Ouroboros Spine He's heading out the door

Ice crept into her voice, the way frost might grow across the glassy surface of a lake, flaking out into silver ferns. He could feel the tension which he himself had breathed into being the moment he had crossed a trail left behind by the dark panther on his way to Kukutux's ulaq. The kind alpha was not without fangs, of course, and he had never believed her to be soft as a feather without also having a quill. He felt reluctant to speak, knowing that he might be fanning flames that he had kindled- but it would do none of them any good, he thought, if he chose to smother it all now with the weight of silence. 

Something had tipped him off about Raimo the first time he'd met him. Now, though, they had sized each other up, like stags raising their antlers to show off the sharpness of their tines. There would be no more whirling like cloaked toreadors- the sword had been unsheathed, and he had felt its edge nick his skin and draw blood to the surface. That blood now coursed through his veins as he was drawn forth to confess. Had he been more removed from the entire ordeal, he might have criticized himself for running to the alpha to tattle on his packmate...But when he was this deeply concerned, it felt more like delivering a warning, than anything else. 

"He stated his intentions to claim you, when I first met him." He said. He knew that he hadn't told this to Kukutux when they had spoken at length last, and he now regretted not voicing his concern earlier. "Both of you. I thought it...Wrong, as Sialuk is young." He admitted. If only he'd mentioned this earlier. Perhaps something might have become of it- perhaps Kukutux might have already been warned, and perhaps she wouldn't have allowed the shadow to persist the way they did in the North, where the shadows were long even at noon. "He claims, now, you have chosen him to father the future of the pack, through you." He said. But hurriedly, he continued, with more haste than he was used to speaking. "Though if it is true-" He said, realizing just then that speaking in haste often meant that thoughts weren't completely formed, and that he didn't have a conclusion set out. "I...This is your choice, as you have said. I am still learning your ways, and I do not know what is acceptable but..." He didn't want to tell her that Raimo speaking like that might ruin her reputation. He felt that that might imply that he would think less of her if it was true, and he thought it was best not to make those sorts of judgements. Instead, he posed a question. "Has he offered you a bride-price?" He asked. As far as he knew, that was the way of things. And it was the most subtle way he could think of to ask if perhaps, Raimo had stated his intentions, in the way he had been told to.