Phoenix Maplewood Graced with a new life

They went some distance, and if she was nervous about leaving the safety of her pack with a stranger, Saena didn't show it much. She'd been around this block about a hundred times and being pregnant wasn't about to change her personality. Until she was so heavy in the gut she couldn't walk properly, she would live life as she always had: recklessly. Besides, Grace had been nothing but timid, if a little slow to announce her intentions, and Saena had no reason to believe she would suddenly become threatening, especially with that mauled leg.

As they came upon a pond and Grace's posture shifted, the alpha female drew to a halt to watch in silence. Hers was the eye of a hunter and it spotted the quarry—a bumbling beaver whose dam was surely not far off—and she watched with some interest and skepticism as Grace approached with her bum leg hoisted up. She'd never seen a wolf walk on three legs before and expected them to be much less graceful than Grace was proving to be, and although her hobble was still very strange due to the lack of a limb, the woman was able to close the gap and snap up the beaver with a surprising amount of speed.

This wouldn't have been surprised to anyone who knew how readily animals adapted to having less limbs, but it was certainly surprising to her, who had expected Grace to struggle and fumble miserably. She was impressed and it showed in the arch of her brows as the lone wolf deposited the beaver and seated herself to pant away the anxiety and adrenaline of hunting that Saena herself was so familiar with.

"Keep it," the alpha female said, swinging her head around to face the distant maplewood. "I've seen enough. My name's Saena, I'm the pack's alpha female. My mate, Reek, might be able to take a look at that leg. I don't know if he can do much for it, but maybe. He's a great healer." She let that hang on the air and then, with a small smile, said, "let's go home."