Redhawk Caldera chew you up and spit you out

Dove's snotty response almost immediately had him rethinking his decision not to toss them (well, her) out on her ass. He bared his teeth and growled a warning at her flagrant impudence. It was enough that she'd talked smack behind his back; he wouldn't tolerate her disrespecting him to his face too. He would escalate above mere warnings if she pushed the issue. Peregrine would gladly shove her muzzle in the dirt beside Magpie's, forcing her to submit to her superior. If she couldn't acknowledge her place, then the onus was on her to leave, though he wouldn't mind showing her the door.

"You can test our bond all you want," Peregrine eventually replied in a cool voice, the fur along his spine a spiky ridge, "but if you go up against it, know that you will lose." A breath hissed from him before he added, "There are only two of Fox's family members on my shit list. Before today, there was only one," he added crisply. Dove hadn't been on it before, not really, but she certainly was now. Let her ponder that.

A moment ago, he'd been nothing but amused by Magpie's overly submissive reaction. She'd brought it on herself, after all. Now, in contrast to Dove's insolence, he was compelled to acknowledge the yearling's much more appropriate response. She knew her place and acknowledged that she'd done wrong. In an unprecedented turn of events—he'd handed her ass to her just hours earlier, over smaller issues than flagrant disrespect—he stepped over her, tail arched, then bent down and brushed his nose over her head, silently accepting the apology implicit in her supplicant behavior. He then retreated a few steps, glaring at Dove.

"Now it's at one again," he said levelly to Dove. Yep, he'd just leveraged one against the other. It wasn't the whole truth—he still wasn't Magpie's #1 fan—but he hoped it made the insolent bitch squirm. "I'm not going to bother my very pregnant wife with your two-faced bullshit or your absolute disrespect toward me, your Alpha, as well as your other superiors." Somnia's face flashed through his mind. "But she will be hearing about this eventually. Consider this fair warning." He shot Magpie a ponderous look. Then, without another word, he turned to head back to the den. His lips might be sealed, for now, yet all he craved right now was Fox's company.