Porcupine Ridge needful things

tagging @The Wolf for visibility

vuk stumbled out of the den she shared with illea in time to toss the contents of her stomach into the nearest shrubbery. this was the third time in as many days -- the pale girl was beginning to fear illness, for she knew of the virulent viruses that often took wolves. hunger overtook her soon after -- it seemed that no matter how little she ate, nausea rose to choke her, but the urge to partake in a kill remained.

vuk moved slowly along the ridge in search of soft grasses -- perhaps if she could fill her belly with those, she might be able to stay full for a time.

Snagging this!

He had but one thought on his mind: his white-furred Delta. No longer could he put off what had to be said, what had to be promised. He sought her out determinedly. It had been a month since she had come of age and ran into the embrace of his beta, and now there would be no denying the outcome of that, if any, but his suspicions were high as he followed the female's trail and passed her den and the spew she left behind.

He found her not far ahead, padding slowly as she were. His approach was brisk, and he carried himself not with the neutral amiability that was common to him in his homestead, but with the high head and tail of authority, and a hardness to his gaze. He moved past to her, to stand before her and bar her passage ahead. His gray eyes met hers, unblinking, and his words were stone.

"Why did you run away from me that night?"

the one wolf vuk dreaded drew close with a decided step; he demanded her fealty and the pale wolfess gave it readily, crouching down upon the earth as taggarik towered over her. she had stepped falsely -- she had done wrong in the sight of the alpha male, but her resolve had hardened this past week, for reasons she did not yet understand. 

"y-you did n-not want me. he d-did," vuk stammered, keeping herself deferential. to her it was a logical progression - she had been stung by taggarik's rejection and subsequent selfishness, as well as given over the clamouring desires of her own body.

vuk rolled to her back now, exposing the thin belly that had not yet begun to swell, though among the glossy hairs could be seen the slight darkening of her teats, if the man cared to look so closely.

Taggarik stepped over the white female, lowering his snout to nose through the furs of her belly, confirming by smell and touch what he already knew to be true and asserting himself over his subordinate. She had went against what was perhaps the most important of laws in the pack, defying not only him but the alpha female as well. He was not pleased, but he was not inclined to be completely unkind, despite the severity of what he had to say next.

"You were not given permission to breed," he said firmly, stepping back away from her. "I understand that it can be hard to think straight when you are in heat..." He shifted his jaw, briefly licking his lip as he tried to pick his words. He did place blame on her, yet, he knew how powerful instinct was, how demanding mother nature could be. She was a good wolf, but he would not allow anyone to threaten the future he travelled so far and had been working hard for. "I will give you a choice. You may leave and try to find some other place to raise your children. Or you may stay, but when they are born..." He exhaled, the words tasting sour on his tongue.

"I will kill them."

she held herself still as his breath and lips traveled over her belly. turquoise gaze found the sky -- she swallowed and tried valiantly to keep herself from curling away from him in fear.

the careful tones of the alpha began and vuk turned her eyes upon him attentively. his words were cupped into the swells of her ears, until his firm edict caused them to flatten against her skull.

vuk could not help her tears, nor the writhe of her body against the ground toward his dark forepaw, upon which she lavished desperate licks.

"n-no..!" vuk gasped, begging. "p-please, t-taggar...ik, no." he would turn her away, pregnant and alone in her attempt to find a pack that would take her in and allow her to birth the children of a stranger there.

or he would kill them.

bile burned her throat; vuk was only able to leap to her paws and take a single step before she vomited strings of saliva into the dirt. lips glossy with it, eyes wild with fear and maternal instinct, vuk backed away from taggarik, tears tracing paths along her cheeks.

a final ragged sob rent the air between them, and then the girl ran as she never had before, swiftly crossing the border and leaving porcupine ridge behind.

Even as the words tumbled from his tongue he regretted them. It was not in his nature to be so unkind, and his heart wrenched to see the pain on the she-wolf's face, to hear how it constricted the words she replied with. But he steeled himself, even as she wretched into the grass he held himself firm in belief that he was doing the right thing. That it was fair of him to ensure his own breeding rights by dispatching the illegitimate, that he had been kind in offering her the choice to birth elsewhere... but as he watched her run and disappear from sight, he was struck by a sickening, cold grip on his heart as a new realization dawned, and he sank to his haunches with a swear hissed under his breath.

He had just sent a tender packmate off on her own, pregnant... and in doing so may have condemned her to death. It was his responsibility as the alpha male to not only look out for the pack, but the individuals that composed it. Once more, the black wolf felt he had failed. He hung his head, and brewed for many hours on the conflict that roiled in his breast. The dream of becoming a leader and having his own pack had not prepared him for all the conflict that would come with it as he tried to make the right decisions but never seemed able to.

Rooted to the spot by his own turmoil, he did not chase her.