Cedar Sweep It's strange what desire will make foolish people do

The moment she spoke, Ulrich cringed, knowing he had made a grave mistake. He had spoken far too harshly. Again. He was not used to... all of this. Being out here in the dangerous open with Adylaide, of all wolves. Normally, in a situation like this, he would be ordering around a soldier, and they would heed his orders without question. But he could not expect that from her. He must be more gentle, must modify his voice, must explain his decisions better.

He took a deep breath until he could not inhale anymore and held it for a moment or two, then slowly released. "I am sorry," he said, his voice much quieter than it had been before. "I... was too harsh with you. I am letting my fear cloud my emotions. You are still a princess to me; you always will be. But, out here, with strangers, no one but I will see you that way. It is the dead of winter. Most packs will see our presence as a nuisance, assume we want their food, which is scarce enough as it is." He kept his voice quiet, calm, reasonable, and did not look at her, his eyes on his paws. "I fear alerting anyone to our presence will only invite danger. If our pack has sent someone after us, it is almost certainly to kill you, and if we were to go and greet that pack to the northeast, and then the runner from our pack asked after us, we would be found."

He took another deep breath. "I am trying to keep you safe. In doing so, I seem to be making an ass of myself, but... I will try harder to be... gentle." He raised his head, finally looking at her. "There now. You have my reasons. However, if you still wish to speak to the pack to the northeast, then we will go and speak to them. But, my lady, I... have a bad feeling about it."