Horizon Ridge pride comes before the fall

For @Pied and set after her attack, obviously. =)

It was the scent of Pied's blood upon the beach that snapped him out of it. He'd gotten the crazy idea that he could lead from a distance, be the benevolent but ultimately distant Alpha who supposed the pack would run itself without much interference on his part. He'd filled his days with spiritual treks up the mountainsides, with the gyrfalcon wheeling overhead, its black-speckled form urging him onwards. He'd turned inward, instead of outward, seeking to improve himself but failing to improve the pack. So he took it as a personal fault when harm befell one of his most valued members, and he hadn't been there to stop it, to witness it, or to tend to her wounds afterward. He followed the smell of blood to her den, and lingered there, and left without announcing himself, ashamed to admit he'd failed her.

In another life, perhaps they would have met sooner, and been in love. Akhlut admired the woman who'd come to his pack pursuing love, and was a bit envious that it was Kisu with whom she shared her life; a strong yet gentle-spirited female like Pied was the sort who deserved to lead alongside him. Yet they were happy, and he would never disturb that domestic peace. Surely the pair would be angry enough at him for permitting her injury, and for not coming to her side immediately, and for his own self-absorbed hermeticism in recent days. He had a lot to ask them to forgive him for, for together they were two of his most loyal followers, and they deserved better than his recent behavior.

With all these faults and guilts inside his head it was a wonder he had the strength to carry with him a leg of deer when he mustered the courage to return to Pied's den the next morning. Yet carry it he did, and he rallied himself to announce his presence with a low chuff of a bark as he lay the deer meat upon the snow-dusted ground. "Pied? Kisu?" He didn't even know whether to ask, is anyone home? Surely Pied could be no where else, if her blood upon the shore was evidence of the severity of her wounds. It's me, Akhlut, wouldn't come out of his mouth unless it were followed by your good-for-nothing worthless incompetent Alpha. He certainly couldn't ask is it alright to come in? for he felt surely that in his case it was not alright, as his nerves were twisting his stomach gleefully and wretchedly and he didn't think the closed space of Pied and Kisu's home would be a good cure for his roiling nausea. He finally settled on, "Pied, I'm so sorry." He left it at that, shuffling his paws and lowering his head, a Sun Prince in disgrace.