The sky graduated from brilliant turquoise and royal to royal and navy and finally intensive pitch when the hours turned small. He brushed along the outskirts of the stately conifers with a powerful, enduring stride and took on a predatory presence, prowling doggedly for a chance glimpse of bright white fur against the stark black of night. Very little breeze in the cool morning air meant detecting her by scent was strictly limited by proximity, but he made no move to call immediately for the alpha female and neither did his large, capable paws stray haphazardly close to her border.

Over a month had passed since her open invitation for him to join her on the mountain, and in that time Bagheera had toured the Wilds for himself and come to the unwavering conclusion that there was nowhere else he wanted to be. It hadn’t been his purpose to secure that opinion, but it was where his travels and shrewdness had gotten him. At this point in his life, as general convention tended to go, he should likely have settled down with a mate and excessive numbers of children in a pack of his own, but he’d gone quite another route.

The panther was nearing the point when he would choose to slink back into the more complete darkness of the forest to secure a few hours of sleep before dawn when his watchful gaze fixed wholly on a distant motion. In the hazy light of the moon her polar-white fur exposed her progression towards him along the edge of the trees, and his stride did not transition from its stalwart momentum until he came upon her, close enough to pause. Her timing was exceptional, though her disposition was hardly what he had expected to find when his eyes cast over her steely features.

In a darkly brusque turn from their previous meeting, she acknowledged him with bristling hackles that trailed her entire length. None of it would catch the seasoned and strapping male flat-footed, however, and he met it evenly with a sternly vigilant countenance and a few briefly prickled guard hairs of his own which he smoothed far more easily than she would hers. Jinx, he drawled deeply, what a pleasure to see you. His words might have seemed an outright contrast to his manner, but they were meant to be genuine. He had known the mighty Kesuk had such a side to her, and there was a curious bit of him that was thoroughly interested as he watched it rear its head now.

His timing was a matter of perspective, and he would have expressed it himself as long overdue. Listening as she divulged the basis for her seething indignation as he saw her then, Bagheera briefly regretted that he hadn’t arrived on the mountain’s border sooner as he’d originally intended, but he was far more certain and informed in the capacity he presented now, having done a round of the Wilds as a free agent without the scent that could otherwise have been traced back to her. He’d lingered as he’d pleased and consumed all he’d needed.

It was as well that she’d forgotten scraps of their previous encounter if she hadn’t interpreted quite correctly. Your offer is why I’m here, he affirmed without hesitation and his eyes set on her exquisite Amazonian features. Jinx Kesuk, you may have whatever you need of me. Her mountain would be guarded with wild ferocity and a stern logician’s eye, and those who followed her waywardly and did not measure up would be forced to become fit for their places within the pack or be forced out, as far as he was concerned.

He easily caught every outward signal she offered and found he was pleased that she’d eventually softened at his presence. Despite the fact that they had only met once before, he counted himself a very good judge of character and highly proficient in picking interesting individuals out of a sea of dull, shallow breaks. She was a force to be reckoned with, for better or worse, and he stepped into place at her side as though they hadn’t actually parted ways well over a month ago.

Frankly, I didn’t intend to consider guarding anyone else’s mountain, he said with a rumble of amusement. You had my foremost attention the moment I offered it. I only took the time to survey the region with particular emphasis paid to the pests you mentioned. Those I found, at any rate, he murmured deeply, feeling no need to explicitly state the absence of the Vale wolves when he assumed she would already knew they were no longer there. He then cast his gaze sidelong at her as they walked. It seems I missed your founding party. I meant to bring a gift in acknowledgement of it, but I’m afraid you’ve found me empty-handed. The forest has been quiet this evening.

Bagheera was not surprised to learn that the white tigress was mated and had at least one child, but some idea on some conscious level was certainly dashed by the knowledge. The virile DeMonte male made no show of it because he had barely given it a moment of his notice, but the intention of settling into an existing pack did not come without hesitancy brought on by biology. It was interesting in itself that the urge had skittered away when he’d been a lone wolf, when his blood had burned vibrant and youthful as it coursed through his veins in its stead, but that it now skulked back into hazy view on the threshold of the mountains foothills. Jinx, it had been established, was irrelevant in relation to the potential he appeared to be willing to shirk.

He was impeccably attentive to her answer and there was barely a pause before he began his follow-up. Then why do you keep her? he asked incisively with a raised brow in response to the lack of trust she had in one of her members. With the rest of the names she gave him the impression that she had a formidably close circle of devoted followers, but the last only came off as a second mistake waiting to happen.