When Seconds Tick By
Oh, what would she do without the support of her sons? Dragon and Gryphon seemed pretty level headed. Kharnage she knew, had his issues but when it came down to it, she didn't exactly blame him. They didn't grow up with a father figure, and they didn't see Vereux as one before he passed. But she had come to accept that. Vereux hadn't exactly shown them that he could really do it. He just...expected them to accept him. Gryphon questioned her, and she went into thinking about what to say. That is, until he suggested she start from the beginning.
Which to her, was a relief. She had already kind of muddled a bit of it at first, but when he offered his shoulder, she would gratefully lean into his warmth and thus try to calm herself. She nodded, taking a moment to collect her thoughts as she recalled the events of that day. "Someone from our former pack decided to stop by for a...visit. Mercy, a royal pain and one of the most disrespectful wolves I've ever met. I caught her scent within our lands, as I'm sure others did too after the whole ordeal. I tracked her down, found her hiding just outside our borders, and questioned her. Of course it was fruitless. She decided to insult me, the pack, and spill some...information. I guess Lykos decided to confide inside information to her about Vereux." She sighed, looking up at the sky. "I understand you guys weren't too fond of him, but that isn't why I was upset at the time. It was simply the fact that Lykos decided to go behind my back and started giving out information and speaking ill of a pack mate. Things that outsiders have no business knowing." True enough, loners and other outsiders had no business knowing about the packs affairs.
"Eventually things got heated, Mercy kept pushing it, and I opted to try and force claim her. She deliberately kept at it, and I figured it was the right thing to do. Any alpha in their right mind would do the same. I didn't win, but that's not something I cared about. I simply wanted to let her know that she wouldn't get away with her actions..." Even so, she would fight Mercy again if she saw her. The woman seemed to keep sticking her nose in places it didn't belong. "She never did say why she decided to show up, but I didn't stick around to ask after that. I sought out your brother to question him, and he didn't deny his betrayal to the pack. He said he would much rather follow someone like Mercy, among other things. He decided too, that he wanted to challenge me to leave after I issued punishment. But changed his mind at the last second."
Whether or not she had been injured already, and no matter how much pain she had been going through at that time, she would have still fought him despite the mother vs alpha conflict in her head. "I suspect he's hiding away somewhere in the territory and avoiding everyone. I told him he was not allowed to leave the lands without permission and an escort." She cast a wary sidelong glance at Gryphon, wondering what he thought of it all. "I did say that his punishment would be temporary. But he is no longer the heir, and won't be even after all of this. I feel he has broken my trust...the same thing your guys' father did when he abandoned us the day you were born." Glancing at her paws, she shuffled one slowly against the snow. "I had to do things this way for his own good, even as a mother...I had to act as an alpha. I hope you understand, I still love you all."
