Phoenix Maplewood Further we fall

Chusi's response was one of nervousness and confusion, and right away Zephyr crouched down to her level and brought her close with his muzzle. Whispering in her ear as he did so, the brute was being far more gentle than one might have been able to see him able of, but here he was doing it. 
              "Don't worry little one, she's a friend. And remember, I'll always protect you."
Hugging her close as long as she didn't pull away, he turned his grassy eyes back up to Aglaeca with a charming smile. Sooner or later, Chusi would warm up to her and see she was safe. They would need numbers in order to keep Sen from somehow finding and stealing the girl away from where she wanted to be, and already the odds were in their favor, should the Rosings Beta come alone. And that, Zephyr thought, was Sen's way. Alone. Now she really was alone, and there was nowhere in the obsidian rogue's heart for sympathy for her. 
                                  "We can't stay here. There's a pretty territorial pack over there, we've gotta keep going."
The last time he'd stopped here, Thuringwethil hadn't hesitated to make sure he didn't stay. He respected the alpha for a lot of things: her beauty and her aura of power, for example, among other things. With a bitter thought, he knew it was Lyric who had held him back, and where was she now? Gone, and she'd taken his adopted daughter Rain along too. Maybe the dark alpha could have been his, been at very least someone he called a friend. For now, though, he knew that the best chance of keeping Chusi in his paws was to keep moving. 
                                                        "Through Silver Moraine, towards Seadog's old home. The coast. It'll take a few days to get there, but the day has only started and we might be able to get close to Firefly Ravine if we go most of the day."