Blacktail Deer Plateau Your journey has only begun

When Pied described what she saw, Peregrine experienced another strange sensation. This time, it felt like someone's cold nose pressed against the nape of his neck, which sent a shiver down his whole spine. Despite himself, he looked again and saw nothing. Certainly, there were no dead puppies. He frowned, the thought still distressing him. He dismissed the queer feeling as a byproduct of Pied's macabre description.

She asked if he believed her. Peregrine paused, then said, "I believe you're seeing something, Pied, but I'm not sure I believe in ghosts..." He tried to picture his mother's and brother's ghosts paying his niece a visit and the thought was absurd to him. "Have you, ah, hit your head lately? Or... maybe the stress of the move and the pregnancy is putting strain on your mind or something..." But these things wouldn't explain previous visions, he knew.

"It doesn't matter," the Alpha male decided in the next breath. "Whatever you're seeing, whether it's somehow real or nothing more than the result of an overextended mind, I refuse to believe your pups are dead, Pied. Look at your belly. You wouldn't have that bump if there was something wrong," he said cajolingly.