Blackfeather Woods How deep is your love?

Akela groaned and put his ears back in flat annoyance.  "I am not. It's common to chew this ...helps with the digestion as well. You just know nothing Bobtail, so shut up" he replied and stuck his tongue out.  He made a face. Was he high? Maybe a little.  "Maybe, but that's beside the point, you tried to kill me by getting me to choke on these...I shall not forget it !" he dramatically stated and let himself fall to the side , his body trembling with laughter.

When he sat back up however, his smile vanished. She was no surrogate, she was his mate. He was either too high and saw another subtext here, or he was not enough and got the underlining message. He swallowed. He remembered the day Catori had told him she was pregnant. He was organizing the meat reserves when she just went *put some aside for us*  and he had been so confused that it made her laugh for minutes on before he understood what she meant. The happiness he had felt that day, the pride of being her mate, the father of their future children... that swelling in his heart now ached.  He lost it all, before even having it. Lost in relieving past memories, he had zoned out what Burke might have said or not. This was a mistake, he should leave shortly, he knew he should, yet he did not find it in him to tell Burke so. This was no game, and while he had not explicitly stated that he would stay, he could not just spit in the hospitality that has been given to him.  "Mh? ... Outrider is fine by me. Just put me where you are lacking paws. " he spoke quietly. "I am your warden.. made you the promise of having your back, that's what I'll continue to do as well, when I'm here" he added with a certain hardness in his voice, as if he was trying to avoid something that had not even happen yet.