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Mt. Isolation, White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire. The spring of late April, 2021.
As the moon cast its silvery light across the forest after the storm cleared up, a dark brown wolf traveled home with a heavy heart. It was just before the first blue light of dawn trickled into the mountain kingdom.
Her green eyes glittered with a hint of bitterness; she knew the news she bore would not sit well with her husband, but she had to be the one to deliver it, for no one else but her knew yet the trouble that her stepdaughter Willow had gotten up to with that lowlife scum, Finbar.
Luna hated that male with every fiber of her being, because he had disrespected their way of life by taking what he desired. Watching the two of them dote over their litter should have been a beautiful moment as a stepmother, if the father had been Jargoth as it should have been.
‘Poor Jargoth,’ she thought, ears down sadly. ‘He will not react well to this. Willow deserves the anger awaiting her for what she has done. Hussy.’
After treading through the cold, wet grass of the pack’s camp, she entered Alpha Balto’s den high up in the rock wall, having climbed a hewn out ledge to reach it.
“Balto?” she called out into the darkness. His scent was fresh in the air, so she knew he was there, possibly still asleep.
A grumbly, tired voice echoed quietly back. “Hmmm? Luna? What is it?”
She approached, and sat by his side, damp fur wetting the rock floor beneath her. “On most days, I am the cheer that keeps our pack’s spirits up, but today I fear that I must be the bearer of bad news. No one died, do not worry.”
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Balto froze, mouth closed, staring at her with his golden orbs which glowed in the cave’s shadows. “What is going on?” he asked, seriously.
Luna sighed. “Perhaps it would have been more honorable had this been a death I had to report. Balto, it’s Willow… she met a stranger, and… those pups in her belly weren’t fathered by her betrothed mate.”
The alpha remained still, not reacting straight away. Taking in all the information, he looked down at his big paws, clawing gently at the stone below as some sort of stress relief. When he looked back up at Luna again, he said: “Who is this stranger? How did he infiltrate our territory and corrupt our daughter?"
Balto's voice was low and filled with barely contained anger, his eyes narrowing as he struggled to comprehend the situation.
Luna hesitated, her bitterness masked by concern. "Willow has fallen in love with a wolf-dog named Finbar. I do not know where he came from. He fathered her pups, of which there are three; they have been born this night. I'm worried about the repercussions this will have on our pack, and on Willow herself."
Balto's expression darkened as he stood up to begin pacing, his ears flattening against his head. "That audacious wolf-dog has brought ignominy to our pack and brazenly flouted my authority. His temerity is staggering, and his actions are an affront to our very way of life."
“I know,” Luna agreed with her mate, looking to the side, remembering Finbar’s mannerisms and foolishness.
“He deserves death, there’s no argument about that. And—”
“You are damn right he does!” Balto snarled, not at her but at the situation they’d been forced to deal with.
Luna continued: “And, as much as I would love to see him brutally executed for what he has done, he is still the father of her children, your grandchildren. Perhaps exile would be a more judicious course of action, rather than...more permanent measures.”
The dark brown she-wolf would never show this to anyone else but Balto, her soft and logical nature. To Finbar, to Willow, to everyone, she seemed sturdy and immovable, apathetic to everyone that she deemed unworthy of sympathy, but to her mate she lovingly let herself be true. She desired to see the wolf-dog killed in the most horrific of ways, a cruel punishment suiting his crime, but not everything had to be done ‘by the books’, as they say.
Balto's gaze was piercing. "You are correct. It is a lenient sentence, considering his transgressions, but I cannot hurt my daughter. He is fortunate that I do not mete out a more severe punishment. As it stands, I will ensure he is banished from our territory, and that he never again sets foot within our borders."