Swiftcurrent Creek It's getting dark in this heart of mine.

Dovev, the russet she-wolf repeated in her mind, still uncomfortable despite having a name to match to the face of the pale brute who saw fit to spy on her. She frowned thoughtfully, casting her copper gaze downward as she listened to what Scimitar had to say in defense of his subordinate. Paarthurnax' understood the hostility of others; it was not common in a wolf hierarchy to accept a female pregnant with pups sired by the competition. Truthfully, she was surprised that more of the Swiftcurrent wolves had not flat-out rejected her return.

"He had every right to be angered by my being here," but it pained her all the same. Swiftcurrent Creek was her home, the place where she truly felt that she belonged, yet at the same time, she struggled to re-integrate herself. Her pups would be burdens on the pack; pups of a wolfess likely considered an Omega, not of their Alpha in the traditional sense. "I just... I am afraid. That he or someone else might not wish to protect these children as you request of them, but seek to destroy them." She did not know what Dovev was capable of. But the likelihood of her pack-mates using her brood to get back at Shadow in some way was very strong.