Blacktail Deer Plateau Follow your heart, little child of the west wind

Hawkeye sucked in her breath, chest tight and heart pounding. Did he just... did he just offer to be my.. my mate?! she thought disbelievingly to herself.

His sudden loyalty to the pack and kind disposition had thrown her for a loop -- could this be the same male that had spoken at her so angrily when they first met? Yet... she felt something for him. She had such a desire to say "yes" but just couldn't take that leap yet.

She decided to try and play it cool. "Your offer is sweet and I would willingly accept, but.. I still do not know you all that well. It has only been a few weeks and it would be foolish after so few encounters." Her heart sank at hearing her own words, and her eyebrows knit together. This was a pain that she had never felt before.

Then, she had a thought. "What.. what if we just court for now? I mean... that's not a 'yes' or a 'no', right?" The black wolf voiced her thoughts to the handsome male as they came to her.

Although the rejection stung and petulant words bubbled in Peregrine's throat, he choked them back down before they could spring from his tongue. Shouting at Hawkeye for declining his offer wouldn't make her any more likely to reconsider in the future. Besides, though it rather brought down his mood, he knew she had something of a point.

"It's cool," he replied. He could hear ice in his own voice and he didn't like it nor want it there. To try to offset it, he forced a smile onto his face and batted at her shoulder as if to say, It's all good. Really. Much more smoothly, he added, "What would it take to win you over, I wonder?" and gave her a smoldering look as if to say, I'm up to the challenge.

She answered him in the next beat, proposing that they court. His brows lifted momentarily, then a smile crept onto his face. "Right. If that's what you want, Hawkeye, then I'd love to court you." He gave her his most winsome smile. "Maybe this way I'll find out how to capture you fully," he quipped in a playfully threatening tone, then tumbled forward to grasp her by the neck and roll them both onto her sides, facing one another.

He answered favorably and tumbled them about until she scooted to rest her head right on the flat of his shoulder. She let a sigh out, wondering if Pied and her could have pups at the same time, like she had exclaimed the the dappled female previously.

"Oh, SHIT." Her eyes widened and she sat up. "Pied and I consider each other sisters, and if we become mates, I will technically be her aunt." Hawkeye didn't know if it was more funny or odd, but burst out laughing in the end.

And then she pictured little midnight wolves like herself with the handsome features of Peregrine, with his eyes to compliment. She was grateful that they would not be born deaf, since her hearing had been an incident when she was six months old.

Placated by her compromise, Peregrine rumbled happily when Hawkeye rested her head on his shoulder. Although the angle was severe, he arched his neck upward to lick the top of her head. Before he could develop a crick, he let it sink back down onto the ground. He was so comfortable that he strongly considered napping here with her, though he would prefer to wrap her body in his own if they went in that direction.

"Pied?" he questioned, the non sequitur momentarily throwing him. "Oh, she did mention you. She spoke highly of you. I'm now intended to agree with her favorable opinion," Peregrine joked. "I've seen weirder knots tied in relationships, honestly, and I don't think anyone involved will mind too much." He shrugged, the movement causing her head to bob.

"If I do get the privilege, think of all the cool names we could choose for our pups. You know, with the whole raptor theme..." Was he trying to sway her? Well, of course he was. Peregrine very much wanted to win her over and he wasn't about to be ashamed of his endeavor.

Her ear perked. "Oh, wow, and my real name is 'Vilocity Raptor', but I just go by 'Hawkeye'." A puff of smoke flung itself from her nose as she laughed in the cold. "Plus, they would all be big and strong with the lineage we have. My father is even bigger than I am, my mother around the same size. We would have a formidable army of bird warriors."

She smiled gently as she pictured large and awkward pups roaming about and looking like yearlings by the time they hit six months. "I hope they have your eyes..." was spoken softly as she curled up to him in a sleepy state.

When she mentioned that Hawkeye was her nickname, Peregrine's ear flicked interestedly. "That's funny, I have an older half-brother named Raptor. I never met him, though. He was from Mo's litter with her first mate and he was a lot older than me," he shared, his last word partially cut off by a sudden and forceful yawn.

When she curled, he instinctively sat up to accommodate her, waiting for her to get comfortable, then stretching his body to conform to her curves. He nuzzled the longer fur at her nape, then lightly rested his chin on her shoulder blades as she murmured about their potential pups. She spoke with such certainty, it made his lips curl smugly. He was glad she couldn't see.

"I'll have you know that I intend to fight off any other suitors with tooth and claw," he whispered in her ear as she began to drift. "You will be mine," her said with quiet fierceness and also a note of playfulness. Of course, he didn't seek mastery over her, nor would he ever consider her a possession but if he did win her in the end, she would be a magnificent prize.

Stretching his neck over her own own, Peregrine muttered quiet words into her ears, coaxing her to sleep, then let his own dusky-blue eyes close as he napped lightly beside her.