Emberwood Enter meteor

In the summer, when Saena, her mate, their warrior and the two Amazons had relocated to Phoenix Maplewood, they had become the sole reigning pack of the taiga. Even with the former Nova Peak settling nearby, and a third pack setting up not far from them, the maplewood was a prosperous place. In time, the wolves who had settled Jade Fern Grove left, leaving the Phoenix Maplewood pack in relative comfort.

So when Saena had heard news of a new pack settling the mountains not so far from them from Reek, she was not bothered. Though with age came uncharacteristic hostility, Reek's deal with them would ensure the maplewood would not suffer, and though they would need to tread carefully to the east and the north so as to avoid their neighbours, the entire west was still open to them.

So it was that Saena wandered the week following her heat, hiding her slight limp as best she could, out to the west. She skirted the mountains and found her way to the splendid forest beyond the wetlands, visible from her home, and it was here she froze. There was a prevalent scent of a wolf, and the Alpha female's brow furrowed into a deep glare.

She found little issue with Lost Creek Hollow and Sleeping Dragon, but the mere possibility of a third pack popping up a territory from hers unsettled her. She had no desire to be boxed into her maplewood, nor any desire for prey to be unable to reach it with three packs surrounding it on all significant sides, and so she stood resolutely. She glared into the forest, wishing for once that the force of her will alone would be sufficient to drag the culprit from the depths of the wood. She could only hope her (rather hasty) suspicion was just that, and that the fellow whose scent drifted through the Emberwood was not planning to claim it after all.

@Aaron

ooo.. got both the PHX alphas in threads it seems..

Aaron was aware that there were packs nearby. In his travels to find the perfect territory he had come across two possibilities. The one he currently planned to live in, and another further south. The one further south appeared a safer distance from all packs, but the sounds that echoed through the forest was just not at all pleasing. It would drive off wolves he hoped to bring into his pack, and that would not do. This one was peaceful and beautiful- he could only imagine the wonderful aspen trees during the fall. But for now he could only dream of it, for Fall was a few seasons away.

He made his way calmly through the trees, sniffing curiously for any lone wolves who he might stumble upon. His pale blue eyes scanned the snowy scene for the same thing, in case his nose deceived him. As it would seem, his nose may have- perhaps he was upwind- and he spotted the pale coat of what appeared to be a female before he could scent her. He watched from a distance for a moment, attempting to decide if he should approach her or not. The wind had died down and this one had a marvelous scent about her, one Aaron could hardly resist. Something about her made him think she were perhaps already claimed by another, and he reluctantly stood as he fought to approach her. Not everything must be a matter of mates, yes? But he could not convince himself such, so he remained silent and watched as she walked through, curious if she would discover him.

Saena didn't wait around long to be found. Her irritation mounted by the second and it wasn't long before she broke into the woods at a brisk pace in search of the owner of the prevailing scent. It didn't take long to find him, either. The man must've spotted her first, for she found him skulking behind a tree, which she rounded without hesitation.

"And just what do you think you're doing here?" she asked, cutting straight to the point with a tone that was icy and razor sharp. She would be able to tell from his reaction what his intentions in the wood were, she believed. She wasn't the most perceptive of wolves and fell prey to her bias quite easily, but Saena was paying close attention to every expression that passed by the male's powder blue eyes and her ears flared wide to catch even the slightest hint of hesitation in his voice.

She would know his intentions, whether she had to wring them out of him or not.

She had most definitely found him, and she did not seem happy. He raised an eyebrow, taking a step back from her in respect to his own personal space- God forbid someone he deemed less worthy than he get too close to him. She questioned him immediately, and he dipped his head to her in a respect that could only be classified as 'polite'. "I apologize," he replied calmly, her anger seeming dreadfully out of place. "I did not know that you had already claimed this wonderful place as your own," he challenged gently, obviously aware that she had not lived here.

She smelled of many wolves, right now specifically one. She must've been one of the packs nearby, and did not seem so keen on him settling him. "You don't happen to know the name of such a gorgeous stretch of woods, do you? The aspens are quite lovely." He admired her fiery attitude, but he was pretty set on this territory to claim as his own.

Such arrogance! Saena's gaze held expectantly on the rogue wolf, who not only failed to answer her question but had the audacity to attempt to change the subject. Ordinarily, the woman would've recognized that she held no authority beyond her borders, but she was wildly hormonal, having finally come of age, and exhausted to boot. These emotions combined into a perfect storm that raged in her chest and touched her eyes with sparks of frenzy, such that there could be no mistaking her ire.

And surely, Aaron didn't miss it either. The man's demeanour told her as much, yet he did not have the common sense to show even an ounce of respect to his fellow wolf, and that stoked her fire dangerously. "I asked you a question," barked the Alpha female, cutting short his words. While she may have no authority outside of the maplewood, she nevertheless was capable of commanding attention, especially now with the ferocity of womanhood burning in her. Like her mother before her, Saena was proving to be the type of wolf whose personality did a complete 180 when she came into season, and the spitfire she was always destined to be rose up fiercely. "Answer it."

Such arrogance indeed, but her persistence and bitching, if you will, gave him an irritated look about him. Whatever beauty he held her previously had washed by her obnoxious anger. She held no authority here, but he was in no mood for a fight over nothing today and so he obliged to her. He sat, not allowing her anger to both him so much that he'd lose his composure, and he watched her calmly as he could. 

"Fine, fine. Such a personality," he replied, not really hinting if it was a compliment or not. "My name is Aaron Odolf," he began, attempting to humor her with a bit of a dramatic beginning. It was probably more or less bit annoying, if anything, but she was being less than reasonable and so he didn't really care what she would think. "I plan on claiming this territory as my own as soon as I gather the appropriate amount of wolves to follow me," he returned calmly, his tail flicking gently. 

"Now, if you don't mind, I would greatly appreciate it if you knew the correct name of my future home," he added, his voice hardening slightly. 

His answer came eventually, though there was some fanfare getting to it. Saena listened impatiently until the end, when he asked about the name of the woods. She ignored his question again, and only partly because she didn't actually know the name of the woods. Her goal was a singular one—remove the wolf who sought to box in her pack—and that was where her mind remained. She was more sharply focused than usual, likely because she perceived him as a threat to the livelihood of her pack and her family.

"You will do no such thing," she retorted coldly. "This is my neighbourhood and I have enough neighbours already. I will not have you boxing my pack in. You will pick up and you will find somewhere else to live." Though there were plenty of ways to travel around the nearby packs, that wasn't at all what Saena was worried about. The scent of too many wolves in the same area would drive prey away, and being in the center of a ring of packs would put Phoenix Maplewood at a clear disadvantage. Lost Creek Hollow already got first picks from the south, and Sleeping Dragon snapped up the prey to the north. The west was the maplewood's primary source, and a fourth pack in line of it would doom the maplewood.

Considering they had been there before all the others, that simply was not an option.

Aaron smiled dully at her response, dipping his head respectfully. His response was different than his actions though. "No thank you, miss," he returned dryly, although was a bit angered that she had even bothered trying to remove him from his dream home. "I don't know where you came from or why you believe that I wish to 'box you in'," he repeated her words with much emphasis, attempting to show her how dumb he thought she sounded. "But I have no means to do so, and am only here to start my own family," he finished, his tail flicking with irritation. How dare she. He was above such petty attempts to run out strangers from their home, he had no intention to do so.

Saena hadn't expected his compliance, but of course, he had no choice really. The Phoenix Maplewood queen would not allow him to settle here no matter how set he was on it. The threat to their prey supply was an indirect threat to her devoted followers and, most importantly, to any children she might bear following her heat. Perhaps she would not bear any, but that wasn't an assumption she was willing to make, not when their hypothetical lives could be at stake.

"You misunderstand," she informed the male. "You are not welcome here. There is no room for you." The prey supply cannot sustain us all, she almost told him, but she naively believed he should innately understand that. He wasn't a wolf worth his salt if he didn't understand the prey that kept them all alive. "You will go elsewhere," she commanded, "or we will kill you if we must."

It was no empty threat. She would lead Phoenix Maplewood against him if he sought to dig in his heels. They could not afford to lose prey to a fourth pack, no matter if there was a wetland between them or not.

The woman seemed intent on this arrangement, and he could not help but let out a sigh. He did understand the prey arrangement, but to him there was plenty of space between them and therefore not an issue. Plus, had she taken the time to explore the wilds in full, she would have discovered a whole territory southwest of them that was uninhabited and rather close. The pack that Aaron wished to build really had no interest with the business of that north of them.

He stood and watched her carefully, his tail swishing from side to side as he attempted to find words to sooth her concerns. "Have you explored this area?" he asked, appearing to have changed the subject. He had not, however, and was only beginning an argument that he hoped to win her over with. While arrogant and occasionally rude, the male did not wish to make enemies so early in the process.

There would be no soothing her. The newly bloomed Saena was as an irate dragon woken from a thousand year slumber, and her ire could not be settled by words. Only Aaron's compliance would calm her. It was a simple thing, really. He had no family and no roots so moving to another locale would take minimal time and minimal effort. Conversely, Saena had roots, a mate, a pack, and a budding family to look out for. The stronger force ought to have been evident, and yet the man made another effort to change the conversation.

But Saena was not interested in his reasoning, his logic, or his fanciful language. She was interested only in his leaving the area, ensuring that the prey coming from the west would not smell him and his wolves and turn elsewhere before ever reaching the threshold of the maplewood. As a hunter by trade, the woman's concern was doubled. "So be it then," she said by way of response, taking his refusal to say, "yes, ma'am, I will go elsewhere" as a clear refusal of her command. She turned and left him, his innocent question unanswered, with barely contained rage thrumming through her veins.

So be it, indeed. If he would not leave of his own accord he would do so with their teeth in his back.

The woman was unreasonable beyond his wildest dreams, and he narrowed his eyes at her as she went. He did not want to leave, the territory was quite wonderful and there seemed no reason to move. But he did not want enemies, and upon forming a pack it would be quite small. This was a problem. Perhaps he'd travel there later in an attempt to charm her and her pack into allowing them to settle neutrally, rather than with enemies. 

Or maybe he'd just move, but he was not so easily swayed to do so. He stood with irritation as she left, his tail twitching.

oh dear. thanks for the thread <3