Noctisardor Bypass the night is long

sorry for the wait

Connal listened to Arbiter without speaking, waiting for her to finish everything she was saying. He nodded at the mention of Kaertok. “I would happily spar with Kaertok to prove my worth, if not necessarily to move up in rank. I…” He hesitated, but if he were going to live with these people, he needed to be honest. “I have no interest in a position of power. I tried that once and it did not… well, it did not go as planned.” He cringed inwardly, remembering the wounds he had received in the fight against an ass who thought himself worthy of leadership. Yet Connal had been the one to lose that fight. What that said about himself he wasn’t sure; all he knew was that he had no wish to test anyone else’s mettle for quite a while.

Is there anything you might want to know? Arbiter asked, bringing him back to the present.

“Well…” He hesitated again, trying to phrase his question carefully in his mind first so as not to come across as judgmental. “What… what sort of values, other than loyalty and betterment, does this pack hold? I only ask so that I may know if I will truly be of use here.” He hoped that was good enough phrasing, for he did not wish to come across negatively to a prospective alpha.

As the question left his lips, a large male came to stand beside Arbiter—her mate? Mate or no, Connal politely and deferentially dipped his head in greeting, then glanced back toward Arbiter to hear the answer to his question.