Blacktail Deer Plateau Your journey has only begun

Pied had not expected the name to mean anything to Peregrine. When he told her about beating up the Kesuk, Pied's mind flew back in time to that day on the beach, when she'd helped the bloodied Jinx. She blinked, now looking at that situation in a whole new light. A frown touched her lips, which deepened at the Alpha male's comment about karma.

I was going to take them for her, she thought but didn't mention this. So much had changed since her last conversation with Jinx and she wouldn't have been able to take her puppies anyway. Maybe you're better off... she thought toward the never-born puppies.

"I am. Thanks, Perry," Pied said quietly, looking after him as he turned to walk away. "See you later." As soon as he disappeared into the distance, she sighed and dropped to her haunches, then slid forward onto her belly. She leaned slightly to the side to accommodate her belly (her heart fluttered) and crooked one foreleg beneath her white chest as she stared off into space.