Heron Lake Plateau Wait, there's no such thing as unicorns?

Raven was so relieved that Towhee's anger didn't spill over onto her, she nearly wilted right where she lay. She still sort of questioned if what had happened was actually rape or not, and -- if so -- whether or not Screech had really intended to do what he had done. But his refusal to talk about it with her afterward, coupled with his general avoidance of her and the way he recoiled in disgust each time she was around him, all piled on top of the fact that he had tried to use what had happened to blackmail her into giving him leadership...it all pushed her more and more toward feeling like it had all been some malicious, manipulative game to him.

Yet somehow, she felt that it was still all her fault. She never should have been around him while in heat to begin with. She was the older wolf, she should have known what was going on. As victim-blaming went, Raven had done a pretty good job of it against herself. But maybe it was all in her head. So far, nobody who knew had looked at her with anger or disgust. Quixote hadn't. Towhee and Niamh certainly weren't.

Towhee wanted to kill Screech, and Niamh was quick to pledge her support. There was an odd expression on the gamma's face -- anger mixed with a strange sort of comprehension. She finally understood what Raven had been trying to tell her that day, when she had warned Niamh to be careful with Screech. She gazed meaningfully at the butterscotch girl, feeling equal parts relieved that Screech was out of her life and sad that it had to happen this way.

Her attention returned to Towhee's proposal and Raven didn't know what to say. She had never been that type of person. She had never killed -- hell, until Screech's attack, she had never even scratched another wolf before in her life. But the harm done to her was so great that she actually found herself looking at Towhee with something dark in her eyes and nodding in agreement with the beta's words. And then she looked at Quixote, whom she knew wanted very much to avenge what had been done to her. She couldn't really get around very well on her own at the moment, but he wasn't the only one capable of helping her. "You can go if you want to," she said softly. "I can ask Eljay to come stay with me, or Ceara. We can howl for you when it's time," she gestured to her belly. But the decision was entirely up to him. She would support whatever choice he made.