Haunted Wood We ruled the world

A lot had happened recently. Finley had returned worse for wear; Wildfire had discovered Ray's corpse in a cave; and Peregrine's relationship with Pan had hit the rocks. These things had begun to snowball too. Wildfire was only one step up from bedridden because of ignoring her sprained ankle during her aunt's rescue efforts and the Alpha feared his remaining brother would vanish in the wake of Ray's death. Peregrine had a feeling Pan would eventually come to agree with him and perhaps leave the caldera too. Things really weren't looking good lately.

But life went on and preparations must be made for winter. Peregrine kept busy on this foggy autumn morning by hunting down small prey to pad the caches, starting with the one near the Beta pair's den. He then went looking for Dean, only to come up empty-handed. Maybe he was off grieving somewhere or perhaps he had already absconded. Peregrine couldn't even blame him; he had just lost his lifelong companion, after all.

A bit weary from the day's efforts thus far, Peregrine walked halfway up the caldera, then chose an outcropping where he took a seat. He surveyed his domain. He caught sight of Raven off in the distance, bustling around with a mouthful of herbs, and knew she must be tending to Finley's wounds or possibly her sister's ankle. His lips twitched and he let her be, shifting his good eye upward slightly to peer off into the dreary distance.

Movement caught his eye and he stared hard at the thinning treetops of Haunted Wood. He thought he saw figures flitting in and out of view but it was difficult to tell from this distance. With nothing better to do, he began to pick his way down the caldera's southern face, then trotted toward the eerie forest. Perhaps Bazi and Swift still lingered here. He came to the edge of the forest and definitely smelled wolves, though it wasn't the panicked mother nor her wounded offspring. His brow furrowed and he began to move slowly into the trees, black hackles prickling.