The Heartwood i bet my life

Peregrine busted his nose attempting to catch a rabbit and the damn thing was so painful that he howled to Fox that he would be home in the morning, then curled up in the woods and went to sleep. He slept like a rock, then woke up first thing the next morning and immediately jumped to his feet. He stretched, then touched his paw tenderly to his nose. It felt much better, though there was dried blood coming from his nostril. Fox could clean it up for him, he was sure. Without further delay, he began to stride toward home.

En route, he saw a white figure crouched over a stream and he said, "Are you fucking kidding me?" rather loudly, thinking it was the white stranger from the night before. Almost immediately, he realized his mistake. Peregrine stopped, blinking at the pale wolf with strands of plant matter (?) wound in its fur. He sniffed, identifying the stranger as a male. This was the third white male wolf Peregrine had run into on this particular hunting trek. Was it an epidemic?

"I thought you were someone else," he said a little awkwardly after a pause, though he didn't apologize. It just wasn't his style. He continued staring, trying to decide whether Mr. Seaweedreadlocks here was more or less weird than Luke the blue nosed wolf.