Redhawk Caldera Falco peregrinus

He imagined Lasher would run back to the plateau and immediately inform the leaders there of the truth. Would he twist Peregrine's story? Almost definitely, the Alpha thought as he plodded around the borders, shaking his head lightly. Lasher would surely paint Junior as some poor, innocent victim who was not responsible for her own actions. It was all Peregrine's fault, all of it! Of course, he was to blame: for idiotically trusting the duplicitous, unstable yearling and putting the innocent Wildfire in harm's way.

Lasher wouldn't even have to do that, though; they would require no extra incentive to hate him. Although he hated to think that they would all turn against him, even Blue Willow and Osprey, there was nothing Peregrine could do about any of it anymore. He had given them all a choice: come with him or stay at the plateau. They had all been too busy blaming him and bemoaning sentiment to realize that. They had all chosen their allegiances of their own free will and now, unfortunately, circumstances had forced them to draw lines in the sand.

And though he stood by his actions when dealing with Junior, Peregrine did acknowledge the part he had played in all of it, despite Lasher's beliefs to the contrary. He knew he had messed up, though he had done nothing to deserve death. Wildfire certainly didn't deserve a death sentence either. He found himself shaking his head again, reflecting back on how little Lasher seemed to sympathize with the instinct to protect his young. Those poor kids, was all he could think. Their dad would hesitate to save them; this dad would stop at nothing and happily dispatch even the smallest threat to his offspring.

Speaking of which, he stopped and turned to face outward, toward the northeast. He wondered if Lasher's intent was to gather forces and try to storm the caldera. The thought was absolutely ludicrous, so he didn't concern himself with it for long. The caldera had slain a trespasser for attempting to kill one of the Alphas' pups; any wild wolf pack would (and should) do the same. Blacktail Deer Plateau and its members were far too sentimental for their own good. Well, their butts would hurt right along with the rest of them if they did try anything. Peregrine resumed his patrol, confident that nothing could break through the Redhawks' defenses.