Bearclaw Valley distant stars come in black or red.

the taste of blood filtered through her tongue -- and for once, it was not so sweet.

it was salted and bitter.

astara's eyes widened as her bear was struck -- as he veered off, crimson welting along his dark and terrible crown. she had done that - she had brought pain to her bear -- but it was he that had brought it upon himself by slinging her body with whelps to bear.

and look! look at what she had grown in her stomach for him! these little, squirming lives that he would sooner dash across a hardened stone;

astara's pace slowed as merrick turned, his belligerence redirected to the hapless dog in their midst. this ordeal did not concern the nightshade -- with a hostile snarl she spun to where aventus had been strewn. it was her intention to scoop him up and back to her den, but the wolves that crowded --

she snapped at rosina first, driving by in a flurry of teeth and maternal furor. evien next, though her aggression abated as she saw him place the child upon the threshold of her den.

astara's teeth clamped down on the child far more tender than they ever had with merrick. in mere seconds aventus was placed carefully by avicus, and for a moment it seemed all was quiet in the den.

yet, it was not so.

havoc and chaos wreaked outside, and astara, driven by the maternal urge for order and peace, re-emerged from the den with a furious roar. all of them -- dog, wolf, bear, healer, observer -- were to get the fuck out.

it did not matter who was closest. astara swung for them all the same, fangs unleashed in heady war.