Still heated from the other day and what went on, Kisu strutted angrily near the ridge. He mostly guarded, begging for a fight. Rarely was the male angry. Rarely. And even less did he ask for a fight; but, now, he was ready to take down the next wolf who gave him any sort of attitude.
He paced around, brow narrowed, and his body was tense. He started thinking about all of the things that had made him angry in the past; his brother killing his family. He should have known with the disapproval upon his brother's face. Inazuma had always been the one to act before he thought, and it was Kisu's fault for not seeing that. Everything was his fault. And now he was angry.
In contrast to Kisu's tightly controlled pacing, Akhlut's stride was a stroll, confident and smooth, infused with the grace of youth and underscored with a only a hint of tension, like a snake prepared to strike. It was a preparation, a sense of underlying wariness, that he was not consciously aware of and yet it was there. It was the product of mingled instinct and half-realized urges that only a female in heat could unleash upon the male brain. It put a swagger in his step.
Yet he was making every attempt to avoid Pied, uncertain if he would be able to restrain himself if he saw her and smelled her in close proximity. His right as Alpha and his loneliness as Akhlut made him susceptible, vulnerable, desirous. Rationally he felt that Pied deserved better than that. She was not a girl fit for trysting without commitment. She was a woman who deserved romancing and passion.
The apparent object of Pied's passion was, as it happened, stalking around the Ridge, clearly ready to burst if he didn't blow off steam. Holding himself a bit warily, slightly away from the older male, Akhlut chuffed once, a wordless and neutral greeting. His fur stood just faintly on end as he wondered if Kiss would take his apparent ire out on him, or remember his place as subordinate, an instinct that should override his hormones in this moment.
Kisu eyed the wolf that approached, huffing air out his nose. His stance immediately relaxed, though he fought against it, and he submitted to the Alpha, lowering himself and licking the underside of Akhlut's chin. He was tired of having to submit, and the only reason he had stayed in the pack was due to Pied, but his loyalty to Akhlut was just that: loyalty.