Heron Lake Plateau Ka-tet.

He trotted up  to Raven, sat the meat down, and nosed her cheek, I was gonna say it looks like it was just us for lunch but..  So much for that.  Towhee was here.  And now that she was close enough to see her expression, it didn't seem like it was just a random social call.  Great.  Being Quixote, he expected the worst, but he listened.

But how could what she said not rankle him?  That somehow just because of not sharing their blood, he was somehow not really worth it.  Or not to be trusted or something.  After being willing to make unpopular choices for the sake of the pack, to keep things together for them, he was still not their family and they totally needed someone who was born with the last name to rule from the top.  He wasn't entirely sure because whatever type of nepotism this was, but it just seemed stupid -- he wasn't a fan.  He wasn't an outsider by his choice, he was one by theirs and he hadn't realized it ran that deep.  It was just a name.  Why didn't he count after all his loyalty, his family?  Did his children not count because by being the next generation meant they were only half "pure" Redhawk or something twisted like that?

He frowned, looking away from Towhee, past Raven for a second to try to neutralize his expression a bit more.  Could he even work around Towhee if Raven didn't want the rank that he still saw as belonging to her?  To a certain point, he wasn't sure, but for Ray and the kids, Qui would kind of have to.  When he looked back to his mate, his expression was conflicted, not really knowing what emotion should actually be displayed, and with a slight backwards tip of his ears he said, You already know what I want.  He'd do anything and everything needed to make Raven feel comfortable to step up beside him again.  That had felt right, but the idea of sharing with Towhee seemed the opposite these days.