Phoenix Maplewood the old wolf remembers

She was too distracted by this bizarre turn of events to mind the boy's foul language, but she didn't really find it foul anyway. She was a traditionalist, certainly, and in younger years would have turned her nose up at such words as "shit" and "holy" and "holy shit", but she was so old now that she'd heard most words a wolf could utter. Words like that had no effect. Words like Reek, on the other hand... there was lingering meaning in that word.

Bastard pups along the river were given the name Reek, spurned for their illegitimacy. If asked, Shreya would philosophise that this humiliation was far better than what many wolves did to their bastards, which was kill them outright. So this was Adric's bastard son. Shreya's bastard grandson. This explained both his first name and his last, and it took a good few seconds of still gazing to let a reaction clip into place. Illegitimacy did not alter blood.

The ancient wolf took a few steps forward and pressed the lightest touch of her nose to Reek's chin. It was a quiet, wolfish greeting. But, even quieter, it was a little show of automatic submission, for no Omega stood the way Reek was standing... and it wasn't just her nostrils telling her she wanted to join this pack now. Redtail, she repeated. Where'd that name come from, grandson? Carrow-Finch is a good name, and Cato was a good boy (no mention of Adric), I'm sure he would've let you have it.