Phoenix Maplewood Last Man Standing

From the sounds of things, Esaro simply didn't know what he wanted. It was a compromising position for any wolf to be in and, most importantly, it made him a bit of a wildcard. While Saena liked to know what was going on in the heads of her subordinates, there was no point in pushing the matter with him. The only one who could decide was himself.

"If you sacrifice your own happiness," she pointed out, "then you still can't say everyone is happy because you aren't. There's a point where your happiness is more important. Otherwise, you'll be taken advantage of, or driven to resentment." This, she fully believed. It would be painfully easy to take advantage of a wolf like Esaro, something Saena was unaware that Reek and Tavi had done on numerous occasions. She herself had no intentions of such a thing, but she couldn't help but to worry that being easily influenced would make him the Phoenix's weakest link.

Perhaps it made him stronger. It wasn't something she could say for sure, but whatever the case, she both admired and was concerned about Esaro's assertion that things could always work out positively. For Saena, that world view was long dead and gone. She'd seen too many negative things to believe it anymore. "Not all alphas give," she said as she stood and stretched, "some take and think only of themselves, and they do make poor leaders. But an alpha who does nothing but give also makes a poor leader, for that alpha will not do whatever it takes for the sake of his pack. The strongest leaders are those who know when to give and when to take. Sometimes, you can't be the nice guy if it means harming your pack." With a shrug, she left him to think on that with a quick dismissal of, "I've got to check the borders, though. It's been nice talking, and you should consider counseling—it suits you, no matter if you think it's not for you. But I'll see you around."