A soft snort left Ragnar’s flared, black, leathery nostrils when the male responded, in an equally as calm voice, that he believed Majesty had understood the warning perfectly. There was nothing in the other man’s tone to suggest sarcasm yet Ragnar was suspicious of it all the same. Just because, as far as Ragnar was aware, the wolves had not hunted on the River or in the Forest — and technically he had included Sea Lion Shore on that list as well just to be an ass and make a point that just because they used it to traverse back and forth from the mainland didn’t make it theirs for it, too, at times had been hunting grounds for the Ridge &mdash was not enough to convince Ragnar that they were going to be good neighbors when they had made the decision to park their three ring circus on the Ridge’s doorstep. Frankly, with Pump’s death and the bear and the whole damn situation with the Isle at the very forefront of the Viking’s mind he was not in any sort of generous mood. Not to anyone, but the Isle wolves especially.
Not to mention the claim that the Ridge wolves had been trespassing by the woman who had greeted them on the Sea Lion Shore had led Ragnar to the belief that Majesty’s own wolves didn’t even know their own borders and he did not put it past the earthen kissed man to disregard the nifty little warning — the only warning he was ever going to get — from the Viking. In fact, he was lucky at the time Ragnar hadn’t been Alpha of the Ridge because the savage wouldn’t have even granted him the courtesy of a warning seeing as how Majesty had not seen fit to grant them any kind of warning that they were moving in so close.
Despite Ragnar’s animosity towards the man’s leader he lent him a ear (perhaps his time as Jarl paid off in more ways than he realized) when an introduction was given. Beric. It was a simple name, one that he felt he could speak without butchering with his accent. Too badly, at least, anyway. Ragnar did not return the courtesy; at least not yet. There was a saving grace to be found in the Isle man’s next words speaking that he was family of Julooke and Verrine. At first, Ragnar didn’t believe him but the more he thought about it, knowing that they had not given their names when they had spoken to the woman, that the only way he would likely know their names was if he was telling the truth. Silence was left to greet the man as he explained his situation and then asked for a favor of Ragnar. Permission to see them from time to time. Instantly, his suspicion rose back up like bile in his throat.
After the shit Ragnar had been dragged through lately, with the Isle’s intrusion, Pump’s untimely death, and with the blood hungry bear stalking through his land of which could strike at any of them at any given second they lingered there he almost had to laugh at the irony of being asked for a favor. As if he had any favors to give. As if he wanted to give a favor to an Isle wolf of whom did not do anything for him but threaten the lively hood of not only his pack but his children simply because eventually, they would ceased to heed his warning and be competing with them for land, literally stealing food from the mouths of his children, of the Ridge's future children.
Despite the absolute ire and bitterness of the Viking’s thoughts, of the contempt for the man’s pack he did not have the energy to throw everything he thought in the man’s face …and besides if he truly was related to Julooke and Verrine — who were two of Ragnar’s best — barring him access from the two of them would only take their trust in him away. He would have understood in that situation, being a family man, himself. There was an opportunity here, Ragnar had became aware of, perhaps, if he chose to seize it. What was the worst Beric could do? Turn him down? He couldn’t be too cruel, of course, that was if he truly wanted Ragnar’s permission to see Verrine and Julooke without being chased from their borders if he decided his loyalty was firm where it stood with Majesty.
There was always the chance that he wanted to be with his family more than a bunch of strangers, however and it was that bond that Ragnar chose to zero in on.