Redhawk Caldera and a happy new year [birth]

For several moments, all Finley could do was cry completely realistic wolf tears into the snow beneath her trembling frame. It was too much. She'd lost too much too quickly. Obviously she didn't give a crap about Kaizer, but Peter, Lucy, Peregrine, and now Fox? She felt exhausted as she lifted her head to stare out across the terrain. Her eyes were unfocused as she gazed while her mind struggled beneath the heartbreak. She missed the fact that Eljay had joined them, but somehow, she still heard Raven's words. Somehow, she found something within herself that was more than just misery.

"No," she barked sharply as she whipped her head back towards the den. She stood then, her tail and head lifting in a stance of power she had not taken since her days as beta of the Caldera. Finley walked back towards the den to look down at her goddaughter, some fierce, unamed emotion in her eyes. Her voice was oddly steady as she continued considering the dramatic show she'd just put on. Apparently it was all that she'd needed - a few minutes of being out of control before she could regain herself. "They don't get named until they're older. It's bad luck," she declared with a finality in her tone that she'd intended to leave no room for argument, "We've had enough of that."

Finley gazed at her niece for a moment before looking down at the puppies, her features softening. "We'll raise them," she said then, pain lancing each word, "We're their godparents. We're supposed to." The Blackthorn slid down to her stomach to lie with them, watching as they squirmed. Only then did it occur to her how loud they were being, and quickly she identified why that might be. Gingerly, she reached and pulled one of the screeching creatures over to her - the one covered in its own filth. She cleaned the little thing with her tongue, unaware that her totally realistic tears had begun to fall again.