Naia couldn’t say what reaction she had been expecting from the alpha, but it had definitely not been tears. Kisla’s green eyes shimmered as she whispered her gratitude, and she looked away in a thinly veiled attempt to hide her emotion. The Baranski queen was usually so composed that her subordinate was at a loss for what to do. Normally she would move in with a comforting nudge, but Kisla so often masked her feelings that Naia worried she would embarrass her by drawing attention to them.
Naia nodded slowly as Kisla spoke about Swift River and an unnamed alphess. No wonder Kisla thought she was failing if the staunch, unquestioning militia was what she was expecting. “Not an intrusion, no..” Naia murmured, “An evolution. Our family is different from what the River once was. But not worse.. Better, I would say.” As she had said before, different was not necessarily bad. As far as Naia was concerned, she would rather be part of a messy family than a synchronized military, and she was certain that the other Hearthwood wolves felt the same.