Ryder’s call had come at a fortunate time, her ears perking to hear the man calling for her. She did not often interact with him, and so her curiosity piqued and she moved quickly to investigate. Her limbs ached slightly from the traveling she had done the past couple days, but she moved towards what had sounded important. When the tawny wolf arrived, a smile would grace her features, her head tilting to the side as her greeting was warm. He was a packmate, and that made him a friend even if she didn’t know him all that well.

“Ryder!” Her voice was just as cheery to match. “What can I help you with?” She figured it had to be something scouting related for her to be summoned. She wasn’t someone who’d ever been challenged for her rank before, so the thought that it was what the man might want never crossed her mind at all.

His demeanor was more cold, and it caused a gentle frown to cross her features, her eyes narrowing for a moment as he spoke. He made his intentions clear. There was a deep seeded feeling in her gut, like she had gotten when Nadine had found Jethro and returned him home instead of her, even if the man had not stuck around. How important is staying above me to you? She had an instinct of an answers: extremely. And yet, she bit her tongue for a moment, and considered her words carefully.

The green monster she fought to keep buried inside of her… the part of her that had been cultivated by the cult… greedy backstabbers the lot of them under the cool guise of religion. Sweet as honey and poison in the food when they were plotted against. Perhaps Paradise wasn’t so common after all.

“It’s the principle of it. If you want it, you’re going to have to earn it.” She challenged back to him to make her answer clear, watching him carefully. She knew realistically, there were two ways of handling it: he’d want to fight her, or they would posture and it would be a battle of wills again. “So do you have it in you?” Unlike her scouting mission with Nadine, Miriam felt confident that she would not fail this time.

She would be incredibly disappointed in herself if she could not keep her cool, and if she could not earn his submission. Though he was the challenger, Miriam had just as much to prove as he did. She needed to defend her place, the time she had committed to the pack. As he moved forward, a rumbled growl and his posturing rising, her eyes narrowed.

Miriam stood her ground, her hackles bristling as her tail flicked upward in response, a defiant curve signaling she wouldn’t be cowed so easily. Her shoulders squared as her posture grew more rigid and unyielding. Her ears twisted back, angled in a wary warning as her lip curled enough to reveal the glint of her fangs. The normally (at least perceptively) kind woman allowed her gaze to lock with his unwavering. I will not yield.