Redtail Rise Home we'll go

Wynter sounded disappointed when Saena broke the news, but the alpha female couldn't let herself be swayed by that. It hurt to let a friend down, and it hurt even more that Reek wouldn't be able to have the pups he wanted, but how could she put her faith in Wynter without any proof that things were different? She didn't want to deal with motherless children. She didn't want to see another's puppies go through what she'd been through. The abandonment. The hurt. The confusion.

"I'm really sorry, Wynter," Saena said, "but I need to be sure you'll stay if you have kids here, even when it gets hard." Because it would be hard. It was hard for Hawkeye and Peregrine. It was hard for Kisu. Even Blue Willow and Lasher surely felt the difficulty of caring for children. They were dependent for the first four or five months, and even after that they demanded a lot of attention. Even as yearlings. Saena would've given anything to be able to consult with her mother even now, but her mother was dead, and her adoptive mother, long gone.

"You can be here," Saena said, "fix things with Reek if you can, show you're committed to staying through thick and thin. Then, I'll reconsider." But right now, there would be no puppies. Truth be told, there probably would be no puppies until next year, not unless Wynter proved herself in two months or less. Once September came, it would be too risky for the pack to have puppies; the winter was hard enough without them.