My ex man brought his new girlfriend

She watched him carefully as he responded. It wasn't really much a secret between them that Ptarmigan was probing, and not very pleasantly at that. To goad him into anger would only reveal things to her that she couldn't otherwise know, and that was what the Endore most wanted from their exchange. Yet Kaname was proving unflappable. It was a good quality, at least, and seeing as he retained his position as the most respectable wolf beneath herself (by her good will, she told herself), it was a welcome quality in her eyes.

“She will prove herself or leave,” Ptarmigan said at last, rolling her shoulders into an uncaring shrug. It wasn't much of a threat—had the new Alpha intended to oust the old one, she would have done it in the heat of battle rather than exiling her later—but it was nevertheless true. She suspected the youth would prove herself after the wounds of her shattered ego had scabbed over, and at that point, perhaps she would make the memory of her dead leader proud.

When Kaname asked after Andrus and Viggo, Ptarmigan smiled wryly. “You'd have to ask them,” she quipped with a little laugh. “They have free will. I bet they're close.” Both men had proven themselves loyal, and neither had been on a leash to begin with. They had watched as Ptarmigan deposed a rightful heir and had done nothing to aid said rightful heir. Maybe none of them had straight moral compasses after all.