Redhawk Caldera The kids aren't alright

He had been resting for a week, recovering from his wound and reeling from the mental and emotional tolls of the altercation. Ferret had tried not only to overthrow him but to kill him in cold blood. He had forced Peregrine's hand and very likely sealed his own doom. As bitter as the Alpha felt, as much as he even disliked Ferret, he was sorry it had ever come down to that. Moreover, it worried him that there was something wrong with his genes. Over the past several days, he had come to the silent conclusion that he shouldn't father any more children. He knew he should talk to @Fox but he was well aware she would end things on the spot, so for the time-being, he (sadly) kept it to himself.

Peregrine allowed himself to dwell but, a week after the fact, he decided it was time to stop looking back and face forward. With a grunt, he rose from his warm sleeping spot at the edge of the rendezvous site and slowly wound downhill, minding the thick scabs near his neck as well as the older ones on his right shoulder. He silently cursed Ferret, caught himself and quite literally dragged his jade gaze forward and outward, enjoying a view of the late summer sun glistering off Lake Rodney in the distance.

He meant to head toward the borders but the twinging in his battered body warned him to take it easy, so instead he slowed and parked himself about halfway down the caldera's slope. With a quiet sigh, he lowered himself to his haunches and tried to clear his mind. Peregrine did succeed in banishing thoughts of Ferret, though he now found himself wondering about @Jackrabbit. He had clearly seen the boy approach him that day, only to turn his back and walk away. No one had seen him since, Peregrine included. He didn't have the energy to go looking for him and something else stopped him short too: that blank look on the youngster's face. It ate at him but he was just going to have to let that—and him, by the looks of it—go too.

Another sigh escaped him.