Redhawk Caldera and a happy new year [birth]

The quiet ferocity in Finley's reaction crumbled Raven's resolve into dust. She had no intention of arguing, especially when Elwood echoed his mate's sentiments. She felt a little tug of disappointment but she only shook her head. Names could wait, especially with many more important and pressing decisions to make about rearing these pups. Not to mention the sudden gap at the top of the hierarchy.

She felt a rush of relief and gratitude when her godparents seemed eager to embrace their roles. Although Raven definitely wanted to help with her siblings—and Elwood's words made it clear he agreed that it would take a village—she wasn't necessarily prepared to parent anyone, much less six someones. She would be their wet nurse and their older sister, while Elwood and Finley assumed the more formal parental roles.

Just as she hadn't noticed some of the pups' mess, she hadn't realized Eljay was there. Her eyes drifted absently over the father and son pair, then drifted back to Finley. She watched in silence as her aunt began to bathe one of the pups, a black girl with smudges of red and white on her tiny, chubby flanks. Her attention was then stolen when a paler babe, a boy, screeched loud enough for her ears to fall flat against her skull.

"C'mere," she murmured, reaching out and gently mouthing him closer to her underside. She licked his face in a tentative effort to comfort him, then nudged him toward one of her swollen teats.