With the threat eliminated, the caldera's collective attention turned to Wildfire. For a split second, Peregrine feared the worst: that his little girl had quickly perished during the struggle. But it turned out that his Alpha and Beta females hadn't given Junior the chance to deal a fatal blow. The puppy was definitely injured, though as long as they kept Wildfire's wounds clean, they appeared more than survivable. Peregrine nearly sobbed when he realized he hadn't gotten her killed after all.

They quickly moved the injured child to the nearest shelter: her beloved badger den. The pack was loath to leave her side, her parents in particular. Peregrine became the definition of a helicopter parent, not only to Wildfire but her brother and sister as well. He had really fucked up by bringing Junior around them. He could have lost all of them. He hovered over each of the pups, fussing over and repeatedly apologizing to them in low murmurs. He ignored his own wounds; the pain was just punishment for his grave folly.

Only after several hours did Peregrine even think about Junior's cadaver. Making sure that someone stayed with Wildfire, the Alpha male excused himself to return to the scene of the crime. He would have to deal with the body, namely because it was fouling the heart of the pack's rendezvous site. Peregrine was the type to bury his dead, though Junior did not belong to him and he honestly didn't care what happened to her remains. She had ceased to mean anything to him the moment she had attempted to murder her baby sister in cold blood.

When he arrived at the clearing, the Alpha male froze as he stared at Junior's corpse. It wasn't the sight of the bloody, butchered body that gave him pause. It wasn't the fact that the decapitated carcass had once been his baby girl too and that he had played a part in her death (morbidly bringing matters full circle). No... it was the fact that Junior's head was nowhere to be found.

Fox refused to make eye-contact with Peregrine, sans the one sentence she had spoken to him back at the scene. She worried that, if she did manage to catch his gaze, she would rip his head off, just as he had done with his hellspawn. The apologies he murmured were ignored, often met with a low warning growl, and Fox was almost unwilling to let him anywhere near their precious children. He had brought danger to their home, and that would never be forgotten.

When Fox noticed that Perry was skulking off, she commanded Dove and Magpie to watch over the pups, loathe to leave them but knowing that this would be her first chance to rip Perry a new one. She stayed far enough behind so he wouldn't notice her, and when he stopped to stare at the body, she felt her blood boil. Was he mourning her? That baby-killing bitch didn't deserve such things. She didn't deserve anything. The fact that her head was gone meant nothing to her, except that she would have liked to place it on their borders as a reminder that trespassers would no longer be tolerated. In all likelihood, a scavenger had run off with it.

"What the fuck were you thinking? You knew that she hated me. You knew that she resented our family. And still you brought her here. You endangered the lives of our children. You nearly got one of them killed. Who knows what kinds of problems she’ll have with her throat? We don’t even have a proper fucking medic. And if you think for one second I trust any wolf outside this pack to touch my daughter, you are wrong. Fuck, I don’t even trust you." The words were like venom, spilling out of her mouth quicker than she could comprehend.

A voice shattered his bewildered trance. Peregrine flinched, his ears splaying sideways as Fox strode toward him with words of wrathful rebuke. He crouched, lowering himself in front of his righteously furious mate, his tail tucking to cover the balls she would surely tear from his body any second now. He would deserve that. He deserved every last angry word that poured from her mouth. He deserved so much worse, actually.

What he didn't deserve was a wife and kids. All Peregrine could do was agree with Fox. "I know, I know," he murmured, tears springing to his eyes and streaming down his cheeks. Then his mantra changed. "I fucked up. I fucked up." He would not attempt to defend his lapse in judgment, nor in any way try to justify his actions. He had been an ignorant fool and it had nearly cost him his innocent daughter.

"I accept your judgment and whatever punishment you deem fit for me," Peregrine said in a soft voice once Fox's sharp words ceased. He flattened himself to the ground. If she decided to attack him—hell, if she decided to execute him—Peregrine didn't think he would put up a fight.

"You’re not fit to be a leader, let alone an Alpha." The words "how could you do this?" echoed in Fox's head over and over again. "I don’t even know if you’re fit to be a part of this pack, but I won’t allow your asinine actions to turn our children into whatever that thing became." She seethed as she gazed at the headless body. Fox wouldn't let Peregrine's actions tear their family apart, no matter how much she loathed to look at him. They were bound for life, whether they liked it or not. He would have to be punished. (As if murdering his own daughter—and almost murdering the other—wasn't enough.)

"We have to get rid of the evidence. You know what a shitstorm this will cause if Blacktail Deer Plateau finds out." Politics were so drab, but the last thing they needed was an entire pack up their asses. "And I don’t mean bury her. There can't be any trace." And if anybody came looking for Junior, they would feign ignorance. She had never been here. And there was no way anybody could prove them wrong.

His blood ran cold when Fox spoke. He knew he deserved it but that didn't mean Peregrine wouldn't have a visceral reaction to whatever judgment she put forth. "I'll leave," he said simply, though he didn't make a move. He wouldn't go anywhere until Fox gave him permission to do so. Meanwhile, his heart ached at everything he would lose along with his title and membership: his mate, his kids, his friends. Everything.

He fell silent when she commanded him to get rid of the body. Peregrine nodded, though he froze as he tried to infer what exactly she meant. She didn't explicitly mention the easiest way to get rid of dead meat—consumption—but he intuited that's what she meant. He would do whatever needed to be done. He wouldn't enjoy consuming his late daughter but only because she was a wolf, not because she was (or had been) Junior.

"No one will ever know, except those who were there for us," Peregrine agreed in a whisper, then waited to see what else Fox might have in store for him.

"You won’t fucking leave," Fox shot back, angry that he would even consider such a thing. "You’re mine, and I’m yours. Our kids need you more than I care to think about. If you leave, they’ll end up just like her," she spat, glaring at the ripped-apart carcass at their feet. The last thing Fox needed was more psychotic children running around trying to kill her offspring. She was convinced that Wildfire, Nightjar, and Raven would grow into well-adjusted adults, despite their circumstances. Fox would not allow her children to become anything like Perry's older children. Their family would stick together like some goddamn glue.

"And you bet your ass nobody will ever know. There’s going to be some big changes around here, starting with ‘guests.’ And by that, I mean that term is no longer valid. If a wolf is here, they’re either a trespasser or a member of our family." She meant "family" in the loose sense of the word. Those wolves who belonged to Redhawk Caldera were her family. She let that sink in for a moment, and then she marched toward the body and began to consume it. The bones would be brought back for her children to play with as toys. Everything else would go toward making their bodies stronger.

Although Fox snapped at him, Peregrine felt a flood of relief at her words. "I won't leave," he repeated after her, to further demonstrate that he would bend to her will, no matter what it was. The tears came thicker again. "I'll do everything I can to be a good father to them." He had already screwed up royally, with them and his previous litter. He was unsuitable to be a father. He wouldn't bring it up now but he was pretty sure he would never willingly reproduce again.

Peregrine said nothing when Fox informed him of the changes to their pack's ground rules. He simply nodded to acknowledge them. The caldera might have been their pack but by fucking up so badly, it had become her pack—well, hers and their children's. He was no longer its Alpha male. Again, the thought made his stomach curdle. But he wouldn't argue. His muzzle dropped toward his chest, his eyes downcast in utter defeat and acceptance of his fate.

He only looked up again when he heard the sounds of a wolf eating a kill. He swallowed as he watched Fox eat Junior's remains. Once more, he wondered what had become of her head. Had Fox already been here? Perhaps she had already eaten it or done something else with it. What did he care at this point? He did not want to share in the morbid meal, though he scooted tentatively closer.

"If you want me to help, I'll help," he ventured quietly after a moment. "Whatever I need to do to pay my dues."

"Of course I want you to fucking help," she fumed between bites. "You made this mess." Maybe, just maybe, there would come a day when Fox didn't loathe his thoughtless actions. Until then, he would remain at the bottom of the totem pole, relegated to being a breeding machine and bringing her meals. And he could forget about having any freedoms. No longer would Peregrine be allowed to slink off to meet up with whatever male lovers he had. Fox would not allow him to get close to anybody outside of their pack and family.

She continued to scarf down the remains of her mate's former daughter until it was nothing more than a pile of larger bones. These, she would bring back to her children to feast upon. Anybody who objected would be thrown out of the way. But before that, there was one more thing. "I hope you’re good at acting. We cannot allow the kids to know that there is unrest between us. We will continue as we always have, but know that you are no longer a leader here. In fact, you’re below everybody. And rest assured that I will put you back in your place if you even attempt to rise up." Fox paused, letting that sink in for a moment.

"This is between us. Understood?"

Initially afraid to infringe, seeing as he was now beneath her (and everyone else in the pack), Peregrine remained mum and began to get rid of the evidence. It wasn't unlike the countless times he had sucked down various baby excrement. His mind went to another place entirely. It didn't taste bad. It tasted like nothing at all. And he had already disconnected from any attachment to the wolf herself, the flesh of his flesh.

When they finished their grisly duty, Fox spoke to him again. Peregrine felt his first real twinge of horrible sadness at her words. He was sad to lose his station, yes, but he would take his licks. The thing that sank his heart was the realization that he and Fox were no longer mates. She had said acting, after all. He shouldn't have been surprised, yet suddenly Peregrine felt like someone had taken a sharp knife and scooped out all his insides.

"I understand," he replied. He then bowed his head again, his snout lining up in such a way to give him an eyeful of his bleeding wound. Peregrine closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at it. Maybe he would bleed out and die, which would probably be for the best. He had nothing left.

You have three things left, a soft voice whispered in his head. Nightjar. Wildfire. Raven. His eyes opened and, mechanically, he began to clean his wound.

Had this been another time, another place, another set of circumstances, Fox might have caught onto his tone. Hell, she probably would have felt horrible for the things she had said. But the lives of their children were so important to her, she couldn't ignore what he had done. She had not meant that they would be acting as if they were still mates. In her eyes, they still were. That was not something that she could just switch off, and she didn't believe anybody could. Because of that, she sighed, then went to him. No matter what he had done, he was still hers, and she was still his.

Hesitantly, gently, she began to help him clean his wounds. She said nothing as she did this, and his punishment would not magically disappear now that she (finally) realized he had been injured, but she didn't need him dying on her. And as much as she loathed his actions, deep down, Fox could never bring herself to hate Peregrine.

It surprised him when Fox moved nearer and began to wash his wounds. He ceased his own attempts and re-positioned himself to make it easier for her. He did not speak, nor dare hope that this was the same sort of intimacy they had shared for close to a year now. She was just doing her civic duty, so to speak. She was keeping him alive so their children wouldn't lose their father and turn out like Junior.

While she did that, Peregrine's mind drifted. Fox might have really lit into him, yet her words were nowhere near as bad as his opinion of himself right now. He was supposed to be a mate, father and leader. He was supposed to exercise good judgment and protect his family. He had really failed on all fronts today. And he had failed Junior and her sisters and brother, which was why this had happened in the first place.

Basically, he had botched two attempts at a happy family. He ruined everything he touched. It was difficult dealing with that realization and the very real suicidal ideation that came with it. But Peregrine just kept reminding himself that he would sacrifice everything, especially now, to make sure Nightjar, Wildfire and Raven grew up with a father, a father who would do everything in his power to learn from this mistake and never, ever repeat it.

Once she'd managed to clear away most of the dried, crusted blood from his coat, she stepped back. He still looked ragged, though she knew at least half of that had nothing to do with the physical injuries. There were plenty of emotional an relationship wounds that would need a whole lot longer to heal. In time, he could earn back her trust, but it would not be an easy process, nor did she think it would be a quick one. If he was even half the wolf she had once known, he would do his best to close the gaps that he had caused between them.

Fox picked up a few of the larger bones, intended for the children, and motioned for Peregrine to get the rest. The smaller bones would be taken by scavengers, squirreled away out of sight and out of mind. But the larger ones would be given to their offspring to feast upon. After such a stressful event, they would need all the energy they could get from the bone marrow.