Redhawk Caldera point of being right

Anybody welcome! Hoping for short, quick rounds, so no more than 1-2 others.

Fox was scouring the territory seeking the perfect whelping den. She certainly could've used the one she'd used the two years prior, but she couldn't bring herself to do it without Peregrine. It wouldn't feel right. Instead, she was on a mission to find a new, suitable location. Fox wasn't sure exactly what she was looking for, but she would know when she found it. Her one good gray eye scanned the area from side-to-side, seeking anything that looked suitable.

It was time to inform Fox of her condition. Raven was nervous that her mother would react first, ask questions later. What if she took one look at her and decided to punish her? What if Fox kicked her out of the pack? She should have asked Elwood to tell the Alpha female, yet Raven knew it was best to handle it herself. Hopefully her mother would give her the benefit of the doubt and allow her a chance to explain. In the end, she hadn't done anything wrong at all and her body's sympathy for the leader's pregnancy might even come in handy.

When she spotted Fox and made her approach, Raven made sure to keep her ears flat and her tail low. She also made a head-on approach so that her swollen abdomen and teats were not as readily visible. "Hey, mom," she said, a nervous edge to her voice. "I need to tell you something. I promise it's not what it looks like, so please give me a chance to explain." The words sort of rushed out of her mouth even as Raven closed the space between them and swiveled to expose herself to Fox's scrutiny.

Raven approached, and Fox greeted her with a wagging tail and joy in her veins. Her daughter was one of the things that had helped her through one of the hardest times of her life. But when her daughter began to speak, Fox's stomach dropped (and it wasn't from the children she was carrying). "A chance to explain" was not something that Fox had ever—would ever—afford anyone, family or not. Instead, she took a step back and curled her lip at Raven. "How could you?!" Fox screeched, hurt and anger clear in her voice. After all this... all this talk of Raven wanting to help her through her own pregnancy, and she went and got herself knocked up?

"I thought I could trust you, Raven," Fox said, her tone dull and any joy drained out of her the moment she had seen what her daughter had come to reveal. Now she could trust nobody. Fox felt she should have known better. Grown children didn't come back because they wanted to help. They came back because they wanted to overthrow their parents or kill the new offspring.

She had known this was a possibility, yet the reality of Fox screeching at her still wilted Raven. Although she hadn't actually done anything wrong, she flattened her ears and lowered her head, then hunched submissively. She felt an intense need to apologize, though that would only fan the flames. The Gamma hoped to put out the fire, not make it worse, though suddenly she was very worried that her mother wouldn't believe her.

"You can! It's not what it looks like, I swear! Mom," Raven said, voice pleading with Fox to have a little faith, "have you ever heard of a pseudo-pregnancy? It just means my body tricked itself so that I can help you with the pups if you need it. I promise I'm not actually pregnant. I'm not even old enough yet." She blinked her yellow eyes, realizing how that might sound, then hastily added, "And I'd never do that to you, especially not now!"

Did Raven think she was stupid? (Well, Fox was stupid, but Fox didn’t appreciate the implication even if she had known she was an idiot.) The words that fell from her daughter’s mouth were laughable. It was the worst excuse Fox had ever heard. ”I’m not that dumb, Raven,” Fox warned, her tail lashing behind her. But she couldn’t exactly kick Raven out. She needed her to make sure that her own children would be well taken care of when they were born.

”We will take care of them when they are born,” Fox informed the Gamma curtly (and she didn't mean feed and coddle them). ”Then I will decide what to do with you.” She couldn’t understand how Raven could think that she would fall for such a story. A fake pregnancy? Fox huffed, unwilling to stand in the presence of the daughter she had previously thought so highly of. Shaking her head in disappointment, anger, and pure disbelief, Fox stormed past Raven and proceeded to go anywhere else but here.

No puppies would ever be born for Fox to kill, yet that didn't stop a shudder from traveling down Raven's spine, chased soon after by a heat that licked through her from head to toe. She turned, mouth ajar, as Fox strode away, her threats still ringing in her daughter's ears. For a few beats, the Gamma stood frozen and rooted to the spot. She had known this wouldn't be easy but she'd never expected it to go so exceedingly poorly.

"Mom, wait!" she cried out after the retreating Alpha female, her legs feeling as boneless as the day she had confronted Trick. That was the furthest thing from her mind now as she attempted to go after Fox and plead her case. "I've never mated with anyone! I'm a—a virgin! I've never even been in heat!" There was no way to prove these things, just as there was no way to prove her belly was full of nothing but food and water.

She slowed, falling back. Raven knew there was nothing for it, so she should just let Fox go. The only thing that would prove her innocence was time. She was lucky her mother hadn't kicked her to the curb (and that was another reason to leave it alone). Her trembling lips pressed together as she capitulated. She would have been lying if she'd said that having her mother turn her back on her for a crime she didn't commit didn't break her heart, though.