It was…all over the place. The scent of pregnancy. Not just Pip now, either.
Veho never considered himself to be a particularly jealous man, but this was a new feeling entirely. Not jealousy. He couldn’t quite put his paw on it – he had not explicitly terrorized his subordinates, for he had thought he not need to. They were all well-mannered adults, after all. He had thought. Pip, perhaps, was his own doing, having never explained to her (or any of the other coming yearlings) just want spring meant. How were new adults supposed to know if no one explained it to them?
But this?
She knew full well – and hadn’t – what? They weren’t mates. But he was still the alpha, Ancestors damn all. The man sat, staring at his borders with an empty expression on his face. All this freedom, just beyond Grizzly Hollow territory. The whole world, welcoming his subordinates, his co-leader, even, and not himself. Once upon a time, he had traveled the forest and met wolves as he went, allowing only the will of his Ancestors to guide him. Had he stayed too long? Perhaps his Ancestors were disappointed in his stasis.
“Perhaps I should ask, instead of wondering,” he groused to no one in particular. Unsurprisingly, the Ancestors said nothing in return.