After night fell and his mate was fast asleep, Peregrine slipped out of the den and headed out on a covert operation. Glad for the cover of the deep darkness, he set off into the woods. He would hate to be discovered, so he made a point of stopping and listening every few moments to be absolutely certain nobody else was in the vicinity. These stops became more and more frequent the closer he came to his final destination.
When he arrived at the site, he stood a while, his ears swiveling and his nose wriggling. Once absolutely sure he was alone, the Alpha male began to scrape his paw over the earth. He scraped away a few inches of leaf litter and dirt, exposing something small, round and quivering. Peregrine ducked his head, ignoring the natural impulses of his breed as he sniffed at the delicate bundle.
"Okay, little dude, I'm not gonna hurt you," he said to the small ball of fur. "Remember, you're just a guinea pig." The Alpha paused, then opened his mouth and gently lifted the baby rabbit from its little hiding place, where he'd put it earlier in the day. He then began to walk slowly through the wood, though he didn't go far before he paused and set it down at his feet.
"So far, so good," he whispered to it, then his eyes lifted and he scanned the dark trees like a hawk searching for prey. He didn't want anybody to catch him babying a tiny little bunny rabbit or, worse yet, cottoning onto what he was doing: practicing for when he had to carry around his newborn puppies.
Night had fallen, blanketing the world in the rich colors of the night. Dark purples, reds, oranges, pinks, blues. They sky was a myriad of these, not allowing itself to be defined by one or another, Lux saw as her honey gold eyes took it in, tracing abstract patterns in the dots of lights she knew to be stars. Breath left her parted lips in white girls of steam that curled around her nose, briefly warm before the cold rushed to caress where breath had dissolved. Sleep came and went for the Spartan who had power napped for a few hours so that she could be up to patrol the borders in the dead of night. She felt the irritatingly insistent urge to prove herself to the Alpha pair, though Peregrine specifically. It was a competitive thing that she had itching under her skin, the feeling that he didn't fully accept her because he couldn't understand her was. She hadn't taken a direct offense to it figuring he was a bigot. Even then the itch was still there, persistent as fuck. She didn't want her place in the pack to solely ride upon Hawkeye's acceptance alone.
Shoving thoughts of the ink blot alpha pair out of her mind, she inhaled deeply, drinking in the scent of the plateau, of the crisp winter and the earth before she returned her attention solely upon the path of the borders before her. Lux had just began her patrol when a familiar voice drifted in her direction, causing her to give pause. Sound carried in the night, Lux had learned a long time ago, so there was a good chance he was a football field lengths away from her, but his words sparked curiousity. Giving a studious, hardened look over her shoulder at the shadow ridden lands outside their borders the Spartan then headed in the direction she thought Peregrine was in. As it was, he wasn't too awful far away from her, but as she moved closer she detected the scent of prey mixed with his, curious in that it was not tainted with blood.
"Forgive the insubordination," Whether it would be forgiven or not was yet to be seen. "But what in the hell are you doing?" The Spartan inquired, puzzled, looking from Peregrine to the baby bunny cuddled at his paws.
He heard her just before she materialized, like a sneaky wraith. Peregrine stood, placing one paw over the small rabbit, but it was too late; she'd seen it. Defensive anger scrawled angry lines on his dark face and he growled a warning note, not appreciating her tone despite her disclaimer. His irritation was tinged with a healthy dose of embarrassment for getting caught. He'd been so vigilant, yet somehow Luxuria had managed to sneak right up on him.
"Mind your own business, subordinate," he snapped reflexively. After a pause, Peregrine was forced to admit, "I didn't even hear you and you'd better believe I was being vigilant." He swallowed awkwardly. "Was that part of your training as a warrior? Because it would also make for a great Gamekeeper here," he noted, as always hoping to recruit local talent into his fold of hunters.
For the time being, he did not acknowledge the trembling bunny still hidden underneath his paw, though its silent quaking stirred various notions in him. First and foremost, it made him want to squash it to the ground so that it would be still, not because he wanted to keep hiding it but because his predatory impulses wanted to rend the life from it. On the other hand, he imagined it as a puppy and, of course, couldn't bring himself to harm it. He knew that, even when he was through with it, he wouldn't be able to do anything but let it go.
Luxuria paused, instinctively lowering into a submissive posture as Peregrine’s face contorted with anger and the warning growl vibrated in the depths of her ears. Lux admitted, to herself of course, that she deserved his reflexive statement to ‘mind her own business’. She understood she had no right to talk to him as she had, despite that she had given him a fair warning. She hadn’t been able to help herself, and it was only logical that she, in turn, accepted her punishment. A soldier did not speak against their king. That was not how the hierarchy worked, and Lux was fully aware of that. “I am sorry,” The Spartan spoke humbly, bearing her throat to him, kneeling, waiting for some sort of punishment. In truth, she was genuinely apologetic and she chided herself for not watching her tongue more carefully in Peregrine’s presence. He was not as accepting of her as Hawkeye had been, and that was something that she needed to remember with more vigilance.
“I did not mean to sneak,” She spoke with truth. She hadn’t even realized that she had been stealthily moving, mostly because she simply had never really paid attention to her movements until it was necessary to do so. She was always aware of her body, of course, but only in times of battle did she pay close attention to how she moved. “I suppose it is, sir. I’ve never paid much attention to it,” Most of her training had become second nature and like breathing required no conscious thought. Unsure what else to say or do, she awkwardly kind of stared at the snow patched ground, waiting.
I'm going to tack on a conclusion so this can be archived.
Perhaps because he was impressed despite himself, Peregrine had no desire to resort to corporeal punishment. When Lux prostrated herself before him, he did give her a stony look and lift his tail, yet he didn't move otherwise. After letting her kneel that way for several moments, he lifted his free forepaw in a sort of dismissive motion, to indicate that she could sit up comfortably.
"You suppose?" he repeated a bit incredulously. "Were you trained to be stealthy or does it come to you naturally?" he pressed, ignoring it when the small rabbit began to nibble on his toes.
The two of them discussed Luxuria's training at length, Peregrine ignoring the baby rabbit all the while. When the conversation drew to a close and the transgendered wolf melted away into the night, the Alpha male lifted his paw and regarded the small bunny. "Off you go," he whispered to it, giving its tiny rump a nudge before turning swiftly. By avoiding looking at it, he could stop himself from being tempted to hunt it, which would seem like such blasphemy after picturing it as one of his pups.
Without even a fleeting glance backward, Peregrine slipped home to his mate, who might wonder why he smelled of rabbit. If she asked, he would simply tell her he'd been out doing some midnight hunting.