Redhawk Caldera your own story is the safest place you'll ever be.

In the excitement of the birth of the alphas' litter, Finley's own personal "stuff" had been placed on the backburner. Even were she not completely enamored with the squirmy little firebirds, there would still have been all of the extra work that came with caring for a new mother and her newborns. Any second not spent at the alphas' den was spent hunting for food for Fox, patrolling and marking the borders to ward off any danger to her brood, and seeing to any other miscellaneous pack duties they needed of their beta while they were tending to their children. It was exhausting, but more rewarding than anything Fin could remember doing before in her life.

All was well in that side of her world. But then there was this other side which, in the calm of the evenings spent curled up at Elwood's side, still stung and ached with discomfort. The pack "bonding" had left Finley feeling angry, insulted and betrayed - not a good bonding experience at all for the beta. The only good that had come of it had been to remind her that she still had more on her checklist to take care of before she could truly settle into a relationship with her friendboy.

And thus, no matter how much she hated doing it, no matter how bitter and angry she felt, and no matter how humiliated she felt even approaching the subject, there she was - lurking in the area that rumor had it @Grimm could often be found.

With a huff, Finley scented the air and found the enemy's girl's perfume hung faintly about. Little did she realize, she was actually quite near the den Grimm had been pining for. But, there was a large part of the motivation guiding her that was rather more in favor of not finding the female, and thus she continued her meandering, completely oblivious to her proximity.

Jaws watched Finley from a distance, his devilish mind reeling with playfully vengeful thoughts of how he could get back at the Beta female for hazing him last time, but he was uncertain it would be appropriate or well-received. As a lone wolf, he could pick at whoever he wanted and walk away with no consequences, but there was a delicate social balance in a pack and all actions were judged. Early after his arrival he may not have been so concerned, knowing that he could walk away (Peregrine himself had said so), but he had grown fond of the Caldera and was mostly comfortable in his new life. He did not want to surrender it for the sake of brief entertainment.

As he could not come up with an idea that might tread the line but not cross it (it would be easier if he knew Finley better), the coywolf sidled up to his Beta and opted to make a joke of their last meeting by bowing deeply before her as he had when she demanded him to. "Saint Finley," he said with a grin, looking up at her with a devilish gleam in his eyes.

"Where are you, you fuckin' bitch..." Fin muttered darkly to herself as she continued her not-so-eager search.  For someone who was searching for someone, she sure wasn't very observant.  She didn't realize that Jaws was sneaking up on her until he was suddenly stepping up to her and lowering himself in a low bow.  She went rigid for only a brief moment before she realized who it was and what exactly was going on.  When she relaxed, a smile spread across her muzzle.


"Hey!  Sup, minion?" Fin said good-naturedly.  For a second, she thought that it had been Grimm that had sidled up to her.  After all, black wolves tended to look rather similar.  His lanky coywolf body and vicious canines left little dispute.  Though Grimm had been the one she'd been hunting for, she was a billion times happier seeing Jaws than her.

"Same ol, same ol," the coywolf replied, raising from his bow to stand comfortably. It was a genuine answer: Jaws had not been up to anything particularly interesting, or at least nothing he considered worth sharing with his Beta female. He had been tending to the borders and the caches like a dutiful packmate and had been keeping himself out of trouble somehow. He had not even run into Dove lately, who was quietly doing her own thing these days. Jaws still did not know if she was carrying pups, but was beginning to think she was not. Fortunately for him.

"You?" he returned. "What are you looking for? Or who?" Jaws raised a brow. It had seemed to him like his leader's mind had been occupied by something.

Fin smirked at the coywolf's response.  She didn't know him very well, but he was a comfortable wolf to be around.  He wasn't too intrusive, too talkative or too controversial (or really any sort of 'versial at all).  He was just.. easy.  Little did she realize just how easy he really was.  The moment she came to realize he'd been holding back his personality around her due to her rank, she was going to laugh SO FUCKING HARD right in his toothy, toothy face.


At his next few words, Fin froze.  Though it was not the most logical reaction for her to have, immediately her mind snapped to what does he know???  The answer: probably nothing.  But Fin was already uncomfortable enough with searching for Grimm, and discomfort tended to lead to paranoia for the woefully not-so-sharp beta.  "What?  You think I'm looking for someone?" Fin replied in a voice that was a little higher pitched than her usual tone of choice, "Noooooo!  No, no.  I was just.  You know.  Beta."  What the crap does that even mean?  Fin grimaced for a second at herself before attempting to fix it.  "Hunting!" she added, which solved all of the... nothing at all.

Jaws' brow remained quirked as Finley babbled on, his head listing to the side to add to his quizzical expression. "So... you were beta hunting, hm?" His expression shifted, his eyes narrowing and his mouth curling into a knowing, devious smirk. Jaws stepped toward Finley, leaning in close so that his nose almost touched hers as he peered at her. "You're hiding something." he said bluntly, remaining where he was. His respectful social instincts had lapsed in this moment and allowed his forward, space-invading character to come through.

By some act of god, Jaws saw right through Fin's fumbled words.  Her ears flattened when he accused her of hiding something and she turned her head slightly away, frowning at him.  "Nuh uh," she insisted, though feebly now, "I'm running low on my beta supply... I need some more..."  She kept a straight face for approximately 30 seconds after the words had left her mouth before she rolled her eyes at herself and heaved a sigh.  She was such a failure at secrets.  Well, all but one secret at least.


"Okay FINE, you freakin'.. wizard... ninja... psychic... bitch..."  Fin mumbled darkly before continuing, "I was looking for Grimm.  I heard she has a den around here somewhere.  Have you seen her?"   Say no say no say no... and don't ask WHY Fin begged silently, knowing already it was futile.

Jaws nodded along as Finley attempted to convince him of her lie, but it was in a sarcastic fashion and the smirk and all-knowing expression he retained on his face made that clear. If it were possible, he would have crossed his forelegs to go along with the display. She soon admitted she was fibbing, though, and Jaws' smirk broke into a full toothy grin as he drew his face back from hers and took a seat.

"Grimm eh?" Jaws said, taking a brief moment to consider her question. "No, not real recent at least." The coywolf had not seen her since he left her a bit riled from his teasing. "Why are you looking for her?" he pressed.

Jaws hadn't seen Grimm around, and all at once Fin felt both relieved and crazy annoyed.  She didn't really want to find the stupid slut.  After all, the conversation they were going to have was going to be super uncomfortable and Fin seriously doubted she was goint to feel any better about the situation by the end of it.  But... It was on her list.  How was she supposed to move forward with Elwood without putting this behind them?


Jaws again distracted her from her thoughts.  So consumed was she that her guard was suddenly and uncomfortably.. down.  And thus, the truth spilled out even though her better sense was sitting nearby going wtf.  "Because she banged Elwood and I was pissed and he and I fought and then made up and everything's okay except... Things are all like.. Ugh.. With her," Finley admitted, not even looking at Jaws or even really truly realizing what she was saying to him.  She was just so frustrated and sooo sick of the drama.

As Finley spoke, inadvertently oversharing about the reason she was looking for Grimm, Jaws was suddenly reminded more about his last visit with her besides the part where he had teased her and then left (he would find her again sometime and see where that could go). The coywolf never had been one to worry too much about other's affairs and was not a gossiper per se, so Grimm's mention of her tango with Elwood had been heard and then promptly forgotten (almost).

"Ah yes," Jaws began. "She did mention something about that. Said that Elwood and you were not an item at the time. So I don't see the problem and I'm not sure why everyone else does." Though he spoke so bluntly there was not at all a hint of judgement in his words. The black male's ears twitched as he looked to Finley for some clarification as to why it was such a criminal thing that Elwood and Grimm had shared a moment when neither were expressly attached to someone else. Grimm had offered no such explanation and so still he was left to wonder. Clearly, the logic that he operated under was not the same logic that others followed (surprise).

Fin huffed and puffed while Jaws commented on her way too personal story.  Fortunately, she didn't completely miss what he said because then she wouldn't have been able to get angry about it.  Her eyes widened and her ears perked at his words.  How many people did that bitch tell about her slutshow?  Was she proud of it or something?  And THIS guy!  What kind of.. Who did he...


"I know, I know," Fin said finally, "There isn't a problem.  That's why I'm trying to find her, though.  To tell her... I dunno, that it's okay, she didn't do anything wrong and it's all fine or whatever and.... she's a slut and I win."  The beta gave a short nod.  She hadn't actually said those words to Grimm, and yet she felt oddly satisfied simply by saying them out loud.  To a near stranger.  A subordinate, actually 'cause BTW, she's RHC's leadership.  This poor pack.

Jaws half expected Finley to get real rowdy once he shared that he knew about Grimm and Elwood (and then opined that he saw no problem with it). But his silver Beta was quiet at length and when she spoke her voice was level. Upon brief reflection it occurred to him that this one sexual affair was a probable cause for a lot of the unrest within the pack and part of the reason Fox had felt the need to call a pack gathering. It would seem the gathering had at least some positive outcome, since Finley was attempting to smooth the rough waters on her end.

"I think that girl feels very out of place," the coywolf commented with a slight tilt of his head, remembering how uncertain and how desperate she seemed for approval. Jaws was not very good at consoling, but perhaps Finley, especially as a leader of the pack, could do better than he had. Just by telling the black female she had done nothing wrong would probably be a lot of relief for Grimm.

Finley rolled her shoulders and gave Jaws a sidelong glance, pondering his rather thoughtful comment.  She sucked in a deep breath through her mouth that was released through her nose, her mind wandering one of the many paths within her imagination.  "Yeah," she muttered, annoyed.  She didn't want to feel bad for the whore.  After all, she was a whore - which is actually not true at all.  Fin had done way worse in her life than Grimm had.  And speaking as one who'd also fallen victim to the wonder that was Elwood's irresistible charm and penis, she couldn't really blame the girl for her actions.


But still.  Elwood was hers.  And Grimm needed to know that.  And she needed to know that it wasn't because of her unhinged vagina that they'd gotten together.  Those were probably the more important things that she needed to get off of her chest.  But there was other shit too, like.. You can show your face around the Caldera, it's all okay, blah blah blah...

Fin began to chew on her lip.  "Do me a favor," she said after yet another moment of silence, "If you see her, don't tell her I'm looking for her?  She'll probably just make a run for it and I really don't want to go chasing after her."  She was going to make this right, damnit.  Even if it meant pinning her down to the ground and shrieking an apology at the bitch, she was going to give it so that she could check it off of her list and thus make one step closer to her ultimate goal - Elwood.

Jaws remained silent, until Finley asked a favor of him. He nodded and listened attentively to the details of said favor, which was simply to not tell Grimm Finley was looking for her should he run into her again before his Beta had a chance to make amends. "No problem," he answered. He did not mind honoring that simple favor but he could hardly deny his Beta a request anyway. If he wanted to continue receiving the benefits of living with a pack he could not defy his leaders, and so it was in line with the erstwhile loner's disposition towards only doing things that benefited him.

But that was enough of the serious talk, Jaws was beginning to a feel a bit out of his element, and shifted the subject with a roguish suggestion. "You know," he began with a devilish smile forming. "You and Grimm have Elwood in common. Could be fun if you took that and ran with it." With waggling brows he made it clear what he was referring to. Threeway!

Fin was grateful that Jaws agreed to keeping her secret.  It didn't occur to him that he was doing it partly because she was his beta and thus had to as a subordinate.  Most of the time, it didn't even occur to her that with her rank came obedience and respect from others.  That sort of thing only came to her when she didn't receive it.  As long as it kept on coming, she went right on being unaware that it was actually due.


She quirked a brow at his next comment.  There was humor in his tone that she'd never heard from him before and though she was inclined to doubt it considering how stoic and reserved he'd been with her thus far, the snake-like wriggle of his brows and the glint in his eye was impossible to ignore.  "Ewwwwwwww," Fin replied, scrunching up her nose though a smirk formed across her muzzle, "No thank you, I don't share.  Not my Elwoods, at least."

Jaws laughed at Finley's response, somehow he had not expected anything different from her. "I don't know, I think you're missing out," he teased with a wink. The promiscuous coywolf had his share of threesomes and found them rather entertaining, one of the few occasions where he was wholly comfortable in the company of more than one.

His stomach had begun to burn with the beginnings of hunger, and so he decided it was time he wandered off. "Well, good luck with Grimm," he said. "See you around." He dipped his head to Finley and then strolled away.

Fin snorted with laughter at his comment.  Not that the idea of having a threesome was overly amusing to her, but simply that it was the toothy newbie making the comment.  As he made his good byes and headed off, the beta watched his retreating form for a few moments.  She was going to have to find out more about this fellow.  It seemed he had a whole personality hidden behind those fangs.

She chuckled softly to herself before turning away, abandoning her search to go take her frustrations out on some unsuspecting prey.