Blacktail Deer Plateau How bright you shone for me tonight

She looked hurt by his involuntary reaction, and he cursed that he had made it. It wasn't her fault he didn't know how to handle himself, but it was true. Up to this point in his life, he hadn't really encountered a woman in heat, having been born in the spring and leaving his pack mid-winter. Tarin hadn't been old enough, and even if she had, sisters were different. They weren't even a remote option.

Nor was Osprey... but try telling his mind that.

"Sorry," he said, not having meant to insult or make the impression he didn't want to be in her presence. He very much would rather be anywhere else right now, but that was a sort of flustered, uncomfortable feeling about the situation, not her. He reached out to touch her shoulder, making it clear they were still good, but he still could not hide that he felt completely out of his element at the moment.

Then Saena approached, and her warning growl almost elicited a return from the Alpha automatically. He held back, though, and would allow Osprey to deal with this. Saena had every right to challenge who she saw fit, but her assertions were rather heavy-handed. If she was to challenge Osprey, she needed to know what that meant.

He would interfere if things got too out of hand, for he didn't think she would deal with her niece too harshly, but you could never really tell. Still, even though he elected to stay out, his hackles did rise. Saena's assertion was not only a challenge towards Osprey's actions, but his own as well. Instinct drove him to take offense, but it also drove him to stay out of it for now.