger ears thrust forward, the dragoness stared wide-eyed in surprise. "Give him space, Akatosh," Durnehviir told her lookalike son, swallowing her heart that had begun to swell with emotion. Worried, she blinked up to seek her mate's molten gaze once more, and asked, "what happened?"