Wolf RPG

The morning following the move was a muggy one. Peregrine woke, rose and stretched, smiling at the children where they slept out in the open. Deciding he would surprise them with a hot breakfast, the swarthy Alpha male set out into the wood. He quickly found one of his favorite deer trails, though venison wasn't on the menu since he was hunting alone. He knew that many smaller animals used the paths too, though.

He caught the scent of a groundhog and began to track it when another, stronger scent wafted into his nostrils. The Alpha male paused, then decided he could return to the hunt any time. Breaking away from the trail, he called, "Atti? Where are ya, man?"

Indeed, he hadn't been far from his brother's den site. He'd been hunting, as usual, ceaseless in his efforts to help ensure the health and wellness of not only his nieces and nephew, but also of his pack. He figured that the Alpha pair had enough going on at the moment that it was probably nice not having to worry about food too much, so he dedicated himself to procuring fresh meat as often as he could, as well as pulling his weight with border patrols and, as always, remaining in respectful but watchful proximity to the Alphas' den.

To his delighted surprise, he heard his brother's voice rise brightly on the air in search of him. They weren't too far apart from one another -- Atticus suspected that Perry and he were both following the same trail. He doubled back and, sure enough, after a moment, he rounded a bend and there stood his brother. A wide grin broke out over Atti's face as he drew near, bumping Perry's chin with his nose and wagging his tail in genuine happiness to see his littermate. "Whassup, mah brotha?"

They played a short game of Marco Polo, then Atticus appeared and strode toward him. Peregrine remained where he was, letting his brother come to him. He managed a small smile and a wave of his tail, though even as their black muzzles bumped, he realized he had quite a lot to tell him. With his relationship with Hawkeye hitting the rocks and Osprey gone after Crete, Atticus was now his closest confidante, alongside Blue Willow.

"A lot, actually," he replied. "We just moved the kids to a rendezvous site yesterday. They're lovin' it." His lips twitched, then fell. "I'm pretty sure you already saw this coming... but Hawkeye and I have separated. I wouldn't say the relationship's totally ruined yet but... I guess evaluating is the word I'd use to describe where I'm at with it?" His eyes found Atticus's. "I feel strangely ambivalent about all of it right now. I'm just trying to put all my energy into keeping the kids happy."

Atticus was glad to see his brother sans children for a change. He loved the little rugrats, of course, but with Peregrine assuming more of the childcare responsibilities lately, it was hard to have a conversation with the Alpha male without constant interruptions from one of the four kids. And it was clear that a conversation was much-needed, for Peregrine immediately dropped a lot of news on Atticus within moments of their meeting.

He was glad that Perry had moved the pups to a rendezvous site. They were old enough to no longer need a den anyway, he thought, and as things with Hawkeye were steadily devolving, he was glad that Perry had put a little space between them. He had seen this coming for a while now, but to hear the words from Peregrine's mouth -- that they were officially separating -- was still pretty jarring. "Damn. I'm sorry to hear that, man," he commented. "I mean, I figured it was gonna happen sooner or later, but it still sucks." It's better this way, he thought to himself, though, as thoughts of Hawkeye's questionable faithfulness replayed through his memory.

Atticus's well-meaning comment made Peregrine's insides curdle for a moment. If he'd just paid attention to his brothers' opinions of his relationship, would he have avoided all of this? Before he could wander down that dark, tangled path of what ifs, the faces of his daughters floated through his mind's eye. There was no way he could bring himself to regret it. Even if their relationship wouldn't stand the test of time by a long shot, they'd produced some of the world's most wonderful pups, if he said do himself (and he did).

"Yeah, I guess the only thing a whirlwind romance can do is quickly blow itself out," he quipped. Looking into his brother's eye, he saw something strange there but didn't remark on it. Instead, he admitted, "I'm not even torn up about it. I pretty much fell out of love with her and that's really it." He shrugged, almost guiltily, as if something more dramatic should have happened to end his relationship. Ah, well, he thought, que sera, sera.

Peregrine's nonchalance about the whole thing struck Atticus as being weird, and he wondered if Perry was simply putting up a tough front. He remembered how head-over-heels Peregrine had been for Hawkeye in the beginning -- and the beginning hadn't been that long ago, really -- so for Perry to simply shrug it off like it was nothing now…he suspected that his brother was hurting a lot more than he was letting on, but of course, guys never liked to show their real feelings or look like emotional pansies.

Then again, maybe Perry really was over Hawkeye just like that. If she was as wishy-washy and batshit weird at home as she'd been with Atticus, then it wasn't much of a stretch to see how that would kill a relationship pretty quickly. "You know," he ventured, feeling a lance of fear and anxiety run through him. Part of him had always wanted to tell his brother about what had gone on between himself and Hawkeye, but he hadn't wanted to damage their relationship at the time. Now that they were done, though… "She…wasn't a hundred percent faithful to you anyway." His eyes lingered heavily on Peregrine, wary apprehension evident in his face.

As soon as the words You know... left his brother's mouth, Peregrine's entire body tensed. He had no idea what was about to come out of Atticus's mouth but the two knew each other well enough (hell, they'd barely been apart in the three years of their lives) that he knew something bad was about to happen. As his intuition tingled horribly, he braced himself, even holding his breath.

Atticus dropped the bomb and Peregrine felt his heart clench and a bolt of disgust shoot through him. He felt a bit sick to his stomach. Thankfully, the feeling quickly lost its edge, yet he stood there feeling badly disturbed by this information. He believed Atticus immediately and completely. Looking at his brother's face made him feel all the more uneasy and bothered, though. As their eyes met, Peregrine intuited that this wasn't even the worst part yet.

His lips pinched together for a long time before Peregrine finally spoke. Voice brittle and a little dead, he asked, "Dare I ask for details? I think I'd be happier not knowing and, really, do I need to know more than that...?" He paused, sucking in a whistling breath. "But I have to know. Because this changes everything. I've been shouldering all the fucking blame for it ending and she's been playing the victim. But you're telling me that whore cheated on me?" His voice grew colder and colder with every word until it cut off there, snapping like an icicle breaking.

Atticus would have been content to leave it at just that, had Perry asked him to. And for a moment, he thought that would be the case. It was clear that Peregrine didn't want to know, and really, did he need to know all the shitty details? But after only a brief pause for consideration, Peregrine forged onward, making it clear that he did want to know. Atticus was afraid -- he was afraid his brother would be furious with him, he was afraid that some of the wrath he clearly felt toward Hawkeye would consequently be directed at him for his involvement. But he knew he owed it to his brother -- and his Alpha -- to be honest.

"She wanted me," he said after a few seconds of thought. "After you guys got together as mates." The wary, grave look on his face never faltered as he spoke, his eyes glued to Perry as if awaiting a blow or a tirade of harsh words. After a few moments, he broke the gaze and looked away, as if embarrassed. "And I mean…you know I kinda wanted her too, for a while. She would come to me and…nothing actually happened," he was quick to mention that, his glance moving back to Peregrine's face. "But I think she really, really wanted something to happen. I dunno. It was really confusing. That's why I've avoided her like the plague for so long now. Shit's just weird and awkward."

Although he'd fallen out of love with her, an event entirely unrelated to her infidelity (considering this was the first he'd learned of it), Atticus's words made Peregrine flinch inwardly. He remembered the few occasions when someone had referred to his wife as flirtatious and how these salacious words had gone in one ear and out the other. He'd taken it for granted that Hawkeye would be truthful with him. Meanwhile, she'd evidently been trying to seduce his brother the entire time.

Are they mine? he wondered frantically, suddenly looking stricken. Nothing actually happened, Atticus said and Peregrine's lips pursed. "I believe you," he said, "but I want to know exactly what happened between the two of you. I deserve to know how much of a wretched slut she is," he continued quietly but heatedly.

He paused for a long moment, trying to decide if he had any anger left over to direct at his brother. He decided he didn't. First of all, whatever his sins, Atticus had come clean. Secondly, he'd been single at the time, with a previously-established crush on Hawkeye. Peregrine decided to give him the benefit of the doubt; surely it was his brother who'd stopped anything from happening. He felt a bit hurt and agitated, yet the sentiment was cold ashes in comparison to his burning, seething hatred for his now decidedly ex-wife.

This wasn't an easy pill for Perry to swallow, and Atticus could see that. He felt awful for being the bearer of such shitty news, and there still lingered in him a fear that his relationship with his brother would be damaged because of what he'd almost done with Hawkeye. For the most part, their interactions had been harmless, fleeting episodes of flirting and romantic talk, but there had been that one time around the end of her heat...

"We almost had sex once," he confessed after a long moment of silence, during which he struggled with how to tell his brother something so scandalous. "It was around the time of her heat, and she was practically throwing herself at me. I was literally mounting her when we both realized we were fucking up." A quiet beat passed before he reiterated, again, "But it didn't happen. I swear to you."

This time, Peregrine winced visibly as Atticus hesitantly described the time when he'd nearly screwed his brother's wife. As the mental image rose in his mind, Peregrine felt bitterly betrayed by both of them. He closed his eyes. He could feel his pulse pounding in his temples as his jaws clenched. He remained like this for several minutes before he reopened them, his gaze boring into Atticus's face.

"Thanks for telling me," Peregrine said flatly. He almost asked who'd stopped them but decided he would prefer to keep thinking it was his brother who'd hit the brakes. It didn't matter anyway. "I'm glad it didn't..." He cut off, shaking his head. "Not that it really matters. That's still cheating in my fucking book."

Peregrine went silent for another long pause before asking Atticus, "Why didn't you tell me sooner, man? And why didn't she ever say anything? Fuck, that part feels worse than the part where you almost bumped uglies with my wife. She never, ever said a word about any of this. And neither did you..." His eyes flashed accusatorially.

On one hand, he wanted to be mad at his brother and, on the other, he needed him for moral support in this moment. The latter part of him won out, mostly because of his aforementioned inability to stay angry with Atticus when there were much bigger fish to fry. "Better late than never, I guess," he groused. "What a skanky cunt."

Atticus began to regret ever telling Peregrine this stuff to begin with. Things were probably already complicated and messy enough for the Alpha male without this fucked-up little wrench being flung into the works. And considering how shaky things had been between the brothers in the months prior, Atticus wasn't entirely sure that what he was doing was the wisest choice for their relationship. He didn't want to lose his brother. But then, Perry had always wanted honesty from his brothers. Something told him that, no matter how much this sucked, and no matter what kind of fallout they ended up with afterward as a result of it, this was most definitely the lesser of two evils.

Perry wanted to know why Atticus hadn't ever said anything, and the darker brother shrugged. "I dunno, man. I thought maybe it was just a passing heat thing. And you seemed so happy with her, I didn't want to fuck things up for you guys." He inhaled deeply and then sighed out a breath, looking at his brother with sincere eyes. He felt like a gross and dirty asshole for the things he'd almost done with Hawkeye, but unfortunately, the past couldn't be changed now, and he hoped that Perry could forgive him.

Peregrine made no reply to his brother's reasoning, though he acknowledged it with a a single nod. Presently, his head filled with vitriol directed at his unfaithful mate. In his mind, they were now completely finished. There was no rescuing their relationship. He wanted to stomp back home and tear her a new one, though of course he rejected that idea immediately (if a bit reluctantly); he wouldn't do that in front of their children. Still... he wanted to confront her somehow with this information and get his chance to berate her for being so two-faced and playing the victim.

"I was happy. I really loved her. I was sorry it ended. I didn't want to fall out of love with her. It wasn't something I could control. It just happened. And now I'm really fucking glad it did," he said flatly. "You know, I felt really terrible too. And she just bitched at me for giving up and walking away from her. She kept implying that I'm some flaky asshole. Un-fucking-believable."

He sucked in a long, deep breath and said, "I have to go. I can't go back to the rendezvous site; I don't trust myself not to ream her. Do me a favor. Hunt down something fresh for breakfast for my kids. Tell them I love them and will be back soon." It's the least you could do, he thought a bit angrily, then began to pad away into the trees.

He paused before vanishing. "Atti, man..." he began then stopped. "What you did was pretty fucked up. But I appreciate you coming clean. Just... give me some space for a while." Peregrine caught Atticus's eye. I don't hate you, his gaze seemed to say before he turned and disappeared.

Peregrine was understandably pretty upset, and Atticus let him rant. Though he knew he deserved to be ripped a new one just about as much as Hawkeye did, he was selfishly glad that Perry's anger wasn't entirely directed at him. He didn't know if he could handle another falling-out with his brother. The fact of the matter was that he'd made some stupid decisions in the heat of the moment, when he'd been caught up in his misguided feelings for Hawkeye and had, at the same time, been pissed off at Peregrine and wouldn't have minded having a chance to hurt him. But that was then. This was now. And he knew he'd done wrong.

Perry asked him (in a way that he knew wasn't a request at all) to look after the kids, and then followed it by asking for some space. The look in Peregrine's eyes somehow told Atticus that it was okay, and that they would be fine, but he still felt a little sick to his stomach. "Okay," was all he said, softly, before Peregrine was gone. Atticus stood there for a moment, gazing off in the direction that Perry had disappeared and considering the implications of what had taken place just now, before heading off in the opposite direction to find something for the kids to eat.