Mercifully, it was enough. That it was @
Lorcan stood over the challenger was not what he had expected at all, but in that moment it didn't matter; for all Craw knew and suspected, Mittani had merely been toying with the medic, because if he had been asked to put money down on an outcome, there would have been no doubt in the spider's mind who was more willing to go the distance.
And it wasn't like Lorcan wasn't a determined and strong individual, but his opponent was not exactly one known to play fair.
Lip curling at Mittani's dismissive words as he watched the white wolf get back onto his feet, Craw subconsciously took a step to move himself between the two wolves, as if to shield the medic. He missed how Lorcan looked at him, at how the man's tail rose in victory and dominance, because all Craw could see was one thing.
"Last time I watched you start a rank challenge, the other wolf walked away with one less eye," he hissed, the compliment to his fighting abilities laced with obvious displeasure for the sentiment behind them. Mittani had been pointed in his choice of words, as if he believed that Craw might have somehow lowered his standards in the last two years. If anything, he thought viciously, looking at the wolf in front of him, he'd raised them - but he was still coping with everything that had happened, and lashing out angrily at Mittani would serve no purpose other than short-term relief. Their friendship was much older than Whitestone, and yet Craw felt as though he were struggling with his priorities, with what was more important; life before the fall, or life after? It made him feel as though he were two entirely different wolves.
"I'm not as careless with my trust as I used to be," he said then, calmer, quieter, but just as pointed; Roake's face flashed briefly in his mind before he dismissed it, trusting that Mittani would be thinking of the very same wolf. The Morelli patriarch may have been violent and arrogant, but at least he had not been a betrayer. His sense of honour was far too strict for that, as dark as his nature may otherwise be. In some sense, Craw could not fault Mittani for doubting wolves he didn't yet know.
"Did you even learn his name before trying to take his rank, Mitt? I know you can't stand to be on the bottom, and I don't expect you to, but... we have bigger priorities right now, you know that."
Four bigger priorities, waiting somewhere north for them to be told that it was all true.
(This post was last modified: Jan 09, 2017, 04:52 PM by Craw.)