Phoenix Maplewood It had become a glimmering girl

At some point, a distraught Saena slipped into the dark comfort of her den. There was nothing fond hidden there to find save for a dark spot of long-dried blood on the floor where her children had come into the world. Luke had dutifully stood guard outside while she agonized for them, but in all senses she had been alone for it. Her mate had chosen another woman, and her closest friends in the pack, she hadn't trusted at the time. There was too much uncertainty. It had been her, her babies, and a stoic white man with a blue nose, and that was her last semi-good memory of the maple wood.

She was heedless to the approaching wolf above ground until a head blocked the sunlight and someone stuttered out her name. She didn't recognize the voice, warped as it was by the tight confines of her den, but Saena's lips curled and her hackles flared at the intrusion of her privacy. The intrusion of her home, even. Phoenix Maplewood would always belong to her in her mind, even when it was off limits due to her ex-mate's savagery, and so she responded in the only way she knew how.

She flew out of the den, jaws snapping defensively and wild eyes rolling in an effort to focus on her unwilling opponent, whom she would not recognize right away.