Snowdrop woke the next morning; she tip toed around her sleeping cubs and went to the entrance of the den. She tilted her head when she found no meat waiting for her and looked around for Nightrush. She poked her head out of the den and pulled it back in immediately afterwards, the scent of blood was mingled with death. She whined as she left the den and froze seeing a black lump of fur against a tree. She walked towards him cautiously and nudged him gently, he didn't respond. Panicking now she padded in a circle around him checking for his breathing and signs that he was still alive, she didn't find any. Snowdrop closed her eyes, lifted her muzzle and howled her grief for the whole of Slough Creek to hear. Her mate was gone and she was all alone
She quickly checked the cubs were safe inside the den before she grabbed Nightrush's scruff and dragged him away to be buried. She gazed sadly at his body as she kicked dirt over his grave until she could no longer see him. When she returned to her den she made a split decision, Nightrush had died protecting them and whatever had killed him had probably made its territory here. She carried her cubs out of the den one by one, they still shouldn't be old enough to travel but she wasn't taking any chances. She knew there was a decent den site nearby but not too close to clash, she did wonder if she had the strength to raise her little ones. Without Nightrush she didn't stand a chance against bears. It took a lot longer to transport her cubs as she was the only one running back and forth and she was terrified a predator would snatch them up so she moved quickly so by the time she reached the new den she was exhausted and could barely lift her head to nuzzle her cubs
Raising 4 cubs on her own was incredibly difficult, Snowdrop couldn't bear to leave them behind for too long so hunting had to be quick and easy and small. She would wake up, feed them with whatever she had left then go out to hunt whilst they stayed inside, she hoped, then fed them again. She watched them grow and noticed changes in her cubs, even though a good meal was hard to find they all were developing quite nicely. It wouldn't be long before they could make the journey to the summer den. Till then Snowdrop wasn't sure what they were going to do, fortunately there had only been one sighting of coyotes and she killed the first one to try and get closer to her family but it wouldn't last, she was sure of that.
Shorter chapter this time due to key event