Hireyan's lips spiraled back in a snarl, his canines glistening in the vague glare. He knew he was being goaded, but he couldn't avail the surge of bitterness that coursed through his veins. "I am no craven," he roared, his voice underlying and treacherous. "But I am also no watchdog. I have no time for your petty requests." The two canines encircled one another warily, their oculars cinched in a silent battle of wills. The rocky clearing was bathed in the glare of the setting sun, casting lengthy shadows across the ground. The ambiance was bounteous with the scent of earth and pine, and the remote sound of a stream could be heard trickling nearby.

However, Hireyan seemed to increase even more ominous as the quarrel resumed, his muscles jutting as he bristled with wrath. He was a force to be reckoned with, and his clanmate seemed to know it. As they blustered and yapped, their restlessness increased until it seemed almost tangible, like a living thing that could reach out and constrict them both. But despite their bitterness and belligerence, neither canine moved to thrash. They were both too acute and competent to make such a frivolous stir. Instead, they resumed their hectic altercation, their voices increasing and descending like the tide.

In the end, it was Hireyan who prevailed. With a final snarl of wrath, he turned and prowled into the underbrushes, leaving his clanmate standing sole in the clearing. The anticipation dissipated like a barrage, and the air became serene once again.

Although, despite his rabid comments, he pivoted and barreled into the callous, perilous woodland, to look for the wolfling they reasoned of.

Because he had a little sunken area for the mere canines he discreetly took care of, not wanting to appear a putty father figure to an heir that was not his.

The day had been unproductive so far, granted it wasn’t that far in but doing nothing always felt like an eternity to a certain lead hunter. The hunt the previous day was a big one and she wouldn’t need to lead another hunt until tomorrow and even that was dependable on how hungry everyone was. Juniper also understood that the others needed time to recoup, one had even gotten injured, getting kicked off when they jumped up onto the back of the deer. Thankfully, from what they could tell nothing was broken which could have quite easily have happened, a kick from one of those was could have been fatal. They managed to get away with a decent sized scrape and were limping a bit but it was nothing some rest couldn’t heal.

Doing something was better than nothing so the female made her way over to her packmate to check on him. “Keebu, how are you feeling?” she asked as she approached the laying down male. He was one of the smaller ones but she valued his hunting and tracking skills. Trying the new strategy just didn’t work too well for him, for the pack on the other hand it meant nice full bellies. “A little rough but I’ve had worse,” the male replied to her, dipping his head a little to show respect. Although she wasn’t alpha or beta, a lot of the wolves had respect for her. Afterall she did lead the hunting and kept all of them fed to the best she could, even if the prey was scarce. Juni circled him a little, not in a challenging way but simply to check him over.

“Make sure you eat some of that kill we did, you need all the energy you can get so you heal up nicely.” It wasn’t necessarily an order but more making sure her packmate looked after himself. She wanted him to heal up quickly and get back on his paws. It would be a good break for him though, she knew he enjoyed his sleep and never appreciated her waking him up. Keebu gave a short nod and that was that. Juniper turned and left the male, there wasn’t much else she could do for him and she was never the kind of female for chit chat. No matter how caring she was. Just talking was droning to her, unless someone had a problem, she would gladly try and help with that but a casual conversation was a waste of time, in her eyes anyway.

Looking off into the treeline and then glancing back around to everyone. Asking her alpha’s to go scouting crossed her mind but she wasn’t one to really ask permission for that sort of thing and they had grown to trust her, knowing she could handle herself and always gave them detailed reports if anything seemed out of order. Juni gave a short nod, to herself instead of anyone else. With that she turned back to face the treeline, walking herself towards the left and starting from the same spot she always started in. Juniper always had a way of doing things and wasn’t one to enjoy changing it, especially when it came to scouting. She had her route and usually followed it. Occasionally she changed direction but that was mostly when she caught a scent or saw something that needed checking out. Most of the time things went fine but with their feud with the other pack, she liked to make sure whenever she got a chance, even if there were specific groups sent out to do this. Juni just couldn’t settle until she personally saw it was safe without the distraction of others.

Once a certain depth into her route, she froze in her next step, paw lifted from the ground a little. There was a scent, an unfamiliar one at that. Juni stood there for a moment, nose to the air as she sniffed around. It definitely didn’t smell like prey and instead it smelt like another wolf, one that didn’t belong in their territory. Maybe they simply just didn’t know but either way she needed to fix it. Going to get her pack would just mean an unnecessary fight and she was more forgiving than her alpha’s, she would just guide them out. Fighting was a last resort but it was something she was definitely prepared to do. With that thought in mind, she continued on, her nose stuck to the ground as she intently followed the scent, growing closer to her pack's borders.

Once again, Juniper stopped in her tracks. The culprit of her scent in her line of view and yet they were something unexpected. There stood, back completely turned away from her, a little pup that was batting at something with their paws. Juni tilted her head at the little thing, sitting down on her hind legs as she watched them closely, wondering where they had come from and where their parents were. Maybe they were from the other pack and wandered too far but either way, pups were this female's weakness and she was a completely different wolf around them. With that thought, Juniper crouched down so she was close to the ground and moved closer to the pup, not wanting to startle them. Her full attention on the little thing.

Frustrated and rather sizzled in the biding nuisance, Hireyan made his way through the viscous underbrush of the woodland, his senses honed in on the odor of the astray wolfling.

His puissant muscles tore under his fur as he moved with fluid grace, his shrill deep-set oculars inspecting the area for any gesture of the worthless wolfling. Even though, there was nothing but verdant coppices and lofty trees like goliaths shrouding his keen eyesight.

But in the viscosity of the underbrush, his dandy senses reaped on another presence somewhere close, wrapping the mere odor of the wolfling. Hunkered on the ground near the wolfling was a damsel, her overcast fur glinting in the settling threading sun. Hireyan observed her keenly, his physique taut and inclined for action. But soonly, as the damsel seemed interactive with the feeble wolfling, Hireyan with a full-toned snarl, occurred from the shadows, his screeching tangerine-hue oculars fixed on the canine before him. He bristled with power and eminence, his enormous form casting an air of domination that left no doubt as to his authority.

However, Hireyan did not fleet into an incursion, but he definitely emitted a threatening seem to rattle the canine before him, so the retrieval of the wolfling would go painless.

"Do not draw close to the wolfling that isn't yours," he gnarred, his voice resonant and ominous.

Knowing how Hireyan was, the wolfling without a second of squandering, crawled from the damsel that seemed generous enough, near Hireyan's stilts.

But Hireyan stood there, his deep-set oculars blazing with unshakeable valor as his lobes were set aloft, attuned t any sound and stir encircling them. However, the wolfling cowering near his stilts mewled and creaked in apprehension of a possible spurting quarrel, but Hireyan bore it no mind. His attention was solely concentrated on the damsel before him.

Whilst his darkened fur bristled with menace, and his chest heaved with the weight of his belligerence. His dire posture wasn't so sinister when Hireyan dwelt still, eyeing the damsel with an unwavering gaze.

In his mind, Hireyan understood that this was a treacherous circumstance, and he was keen to uphold himself and the wolfling with all of his strength. But he also understood that he must bide serene and ordered, not giving in to the impulses of unease and wrath that jeopardized to consume him.

Juniper had approached the pup with caution, not wanting to scare them. She needed to get them to safety as soon as possible. Their scent would slowly work its way through the territory and they would not tolerate such an incursion, either taking him for their own or quite possibly even kill them. A dead pup was not something she wanted to see, especially at the jaws of her pack as she knew the respect for them would be lost and that was no way to live. The female paused for a moment, waiting for the pup to notice her while making herself completely vulnerable to seem like she wasn’t a threat. Most definitely a mistake on her behalf. Juni wasn’t as alert as she should have been and while she normally picked up on everything there was something she had missed.

A deep snarl had her attention and she launched herself onto her paws with a growl of her own. Albeit not as aggressive but more as a warning. She was prepared to fight even if she didn’t truly want to. The male that came forth was most notably a large and powerful one, one that she wouldn’t typically mess with but this male was on her territory and the way he jumped out angered her. It was a fight she would die fighting but a fight she would give her all to nonetheless. Juni refused to seem thrown off by him and only steadied her stance as he proceeded. She could see he tried to come off more threatening rather than want to fight but that riled her up just as much.

“This is my territory, that little pup would already be killed if it wasn’t me that had found him,” she snarled back, taking a step forward with her hackles raised. The female stood tall, her eyes fixed on the male. As much as she wanted to check on the pup she felt their presence near her gone and figured he was with the larger brute so kept herself in gear. This was not a time to show any weakness. Even if this male killed her or attacked, he was on their land and would not survive a whole pack attacking him, it would start a full blown war, worse than the one they had already. That thought alone definitely helped her confidence in the situation.

“Besides, which useless mutt allowed such a youngling to wander off, especially into land that isn’t their own?” she questioned with distaste on her tongue. It was a valid question, none of their pups were ever without an eye on them, they couldn’t be trusted and were curious little things. It was dangerous on their own and if Juniper really wanted to, that pup would already be dead.