Heron Lake Plateau i.x : who was only a stranger at home

Ohfrack.

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Within a split second, everything seemed to shift. While she'd felt they had the situation completely under control- Towhee was going to take care of Maegi and all she'd have to do was cut off any exit plan- her ideas crumbled apart almost as soon as they had begun, the moment that Colt stepped in. For a moment, Niamh's eyes shone with pride, seeing her mate lunge toward the Blackfeather wolf alongside Towhee, but that moment was crushed almost as soon as it had begun; Colt intervened the second after Maegi dodged to the side, and the sickening crack of bone against bone sent Niamh reeling, gagging. She knew the sound and she knew the feeling. 

Towhee dropped to the ground as though dead and Niamh stared at her in panic. She didn't hear Maegi's words or see her bolt- but she did see Colt standing where Maegi had been, a solid tawny shield. She looked up from Towhee who lay on the ground slowly dribbling excrement and something inside her snapped. Something that had been hanging by too thin a thread for too long finally plucked its way away from reason and sense and launched her into a fury. 

"Get. THE FUCK. Out of here." She commanded. The pale female had already made her escape- but that wasn't who the threat was issued to. 

She was speaking to Colt. 

She prowled forward with the stiff gait of a hunter, her hackles bristling and teeth bared. If he made one movement toward her, she would take him down in an instant. Her Person was laying on the ground and for all Niamh knew, she could have been dead...And it was at Colt's hand. He'd gone against the unspoken command to kill the Blackfeather wolf, and he'd potentially lethally harmed Towhee. 

"GET OUT!" She shouted, now standing protectively over Towhee, whose breaths still came in slow but gentle and regular puffs. She was alive- but whether she would live or not- or even be the same thereafter- all hung in a precarious balance. "Go. If you kill her- come back with proof. If you don't, then don't....EVER...come back." She hissed. It killed her, but he'd pushed her over the edge. She'd needed for someone to die, even though she didn't know it. She'd needed someone to pay for what Screech had done- and fate had intervened and had allowed him to win. She had felt relief the moment Towhee had attacked, the sort of relief that assured her that this was what she had needed- but Colt had not only denied her that need, but he had felled her co-Beta, her person. She wouldn't have him in her life if Towhee died, and she certainly couldn't have him in the pack if his loyalties weren't true. 

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