It had been two weeks since their founding and he thought everything was going quite well. He’d already started settling into his old routines of manning the borders and checking caches. Frequently he visited his brother in the medical den, making sure his needs were looked after and trying to make up for lost time. He still wished that Ari would join them and perhaps she would one day, but for now he was content to have at least one sibling within his borders alongside him. Everyone seemed fairly content with the way things were going and he was happy for that.

A howl rang into the air and his auds swiveled forward, catching a summons for him from Cas. The large male’s head tilted to the side curiously, wondering what it could be that she needed to call him specifically. Still, in good spirits he turned and made his way at a lope to the smaller woman. After a few moments her speckled pelt came into view and her offered a woof in greeting, slowing to a walk then to a stop in front of her. “What’s up, Cas?” he asked, raising his brows.

He noted that she seemed uncharacteristically serious and his smirk edged lower on his lips. If Cas was being serious he knew there was something really wrong. Then her beginning mantra did absolutely nothing to make him feel better. He’d long since gotten used to Cas’ personality of being very…friendly so to say. To him love was a very serious word and a very serious emotion that he had trouble exhibiting and especially saying, but to her she seemed to be able to throw it out to the breeze like it was nothing.

His brows furrowed as she referred to him as a dick. What could he have done to deserve that title? He’d thought that he’d been doing rather well actually all things considered. But, even with her reassurance he couldn’t be quite so sure anymore. How could someone be a huge dick and be a good leader? And his counterpart...what about Hal? She seemed like she’d been in a better mood than normal these past couple of weeks to him. Surely she had to be happy with everything that was happening and between the two of them she never seemed to be too shy to voice her opinion on subjects to him.

Then she was elaborating and his auds moved to lay against his head. His heart gave a squeeze and in that moment the giant man looked every bit the part of a kicked puppy. He’d wanted this home just as much as any of them but...was he fucking it up? Was he ruining it for Hal or the others? “I didn’t...I’m sorry. When the pack was founded she was just so...nervous. I wanted to step up, take some of that weight off her shoulders you know? And when I asked Draven and Larkspur to come with me it was because we have longer legs. You two aren’t useless by any means but we got it done faster. I thought...I thought the caches were important too since we were all pretty much starving. I didn’t mean…,” he mumbled out.

Cas was quick to try and rectify but the damage had already been done. Even if she could tell that he had only meant the best by it, did Hal know that? He could handle disappointing anyone else but when it came to her he’d grovel on the ground like a dog to earn her approval. He barely registered the licks applied to his chin, his thoughts drifting elsewhere before he processed her apology. His frown dipped further as he blinked, shaking his head slowly. “No, don’t be sorry. Thank you. For telling me. I can’t try to fix my mess ups if I don’t know I’m messing up,” he replied, giving a half-hearted but appreciative smirk.

When she mentioned her sickness his heart gave a little squeeze. Of course they’d all noticed her deteriorating state but he’d just attributed it to the little food they were getting and the already thin state she’d been in. So far, without knowing how ignorant he was to the actual reason, he’d felt like he’d been proven right. It seemed like the girl was slowly getting better and that brought a weight off of his shoulders. “You’re doing fine, Cas. You just took the travel a little harder than the rest of us, that’s all. You’ll be better soon, you already seem like you’re getting stronger. We couldn’t have done all this without you, so relax,” he said, dipping his head down to give the smaller girl an encouraging nudge to the cheek. “I’ll try to talk to Hal about everything. Apologize properly,” he added. Then, another uncertain look crossed over his face. “Has she, uh, been saying anything about me?”

Cas seemed a bit shocked by his praise and, honestly, he’d shocked himself a bit too. Alastor had never been one to use words like that. He’d always danced around the mushy weird stuff that tended to make him uncomfortable and the words that had come out had just...come out. How peculiar. "And to think, all of this started because of a romantic date between the two of us~" she joked with a bump to his shoulder and he chuckled, an amused smirk traveling onto his silver features. It seemed like an eternity had passed since that time. He felt so much older, so much wiser, when in fact it had only been a few months. Everything in his world seemed to have progressed so much quicker than he’d ever imagined it would have in such a short time, yet he was thankful for how everything had turned out. He paused for a moment in surprise by her following remark about finding her soulmate. He raised a brow. He knew that Cas and Niles had become close, but he hadn’t known that they were that close. Would they become official mates soon? Could they look forward to little sassy mouthed or completely silent pups running around come the next spring? Surely there was no hope for he and Hal, so he offered a silent blessing for the pair.

Auds slide forward as she side stepped his comment, cheeks burning beneath his pelt. He cleared his throat, looking away. What was he looking for her to say? “I love Alastor with all my heart and soul and I want us to be together as more than friends?” Even the thought of that made him feel warm and tingly, but he smothered the feeling quickly. He needed to stop hoping for things that would never happen. “I was just wondering if this was all just an observation from you or if some of it was directly from Hal,” yeah, that was all.

Something flashed behind the bright blue-eyes of his friend, something he’d learned in their time together that meant no good. He had a feeling she knew more about what he really wanted than he’d wanted her to and he braced himself for a snarky comment and for her to force the truth from him. Yet, surprisingly, this event didn’t occur. She commented that some of it was from Hal herself, not leading on what parts exactly other than the fact that Cas had been the one to dub Alastor a ‘dick’. He chuckled, having already figured that much. The silver male knew his co-leader enough to know that she wouldn’t use that phrase, yet the speckled female in front of him? He would be surprised if it hadn’t.

“Thanks for coming to keep me in line. I’m glad someone isn’t afraid to give me their real thoughts,” he said, gently bumping the girl’s shoulder with his snout. Sensing the conversation coming to the end, he found himself not wanting to leave his friend’s presence just yet. He could use a bit of banter to attempt to keep his spirits up and his thoughts from turning south just yet. “Let’s go get a bite to eat, yeah?” he said, turning and leading in the direction of the nearest cache. Later he would have much to think back on and to plan, but for the moment he was content to have entertaining company.