Silvertip Mountain Waking the Dead.

@Zaria when you have chance <3

He was near the den which held his siblings - anyone who suggested 'half-siblings' would have been mowed down by the young Beta. Mason padded up to his step-mother, wondering how this would go. His heart had been broken, but he had risen from the ashes knowing that you had to make the most of life. It could be over in a flash.

She was there, tending to the babies who needed her so much in the absence of another parent. He didn't make any pretences, and only took a moment to clear his throat before he launched into his speech. His posture was low and respectful as it needed to be, but still held authority as second in command easily. "I need to be Alpha. I want to lead alongside you, and keep this pack a family. Dad-" and his voice broke momentarily, but he coughed the bubble away. "- this is what Dad would have wanted. Us to stand as a family against those around us." Krypton's warning words flashed in his mind - packs were surrounding them, possibly ready to move in. With puppies to look after, Mason didn't want to just be a Beta anymore - he was fully invested in Silvertip. He was asking Zaria as a courtesy more than anything else. She had been Dad's love, and Mason's love. Nothing bonded a father and son more than love for each other, besides love for another. Although he didn't love her anymore, he would not lose his birthright merely due to her mateship to his Dad. The mountain belonged to Silvertip wolves. Mason was a pure-blood. Her children were half-blood. She was a muggle.

He had already decided the action he would take if she refused. He gave nothing away in his mask of a face - emotionless, but hopeful. Finally, Mason had learned to grow up. "Will you have me?"

A kernel of feeling began to blossom in his heart, but he couldn't yet determine what emotion was there, as he waited on her response. He wasn't asking her to stand down, merely to stand alongside him in his birthright, if she could honour FitzDutiful's wishes.