Dreams would carry a much lighter version of herself (one free of pups) across a sweeping plain with the greenest grass she had ever seen. It was a world seemingly reborn. The forest to her right was alive with bird song. She rushed across the open, jumping a stream just as she heard her name called. Coming to halt the pristine female looked around, ears pressed to full attention.
When the name came again it was louder, closer. Her eyes would flutter open and Azalea would begin to stretch her tired legs. Blurred vision fixed on the towering dark figure before her. His scent filling her with a warmth she hadn't felt since being a young pup. "Daddy?" Her voice called softly.
A light smile touched her lips as her vision began to gather itself from her temporary sleep. "Do you like my den?" As she sat Azalea remembered where she was and that she was pregnant. Also that she hadn't finished the den so it looked like shit. Her ears folded back and she began to look uneasy. "It sucks, right?" Her tone was flatter now, looking away from the intense golden gaze of her father.
He was the man who had felled her friend, for reasons she didn't understand. At least, she was sure it was him. When she had found Vixe's body, still warm, her heart had dropped into her stomach and she had gotten physically sick. But she couldn't quite get out of her mind how she was sure she had seen Collision near that very same spot not long before that. He had been fighting someone she could not see.
She said nothing else, just slowly wedged herself up into a sitting position.
