Redhawk Caldera all the idiots

In a flurry of events (which were described in posts above by various lovely writers), Kaizer lay dead, Whip shot off to who knew where, and Fox reaffirmed that her highest-ranking wolves would stand by her, no matter what. It was a shame that Kaizer had been such a fool, considering he was a decent hunter and could have helped raise the children. Luckily, he would now have zero bearing on how they were raised, nor would he try to claim them as his own. They would be Peregrine's, and any notion that he'd boned Fox he had taken to his grave. Fox wasn't about to admit to anything like that, and they'd been sneaky (enough) that it would be plausible to deny.

If she'd not been terribly pregnant, Fox likely would have stepped in and put Kaizer in his place (likely without killing him), but that simply wasn't the case. She didn't dare endanger the lives of her soon-to-be-born children in favor of a rank challenge. Not that it mattered what she would have done now. The children had all fled, Raven had gone after Whip, and the two Blackthorns stood making out with one another.

Fox felt drained, wondering if this would be the last shitshow Redhawk Caldera would see before her kids were born. And who would stir the pot next time? Exhausted, Fox sat, shaking her head. She had originally called this meeting for some reason, but she couldn't even recall what for now. Not that it mattered.

It took a moment for Elwood to register what was going on around him. Slowly, the fur along his spine smoothed as his fury subsided. He hadn't even realized that Lagan had already fled, but he did become aware of the abrupt departures of Whip and Liffey, followed swiftly by Raven. He blinked and found Finley was suddenly pressing herself to him, wordlessly congratulating him on his unexpected victory. And in the background, Fox slid to her haunches without comment.

Elwood huffed quietly. Other than Eljay, Finley, and Fox, everyone else had left. He had almost forgotten that Fox had called them together in the first place, presumably with something to share. He nudged Finley's cheek, then turned towards the Alpha female. "You okay?" he asked; she was uncharacteristically quiet.

Last one for me!

"Tired," Fox replied with a heavy sigh. There was little she could do now that all this had gone down... and she wasn't even sure there was much she could have done to prevent it. Redhawk Caldera had always been one giant shitshow, but she never felt like it had been this bad. Maybe she was getting old. Maybe the loss of Peregrine was taking more of a toll on her than she realized. Maybe when the kids were born, she would pass the torch onto Elwood and Finley after all. Would they even want a thing like that?

"I'm gonna go get some rest," she said, giving Elwood, Finley, and even Eljay a brief nudge with her nose. Her sides bulged out as she wobbled away, more than ready to hunker down in the whelping den and rest up for whatever bullshit came up next.

Wrappin' it all up. :)

Ultimately, after Fox departed, the Blackthorns were the only wolves left -- except for the deceased Kaizer. Elwood watched Fox waddle away, then turned towards Kaizer's body with a sneer. "I'll take care of this later," he said, then urged Eljay and Finley away from the crime scene.

As the adrenaline slipped away, Elwood would question his actions only briefly, knowing that what he had done had been for the good of the pack.