Broken Boulder el torito

There was a sudden and visible fall to Queenie's shoulders, as though the pompous act she'd been putting on was to collapse at any moment beneath the weight of Delight's admission. If the girls were gone then it was undoubtedly his fault to some degree, but she couldn't help but wonder if her return had played some part in their apparent disappearance. What do you mean gone? she asked, eyes peering into his to see if she could pick out some deeper emotion. 

For a moment, she thought that maybe this was all some ploy to get rid of her. Maybe Delight and Alarian were plotting to have her run off on a goose chase for the girls while they high-tailed it to another hidden sanctuary. It was a brief thought; neither of them were sinister enough to think of something like that; not even Daddy Bruce would have done something so reckless. We'll have to go after them, Queenie blurted. There was nothing else for either one of them to say in her mind; it was cold and winter would soon be approaching. While she hadn't been around to see what they could do, she doubted that either one of the girls was good enough at hunting to last longer than a few days. 

The sickening thought of someone else, someone new stepping in to handle her girls passed through her mind. Queenie didn't even like the idea of Alarian having a hand in raising her kids, let alone someone who she'd never met; never had the chance to trust. She began to paw anxiously at the ground as she thought about where they might be, who they might be with. How long have they been missing?