Swiftcurrent Creek She said she cheated 'cause she tried to get ahead

She watched with cold eyes as Chusi's mouth opened—try it, she silently dared, eyes flashing with peremptory impatience. But she didn't have to repeat herself or assert her rank and right to command those lower than her, for Durnehviir drew up alongside her, bristling with dominance. In spite of her previous authority and the associated egotism, the mottled she-wolf drooped her tail with ease in Durnehviir's presence and turned both her ears away respectfully, but her eyes remained fixed firmly on Chusi's face until she got up and made to leave. Wylla felt her shoulders loosen and gave them a gentle shake before glancing slowly to the Alpha female.

As soon as Chusi was well out of earshot, Wylla's nerves boiled back up in her stomach, threatening to break into her throat as she said, "I wanted to talk." Their last chat hadn't gone well at all despite its outcome, and though the Alpha had sided with her in this seconds-long dispute, Wylla wasn't confident that all was forgiven. Even so, she found the fortitude to hold her voice steady as she declared, "I found out I'm pregnant. Before you ask, it happened before I came here, when I was leading my own pack. I didn't know when I came here, and I haven't been with anyone since."

Her muddy yellow eyes turned hard and resolute as she cast them to the ground, her stomach churning while she awaited her judgment and Durnehviir's decree. "I wouldn't break pack law, but if you want me to kill them, I will," she tried to offer, but even her ears weren't fooled. There was a hollowness to those words that betrayed everything she tried to hide in them.