Muriel snapped awake to hear the sound of the Beta female talking to her and her slumbering companion. Embarrased. she quickly jumped up, swiping a paw over her eyes, trying to wip the sleep from them.

"I'm so sorry," she mumurmed, keeping her eyes down. She felt absolutely humiliated. How could she sleep in? She almost never slept in, usually waking with the dawn. And the soft tone of the beta only felt patrionizing. Muriel heaved a soft sigh, licking her chest fur to try to distract herself. Her sleepy brain caught up, and for a moment, she held Mairea's eyes.

"A hunting party, you said?" She asked, still in a soft tone. The male that was behind the Beta seemed like a nasty one, looking like he'd like to bite her snout of, and she gave him an unfriendly look. "I'm sorry for oversleeping," she said again. "I proise it won't happen again. I'm ready when you are."

Malumbra | Female | Warrior | Lunar Pack | M: Keefe [d], Xola [ind], Ghost [ind], Lunar Pack [ind]

Malumbra's eyes betrayed her confusion and surprise as Keefe's posture changed from relaxed to tense and upset. "I.." she said as he got up and began padding away, her mind whirling. She honestly hadn't expected him to react as he did, except for with the wound, but she would go through much worse before she went to Xola, not since what she'd seen that morning.

While she almost regretted telling him all she had, the feel of him leaning against her fur, and the lick he had given her quickly convinced her she'd done the right thing. Her heart was still beating fast at the protectiveness and affection she had seen in his gaze, she hadn't known he still felt so strongly for her, even if it was just as a friend.
But would it really help to have him speak to the pack? Of course they respected him, but she could just imagine the painfully polite conversations that would follow, and the pup's terrified eyes when they would look at her, afraid they would get punished for saying something.

With a quick decision she bounded after him, "Keefe" she called, waiting for him to stop so she could catch up, "I..I don't want you talking to the whole pack about it" she said, glancing away from his intense eyes "It won't help" she continued softly, "You know it won't. The only thing that would ever help would be if I.. " she immediately stopped, blushing at the words that were going through her mind.

If I challenged Ghost and took her position.

There was no way she could come right out and say that, it was too serious to just throw around flippantly. But the more she thought about it, the more appealing the idea was. To wake up beside Keefe every morning, to no longer have the wolves ignoring her, they would see that she wasn't just her scar, that she was so much more.
Hesitantly, her voice growing stronger as she spoke, she stared straight into Keefe's eyes. "The only thing that would help truly would be me challenging Ghost."

There. It was out, finally, what she'd been wanting to say for weeks, months even, was finally out. A wave of relief swept over her, and the sense of a great weight being lifted.
But what would Keefe think? What if he said he didn't want her there beside him? What if he was so shocked by what she'd said that he demoted, or even exiled her?
Her eyes slipped to the ground again as she waited with bated breath for his answer to her shocking, and literal, proposal.

Malumbra | Female | Warrior | Lunar Pack | M: Keefe [d], Ghost [d], Lunar Pack [d]

Malumbra closed her eyes as she waited, an apology ready on her lips, when Keefe suddenly spoke in a shocked and panicked tone. She winced, yes, she knew the risks, and she knew it was crazy for a warrior to challenge an Alpha outright, without moving further up in the ranks first.
Before she could apologize and brush the idea away before any action was taken, Keefe spoke again. And what he said shocked and amazed her to her core, making her jerk her head up and staring at him in disbelief.

Keefe, the Alpha Male, cared for her, not just as a friend? He wanted her to be beside him every day, and to have his pups?
An overwhelming amount of joy spread through her body, outweighing the doubt she'd had about the challenge. For a chance to be with him, she would go through anything. Even if it meant exile at the end of the day, it was worth it to have tried.

"Keefe" she said softly, stepping forward to stop his pacing. "I can do it. Now that i know how you feel about me, i'll do anything to be with you." she said, her voice sure, love that she'd never dared to show finally shining through her golden eyes. "As long as you believe in me, she will not triumph."

After a moment she tore her gaze away from Keefe, focusing on the Alpha's den, where Ghost no doubt lay within, her eyes hardening with surety. She began padding towards it, each step firm and solid, no faltering in her gaze or movement.
Stopping in the clearing just in front of the Alpha's den, she raised her head and let out a challenging deep howl, getting the entire packs attention.

Taking a deep breath she stood tall, ears and tail forward in the position of dominance, eyes focused and intense as she faced the dark opening. "I, Malumbra, Warrior of the Lunar Pack do here and now challenge Ghost for the rank of Alpha Female."

Clovis || Male || Nightlock Pack || Warrior || M: Hymir, Nightlock Pack (Ind), Open

A brown figure sat at the edge of camp, glaring out over a sea of colors and shapes. His usually fluffy fur clung to his form from the humidity, hiding his prominent muscles more so than normal. His crooked tail swishes back and forth awkwardly in annoyance – scattering moss from his former nest about the area. Some of this moss stuck to his fur from time to time, but was quick to fall off after another shake or two. A grumble left his throat as he sneered, showing off long and slightly yellowed fangs.

His dark eyes narrow further than before, their milky centers constricting slightly as he did so. He could barely make out anything right now. The world was blurry – hazy, even. A mesh of moving, colorful blobs that never ceased from their insistent chatter. The occasional clouds did not help him in this matter either. They only made things worse. What would have been a world of bright, easy-to-see browns, whites, and blacks, now became dull and – in a way – lifeless. Most blended in with the foliage around them, now that the shimmering greens now carried the same tint of gray as them.

However, sight was not the only sense he had. Just as any other wolf, he had others – and they were notorious for being much better than his sight. Even back in the day, when he could still see properly. His ears flickered about a semi-rapid speed, listening to the conversations of many of those in camp. While he held no particular interest in them, gathering a few interesting tidbits of information here and there to make someone tick would be fun.

I could really go for some violence right now, Clovis licks one of his still exposed fangs before covering them once more, it may just take off the edge I need.

Finding nothing of interest in the conversations he could “peak” in on, he turns his attention to another one of his favored senses. Lifting his schnoz into the air, he takes a deep breath of air – closing his useless eyes in the process. Carried on the wind was the promise of rain – much to his great displeasure – along with the usual scents of his pack. The odd scent of flowers and herds were present as well, but he wanted nothing to do with those unless they came from his sister. Besides that, there wasn’t anything of interest in the immediate area. His annoyance grew at this. He wanted action. Arguments. Violence! Not some sappy get together of wolves who were too “paranoid” to start anything.

The grumbles from before eventually grew into full blown, resonating growls that would be hard to miss by most in the area. Finally standing up, the leaf-littered male begins walking over where he could only assume a certain someone would be. If he didn’t move within a certain period of time, that is. While that whiff had no viable form of… entertainment, it did grant him the information of everyone’s general location. So, what better thing to do than bug a certain nephew of his into causing issues going on patrol with him (if they were needed, that is).

Utilizing what sight remained within the male’s reddish-brown eyes, he slowly padded his way over to where the scent of his nephew had first come from – pausing every once and again to check for any signs of possible movement. If he crossed paths with anyone, he didn’t care. He just passed by them without any regard for personal space, or blatantly ignored any sort of conversation or order they may have been attempting to make. If not both.

Upon reaching the form of his nephew he grew… slightly disappointed. Looking down at the young male with a raised “eyebrow” and flattened ears, Clovis stares down at a not-so-blurry, slumbering Hymir. Yeah, he wasn’t going to stand for this. Sitting back down, he proceeds to “gently” poke the black wolf with his paw – right below his ribs.

“Hymir. Hymir! Get up,” he probs him harshly in the side once more after getting no response, “Get. Up. You’re sleeping the day away, you lazy mutt. Don’t make me bring a certain someone in to wake you.”