Blacktail Deer Plateau Magic, madness, heaven, sin

There will be more of us.

This was even more chilling than his previous question, if only because it immediately made her think of Junior, and how she'd left to join the sirens because Peregrine and Fox were going to have kids to replace them. But Peregrine and Fox were far away, and kids they had would be no family of theirs. She'd never even meet them, and she couldn't be happier about that. She was about to tell him so when his clarification indicated he wasn't talking about siblings, but just pups in general.

"They won't," she said, pretty confidently. "They can't until they're a whole year old. We'll be Alpha long before they get there." She didn't mean to say it conspiratorially, but it certainly came out that way, ushered on the breath of abrupt panic. What if Blue Willow named her children the heirs of the Plateau, now that Hawkeye's natural children were both departed? What if the truth of their birth to two lower-ranked individuals placed the pack far beyond their grasp? For Saena it was a secret ambition that only Pura knew about, but even if it was unknowingly given away because she hadn't spoken up, she would be gutted.

Unbeknownst to her, Pura had the same aim, and probably would be just as bothered by new cubs taking what they both felt was theirs by right.