Redhawk Caldera Nimrod

I'm still not 100% sure of Ray's fate yet but I'm gonna pretend he hasn't been seen lately. @Dean

The ranks had thinned somewhat recently, yet Peregrine didn't worry about it. The less mouths to feed through the winter, the better. Besides, they would have four shiny new adults soon, more pups come springtime and there was always the core of loyalists to uphold them. The caldera was in no danger of disbandment or demise. In fact, they were coming up on their first year anniversary, if memory served.

He was pondering all this as he took a drink from the caldera. It was just past dawn and a mist hovered over the territory. Peregrine decided he would go find his brothers once he finished his drink. He still hadn't tracked them down and really spoken to them. He knew Wildfire and Nightjar had run into Dean not too long ago, yet the Alpha hadn't seen or heard from Ray whatsoever since shortly after the two had joined ranks.

He caught Dean's scent easily enough and tracked it to an area perhaps half a mile from the rendezvous site. "Dean?" he called into the chill morning air. "Hey, man, I need to talk to you."

Dean had been gazing up at the trees how beautiful they looked in Autumn. He heard a voive that startled him, but he didn't show any fright. His soft fur blew in the wind as he turned around to face his brother."Yes?" He asked him even though he probably already knew the answer. Where is Ray? He hadn't seen him lately either. The wolf that had joined the ranks with him had semmed to have disappeared into thin air. He couldn't find a fresh scent that would lead him to Ray.

Dean had been worried about him all day and even his dreams were him searching for his brother only to never find him. He smiled even though truely he wasn't happy. Family should stick together right?

Dean turned to face him as Peregrine approached. The Alpha frowned thoughtfully at his brother's expectant tone. He probably knew what he was going to ask, which wasn't a good sign. What the hell had happened? Ray had clearly been the one more eager to settle down and now he'd disappeared, leaving Dean's side for the first time in years. None of it made any sense.

"You haven't seen Ray, have you?" Peregrine asked, hoping he was wrong about his intuition. "I thought he was the one who wanted to settle down. Why do I have the feeling he took off again? But why would he do that without you?" the swarthy wolf pressed, his frown deepening as he awaited some insight from Dean. If Ray was really and truly gone, he had a feeling he would lose his other younger brother too.

Dean looked down at his paws and he could feel tears starting to form. He shook his head not wanting to cry infront of his own brother. He had to be tough."I haven't seen him in forever. It's hard to find new scents too." Sadness nipped his words. Ray was the one that dragged him here and in all honesty he had felt more at home than he had been in a long time. A very long time. He was unsure what he would do if he found out that his brother left him.

Damn it, he thought sourly when Dean confessed he hadn't seen him in a while either. "Did he say anything to you?" Peregrine couldn't help but wonder. "Like, give any indication that he was second-guessing living here or anything like that? No offense, man, but out of the two of you, he was not the one I would expect to take off without a word." He cast Dean a quick smile to show he meant no offense. But it had been really clear right off the bat that coming here and settling down was primarily Ray's idea.

"Are you going to go looking for him?" the swarthy male asked, careful to keep his tone neutral. He didn't want Dean to disappear but Peregrine would also understand if he felt the need to hit the road again in search of Ray.

Dean shook his head. "He has his own journey. I think I'll let him do what he wants to on his own. I have been making decisions for us two a lot and now I just feel guilty to drag him places he doesn't want to be." A sad smile came to his face. He was enjoying it here though. He felt like this was where he was supposed to be. Maybe this was the place his life would be. That was a big 'maybe' though. He was still very unsure of his brothers whereabouts and he was worried even though it wasn't the major thing in his life.

Dean's answer frustrated him. It wasn't directed at the brother before him but the one that had gone missing inexplicably. According to both of them, Ray had been the one looking to settle down someplace. If anyone had dragged anybody else, Ray had dragged Dean here... and then promptly dumped him like yesterday's trash? It didn't make sense. It didn't fit his character at all. The more he thought about, the more foreboding it suddenly seemed.

"I'd like it if you stayed," Peregrine said, offering a wan smile, "although I understand if you don't in the end. Hopefully Ray will turn up," he sighed. "Besides missing him, how are you doing? Have you settled in?"

Dean nodded. He had his little "home" as he would call it."I've been doing well and have settled in just fine. Even met a few packmates." He recalled the encounter with the two wolves. He couldn't remember why the other one had been like he was towards Dean. A bit of anger bubbled up just thinking about the encounter.

"That's great," Peregrine replied. He was a little surprised to hear it, actually. He hadn't seen much of Dean himself and had suspected his brothers were both lying low. Maybe it was only Ray then. "Have you give any thought to trades?" he wondered in the next breath. "I'm not doing anything in particular today. I was planning on chilling with you and Ray, actually. Maybe we could work on some of your skills."

Not waiting for an answer, he began to walk, motioning for Dean to join him. They could talk about trades while they scrounged up some breakfast to fuel what the Alpha envisioned as a day working on hammering out his brother's idiosyncrasies and, of course, some good old fashioned male bonding.

Since this had been sitting a while, I went ahead and concluded for archival. :)