Qeya River Last light

The stinging and aching of the open gash made Wildfire's head swim and she swooned for a solid five minutes. By the time she regained her senses, there were suddenly several more wolves present. Wildfire's ears flicked weakly as loud, heated words were exchanged over her head. The instant she recognized the commander's voice in the darkness, she whimpered lowly, only to bite back the sound into silence.

The entire way home, there had only been one thing on her mind, aside from the pain: what she would tell Thuringwethil, knowing how the commander might react and, more importantly, fearing the Heda might rethink their entire relationship over this. Her mate's words of yore echoed in her head even now. "We are taught that a mate and children are weapons for an enemy. That it puts everyone in danger. You, the children, the pack, me." She didn't want a war or even a fight any more than she wanted to risk her mate's love.

For some reason, Magpie's face popped into her woozy head as Wildfire recollected the day a bear had mauled her aunt. "Was a bear," she whispered, trying to be heard over the others' voices. "Caught m-me by surprise in the maple wood." That was all she could manage for now. Overwhelmed by exhaustion and pain, she let her chin sink back to the ground. Saena's scent had washed away, so hopefully her companions would take her story at face value, chalking it up to Wildfire's clumsiness and misfortune.

She knew she'd essentially let Saena off the hook and, deep down, that rankled. But keeping Thuringwethil and the other members of Drageda out of it was more important. The whole thing would be just one isolated fluke. Wildfire closed her eyes in defeat, a sigh escaping through her nose as she braced for more of Portia's ministrations.