Porcupine Ridge For a mother, a brother and me

Overlapping the markings of the Ryujin wolves was inevitable—their neighbours had placed their claim so close that one need hardly nudge a stone to cross it—but his aim was primarily on his own scent markers. That urine sprinkled the Ryujin wolves' markers was incidental. Farstep was many things, but unfair was not one of them; he would not have sought to urinate directly over their neighbour's marks unless he was trying to incite a battle, which he was not. The pungent aroma of fresh urine overpowered both sides, though, such that marking his borders served the purpose of erasing, or at least minimizing, the scent of the neighbouring clan, at least momentarily.

As it turned out, Ryujin's wolves were far less fair. He did not recognize the woman from the thundering peak as she neared, not until her scent tickled his nose. He narrowed his eyes as she inspected the split border, but it was with outrage and offense that they widened when she squatted right over his marking and urinated completely over it.

His lips pulled back, his whiskers cropped close to his nose, and he stepped forward to toe his pack's borderline, snarling in the woman's face a brash warning that said, back off. Even if he had been as brash as Asterr, Farstep would still have responded this way. She had encroached on Ridge territory with her claim and, for him, had no right to expect respect from the wolves whose presence she had disregarded. They were here first.

Farstep held his defensive, affronted posture until Taggarik arrived, shouldered past him and stood toe-to-toe with the female himself. The beta withdrew slightly, turning himself cross-wise to guard his alpha's flank, with face still contorted into a warning snarl.