firebreather

Contrary to her concerns of being too informal Ariston was gladdened that she felt comfortable enough to immediately make use of his nickname...a moniker that hadn't gotten much since he'd left home. He felt that leaders typically fell into two categories: those that craved control and those that craved companionship. Ax was definitely of the latter; he wanted a group around him that were friends as much as they were subordinates.

"Haha!" he laughed when she made her oath. "You sound just as serious as Koontz!" And then promptly realizing that Pitch's lack of familiarity with the beta might make her wonder if the notion was to be taken as an insult he waved one paw dismissively and added, "Which is a good thing."

At her suggestion he nodded sagely...mentally calculating the lay of the land as best he could given the small length of time he'd had to study it. He couldn't exactly recall oodles of secret caves on his border patrol but there were at least a few small, abandoned caverns dug into the knolls of the western half of the territory. But would they flood? Would they collapse? The slew of concerns made a slight line appear between his brows and he found himself immensely troubled that the actual fates of his pack mates now depended on his ability to make decisions.

Alpha life was going to be trickier than he'd thought.

"Do you want to help look for one?" he asked as he stepped forward and nudged the smaller wolf with his nose. "A safe house for the group I mean. You can tell me about yourself along the way!"