Although he’d learned to tolerate the sunlight better since settling back into the valley, the night was still favoured. He moved through the valley and considered stopping by the whelping den he’d dug with his friend, but found his legs carrying him towards the entrance instead. Figuring he might as well knock out a patrol before settling in for the night—or, more likely, finding something else to occupy his time with—his pace was brisk and unyielding, up until he caught a whiff of someone; he slowed to a steady trot, ears swiveling to pick up on the approaching steps.

Before long, he saw the outline of another, who he realised soon after belonged to Indra. He did not make to change his path, but proceeded towards her and let out a soft chuff. Should she not stop him to talk, he’d likely continue right past her.

The face he once saw as belonging to someone he must protect from further harm morphed ever so slowly into something recognisable. Gone was the broken girl, her body long since mended—save for the tail that could never be replaced—and her attitude raging. She was no longer the quiet one of the sisterly duo, a realisation he was forced to make as she strode towards him and then back—and right there came the steady flow of words, the edge like a razor blade as her voice sliced through the air. The way in which she stared, eyes harbouring the frigidness of his bloodline’s origin, set his hackles to raising and muscles tensing; her comment, so terribly straightforward, took him not by surprise, though the tone of her voice did have his tail sickling over his back as a reminder—this valley was his and her words were unwelcomed.

Upwards rose her muzzle and immediately he flashed his incisors, a silent warning; the intentions behind the gesture would remain forever unknown to him, yet his perception painted her display as something far from tolerable. But she continued to speak and he, for whatever reason, listened—but the words had no effect on him, aside from the furthering of his agitated state. “There is no us when it comes to you and Laurel—I didn’t have sex with you, I wouldn’t have sex with you,” his voice was low and accompanied by several stiff-legged steps towards her; at this point, he’d taken notice of his wife as she drew up alongside him, though he did little more to acknowledge her presence than offer a flick of his ear. His attention was focused solely on Indra, whose words suggested something that would never quite reach reality.

“Laurel is not my mate and she never will be because that’s not something either of us want—we’re friends and we’re both content with that.” Perhaps he should not have spoken for her, perhaps he should have spoken with her prior to deciding anything, but as far as he knew, Laurel had no romantic interests in him and he wasn’t going to try and force something that wasn’t there—not again. “And I am enough to fill all leadership positions. There is no alpha female or even a pair of betas—there’s only me and it’s going to stay that way until I say otherwise.” This was his valley, his home, his pack to control. He would not share that power with anyone that was not his and his alone, because he would not let himself have the throne be torn out from underneath him like the pallid king before him.

Alexander took a moment to steal a glance in his companion’s direction, her advancement forward making it nearly impossible to not offer some piece of his attention to her—but it lingered for but a mere moment, hardly enough time for him to even blink, before lurching back over to Indra. His body went rigid and he drew himself up to his full height, staring down at the fiery girl as if daring her to take another step forward. “What I do for Laurel doesn’t concern you so stand down and back off,” he ordered, voice like gravel as he fought back a growl. There was much that he tolerated, spanning from the crude comments and overall insulting nature of her words towards him and his companion as of late, but to be approached so casually and then chastised? He could not allow such behaviour to continue, not when, to onlookers, it was a challenge made against him perhaps not as a leader but definitely as a man—and being the wolf that he was, he had to put an immediate end to it.

There was an immediate change to her posture and it calmed the male if only slightly, feeling his point to have been made and status heard. But that was not where their interaction was meant to end, that was not where the words would stop flowing from either of their mouths. She had more to say and, again, he listened—where this patience, however thin it was, had stemmed from, he couldn’t tell. It was there, though, and offered him the ability to not only hold his tongue for a short while but, also, rein himself back in and hide teeth behind lips; they made a brief appearance moments later, a flicker of white, at the suggestion that he wasn’t good enough—that her comment on Laurel deserving better went so much deeper than that, he was unaware.

But that all meant little to him after hearing the word leave.

Anger flared and his lips twitched but, ultimately, it was his worry that won out. “You won’t leave,” he stated—nearly commanded, even. “Laurel said she’d stay here, so she’s going to stay, especially since she’s carrying my… my children.” Saying that threw him off for a moment, the full weight of the matter crumbling down over him similar to how it had when he’d realised Reigi was with young. Forcing the thoughts from his head, he focused back on the fiery girl. “You’re not taking them away from me—or Laurel.” Although he did not love her, not like he did his wife, he did care for her. She was his friend and he wasn’t going to let her, or their children, leave.

Attention fled towards the raven, though his gaze flitted back and forth between them; whilst Indra was clearly riled, the other woman was relatively calm, but he sided with neither despite what that little voice in the back of his head told him. “Enough,” the albino ordered, staring down the tailless female, before swinging his head towards his mate, too. “Both of you.” Though the way she postured was not threatening, her no didn’t help the situation. And although he liked hearing her voice, he wanted to diffuse the situation as best he could and avoid any further confrontation before things escalated beyond his control.

Alexander did not speak again, did not address either of them. He looked between the females as more words were exchanged, but did not open his mouth in order to interject words of his own; it seemed to him as if things would never be as settled as he’d like for them to be, and that was something he’d need to learn to live with, even if he could not stand it. He only watched as Reigi wandered away, staring after her until she was no longer visible, and then turned his gaze back to Indra. “We’ll continue this later,” was all he said before turning in the direction opposite to Reigi—and Indra, too, hopefully—and heading off.

He was in desperate need of a break from all women in general, at this point.