he stands not alone

Kisu's reasons for seeking a pack were forthright enough, although Akhlut felt a quiver of uncertainty at the male's mention of leading a pack prior. He surely hadn't meant it as challenge, but Akhlut couldn't help but imagine that a former Alpha would eventually chafe under the authority of another, particularly a younger male. After a pause, the ebony Alpha decided to store that bit of information away for possible recall later on, and to let the issue slide out of mind for now.

"And what have you been doing for the pack since we've founded?" Akhlut asked, not interrogating, simply curious as to what one of his earliest recruits found to do with his days, and to what use he might be put in the pack. "Do you know anything of other packs?" What little Akhlut knew of his neighbors was brought to him on the wind, but that information was garbled and unreliable; scents he had noted passing through the lands were no longer there, while new ones came to take their place, none of them strong enough to distinguish any nearby locale as a claimed land.