Nursery
AS YOU PAD THROUGH THE STONES and follow the scent of young pups, you find a small rock den covered under a tree root. You dig your way in and come across a few pregnant and nursing wolfesses.
A red-coated puppy rushes up to you, while a black one hides under its mother's tassel. You lower your head to show you are not here to threat anyone.
Once a queen realizes you mean no harm, she approaches you, wagging her tail a little. "Welcome. You shouldn't be here at all, but I do not underestimate your choices. What are you here for? If you are not adopting a pup today, you shouldn't stay here. Our pack leaders will catch your scent eventually. So, adopt or leave." The female says in a quiet yet threatening tone.
You turn your head in a confusing way. Adopt? Wasn't a pack's bloodline supposed to be clean? "Oh, I understand your confusion. The problem here is that we are wolves, and wolves have very few opportunities of food. And when we do get these opportunities, we feed ourselves as soon as possible. But there will not always be food for the entire pack, and more pups means more mouths to feed. Here, we keep the pups that will be valuable for us in the future, such as hunters and scouts, and re-home the ones which are not so useful."
"Yes, it is sad, indeed, but we try our best. If these pups reach two months and weren't yet reserved by a wolf who travels around these areas, we don't have any choice other than abandoning them. Most of them do not survive, but we must prioritize the strongest. Now, are you still taking a pup?"
You decide to give the queen's idea a try and nod your head slightly. "Great. Have a look around, something might catch your eye. Most of them are born from our male pack leader, so their lineage should be completely clean for your pack to take in. Just consider these rules, please."
The queen leads you to the den's wall, which had an old-seeming paper stroll which read a few rules for pup adoption. If you would like to have a puppy from here, you should read this.
CODEWORDS
★ = will be chased next rollover