Sunbeam Lair Make me think I am bitter, to consider it this far

As the wee hours of the day came to a close, Gray contemplated calling it quits for the night and just heading back to the lair. He had spent most of the day cleaning up a path he frequented by removing some of the low hanging branches, and fallen logs. Many of the obstacles where much too heavy for him to move on his own, but the amount that he had done was at least a start. All in all he felt he had a fairly productive day, but still wanted to finish cleaning up the last portion of the path before heading in for the night. Besides he was only a couple minutes at most away from the den, if some danger arose in the night, he felt confident in his ability to get to safety.
 
As Gray struggled pulling at a particularly large fallen branch, the smell of Asterr coming from up wind alerted him of her arrival well before he saw or heard her. Continuing the labor of moving the lumber making slow but sure progress it wasn’t long before he could make out the form of his Chieftess as she came towards him. He hadn’t seen her much since she had taken him out to gather burdock root,  but most recently she had been busy with her pups. After he heard about them he had felt rather awkward and tried to stay clear of Asterr and her children, even going as far as to sleep outside the den some nights. Gray just didn’t feel like he was ‘really a member of the pack’ and thus did not think it would be acceptable for him to be hanging around there young. Never the less Asterr was on her way towards him now, and despite him feeling he was worrying over nothing, he still feared what she might say.