Blacktail Deer Plateau Closer to the sun

Kisu followed her and she supposed she'd known he would. What should have been a joyful tour was instead an emotionally-charged confrontation. He spoke down to her, literally and figuratively, and Pied said nothing as he patronized her. She wanted to be a good mate but she also wanted to be a good mother, which meant that bad influences like Rob did not belong around her offspring. Perhaps, when she was farther away from the situation, she might come around or change her mind. But that wouldn't happen right now.

Her lips pursed and she looked at up him, hurt writ into her features and a spark of uncharacteristic anger in her mottled eyes. "I cannot decide that he can't see them because you say it's a joint decision, yet you can unanimously decide that he can?" she replied petulantly, driven by hormones and maternal instincts. Catching herself, she forced a calm she didn't feel and added, "We should discuss this, together. But not right now. Now is not the time."

Don't tell me what to do, she thought when he did not ask her but told her she must forgive Rob. She didn't say these words out loud, though they pressed hotly behind her lips. Pied was surprised at herself, as she was usually the portrait of an obedient wife. Yet that meant Kisu should play to the role of protective husband and, at least in her eyes, he appeared to be favoring his son's feelings over hers.

"I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you and Rob, I really am. But none of it has anything to do with me or the pups I'm carrying. And there's no excuse for the way Rob spoke to me," she concluded, turning her face away from Kisu and fighting tears. Rob had really spoken to her like a piece of trash, yet it seemed Kisu would be quicker to defend him and take his side against his mate. In this moment, the pregnant she-wolf did not much appreciate it and she could spare no sympathy for Robur Aqua.