The Edge

The news delivered by the mother was dire. From Flamesong Qanik knew that there was a challenge, and it had been too much to expect that the elderly queen of the pack could have withstood such a thing, but she had hoped... "Taken by whom?" she questioned, but interrupted herself with a shake of her head. "Nevermind, such news can wait until you are all warm and fed. You and your pups are welcome in Tortuga, Azalea. If your mate follows you he too will be welcomed. Do not worry about contributing right now, just worry about yourself and your young." It was a decision made with her heart, not her head, but she could never send away a mother with pups. "Come, then, let me bring you to somewhere to den for now, until we can make one more to your liking." She stepped across the border closer to the woman, and gestured to the pups. "May I?" She would bring them to her own den, a comfortable hollow beneath a fallen redwood that would be large enough for the mother and all her pups. She could sleep elsewhere.



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