Stone Circle buddy's back!

Day's ears pushed back in concentration as a torrent of words fell from Akuti's maw. She's got a lot of lung to her, for such a little thing, he thought wryly.

"The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack," he said diplomatically, not wanting to speak well or ill of any of his packmates. It felt too much like gossip, and he just wasn't close enough with Akuti to have the same kinds of conversations as he would with Steady, Krypton, or even Remy. "We've got a good pack, and no matter how I feel about them, they wouldn't be here if they weren't worth caring for."

The words came out a little more defensively than he meant them - the fact was that he had a good opinion of all the wolves in the territory. Some were more favored than others, but he didn't think any of them needed to be spoken ill of to Akuti. The notion that she could think otherwise left an uncomfortably sour taste in the beta's mouth.