There never was one

05/24, on the edge of Neverwinter Forest bordering Silvertip Mountain. @Jinx

The sky graduated from brilliant turquoise and royal to royal and navy and finally intensive pitch when the hours turned small. He brushed along the outskirts of the stately conifers with a powerful, enduring stride and took on a predatory presence, prowling doggedly for a chance glimpse of bright white fur against the stark black of night. Very little breeze in the cool morning air meant detecting her by scent was strictly limited by proximity, but he made no move to call immediately for the alpha female and neither did his large, capable paws stray haphazardly close to her border.

Over a month had passed since her open invitation for him to join her on the mountain, and in that time Bagheera had toured the Wilds for himself and come to the unwavering conclusion that there was nowhere else he wanted to be. It hadn’t been his purpose to secure that opinion, but it was where his travels and shrewdness had gotten him. At this point in his life, as general convention tended to go, he should likely have settled down with a mate and excessive numbers of children in a pack of his own, but he’d gone quite another route.