Heron Lake Plateau Tyrants and kings both meet the same fate, strung up at your city gate

They were still a fair ways from the borders, and Quixote had resumed the casual pace he'd been moving at initially.  They'd reach the patrol route soon enough.  However in the meantime, Towhee's question put him on the defensive, and even if he didn't really want to show it, he responded hastily, I told her I'd stick around as long as she'd keep me.  If he could have kept the relationship with Raven just between the pair of them, he would have preferred it.  But the promotion had pretty well dumped that right out in the open well before he was comfortable with it.  He swung his head away from Towhee for a moment, frustrated and uncertain, but it was only a second or two before he looked back so she could understand him, feeling obliged to elaborate, I'm not just going to leave her just for kicks, if that's what you mean, his voice hitched slightly, regardless of whether or not Towhee could tell, -- or the pups.  It sent him mentally reeling a different way.  Maybe instead of Colt he needed to talk to Raven again.  Possibly having a family would have been enough for him to deal with on its own, but all combined, this was just a lot piled on at once.

It was still a little early to confirm that the puppies were a thing, as far as he knew, but maybe there was a certain level of denial to it, too.  The alpha thing was much more immediate in comparison and had swamped his brain pretty well -- overshadowing things was a pretty good way to put it.  It wasn't like he didn't understand what he'd -- they'd -- done, or what the consequences would be, it was more just he'd shelved the whole thing until he sort of figured out how to be a leader.  

Quixote wasn't sure what was ahead, really.  He'd be happy to be with Raven, but wasn't quite sure what he needed to do to woo her, to make her want him to stay.  Quixote was kind of an idiot when it came to things like that.  The fact he didn't like admitting things that matched up with the aloof, tough guy facade he wore probably didn't help him any, which is why he notably gunshy about saying anything about mates, love, or to a lesser point, pups.  In the end, though, he wanted Raven to be happy, which in turn seemed to make him happy -- but what if on down the road she didn't find that with him?