Hideaway Strath 4 8 15 16 23 42

Halfway between irritation and curiosity, Murdock skirted the territory that now blocked his passage through the mountains. At first, he'd thought to travel around them - why waste his breath on that high-altitude? But that'd been before he saw how far the range stretched. At his pace, it'd take a week or more just go get to the edge, and Murdock didn't want to go north either way. So he'd swung around and trotted east, only to smack right into the rather unfortunately-placed territory he was now navigating his way around.

Perhaps he would not be so irritated if the pack were one he'd be willing to join. It had even seemed promising, at first. Plenty of women and few enough males that he might have a shot - but then he smelled the children, and Lord, there was nothing he hated more than those. And, not only did there seem to already be an abundance of youth in the ranks - he'd also detected the siren-scent of a bitch in heat. Alluring to many, but absolutely repungent to Murdock. There was something about that scent - hot as it was - that made him feel like the trees were forming a cage around him.

Thanks, but no.

So Murdock swung wide around the territory, until... until he didn't. Because it was a big territory, and those mountain still seemed awfully far. Why did they have to live here, anyway? They were almost asking their land to be stepped on, the way they put themselves right in between the mountain range, and where Murdock (and many others, he was sure!) had run out of patience with the long way 'round. And now, the male was forced to move more quickly than he would've liked, as he didn't want to be caught even on these outermost fringes of the pack's land. Like many other things they ruined, children tended to have a disasterous effect on a pack's hospitality.