Duskfire Glacier We stood eye to eye with violence and it blinked first

The wolf who came to bar his way smelled like anything but the wolves present here, which stumped Aventus enough that he hesitated to attack. He was prepared for a sentry from Duskfire Glacier and was prepared to tear the flesh from their shoulder or leg in a low sweep, but he wasn't prepared for some unaffiliated wolf to come marching out of the pack's claimed territory to accost him. That was new, and bizarre.

The rest happened quickly: Apisi's growled address drew the attention of two Duskfire wolves to Aventus' location. The Bruin-jaw silently cursed the brazen loner — if not for Apisi, he might have gone further in, being a wolf of the shadows as he was — and the snarled addresses, while aimed at his companion, sent Aventus cleverly skirting back toward the borders. This guy had evidently been mucking around in their territory longer than the Bruin-jaw, which made him the greater threat to the pack wolves.

A wide and wicked grin pulled the corners of his face after he turned away. Apisi could fight that battle alone. Aventus would leave and contemplate the guardians of the glacier. A brute, not unlike Easthollow's former patriarch, which he took to mean the man was slow and wide in his maneuvers when compared with Aventus. The other was a more compelling match for an Ursus wolf, more lean and wiry than his bulky companion, but talkative when action should preside. No other sentries in sight.

Yes, these wolves would make easy sport, he surmised, but not today, not thanks to Apisi, who Aventus promptly abandoned to face Duskfire's wolves alone.