The Heartwood thief

Boone perhaps always thought he was being played in some way, which had led this opportunistic event to go awry somehow. He had no one to blame but himself, really, but he realized at the male's last words that he was being mocked as a conscious individual. In his youth he would have undoubtedly been offended; these days, Boone was not as prone to verbal dissonance.

"No," he answered immediately. "Opposite, partner. I was lookin' to have your help." It was honest enough, and Boone wasn't the type to ignore opportunity. "I thought at first that you shoulda just brought one of your lackeys along if you wanted someone to hunt for you. I kin see now that you jus' ain't about that stranger-danger life," he commented, not insultingly this time. Boone shook his head and blinked slowly, unperturbed by the Alpha's lingering stare, but he didn't see himself getting any closer to a decent meal with this guy's assistance.

He thought it was strange anyway for someone to want to be hunted for but not with in regards to a stranger; did he not want to pull his own weight and better their chances on a bigger meal as one? But he supposed helping a loner get any sort of sustenance, or sharing with one, was against the male's "code" or summat.

Boone was confused, but he could also be daft so he didn't try to know which one of them was being a fool here. It could have very well been him, after all. But in the end of things he wasn't judgmental in that way. "If you was scared, that's all you had t'say." The hybrid shrugged, turning his head west. "You have a nice night." A typical cowboy head tilt followed, and then he chose to continue in the direction he had originally been going, picking up again and re-following a stale trail of rabbit as he went.