I go on too many dates, but I can't make 'em stay

“I believe it is. All anyone needs is one excuse to trust someone,” Ptarmigan asserted, even though Cara was likely right, at least in this case. Perhaps trust couldn't be fetched out of someone for no reason, but it could be fetched rather quickly for any single reason. In this case, Ptarmigan recognizing Cara's position in the pack and keeping her in that position more or less would make her out to be a fair and generous leader... And the trust would come with that alone. It never occurred to her that they would harbour mistrust over more than just her ascension.

“In any case, it's not for me,” she went on to say dismissively, as though she hadn't just told Cara she required her here, “but for the pack. Believe what you will, but it was not my intention coming in here to mess the whole pack up.” Admittedly, she had very few selfless concerns when it came to the pack, and fewer plans—she had impulsively taken an opportunity that came her way and had no idea what to do with it, nor why she'd wanted it in the first place—and so it was mostly bullshit, but she had to work the Beta somehow.

“If the Alpha stands alone against the ire of the pack, the whole pack suffers. Sheep need a shepherd, and shepherds need a cane.” Or, more specifically, Ptarmigan needed to coax the pack to her with honey, and Cara was her form of honey, whether or not the yearling wanted to be or complied.