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Royal rimmed eyes watched the physical language of the young male as he slowed down. Neither the narrowing of the other's eyes nor the tall posture brought a change to Mondego's regal heir; he remained composed and unmoved by the strange male's apparent challenge. The wolf before him, for all his tough exterior, was still but a boy. The alpha could not mistake his arrogance for confidence. He might have been fully grown, but the naivety in the midnight brown wolf's eyes betrayed his lack of maturity.

Mondego held the stare of the other beast, content to let the young male make the choice of civility or violence on his own. Life was but a string of experiences and the best lessons were learned first-hand; the alpha was not about to rob this youth of such a pivotal choice. It was not long before the stranger's decision was made and Mondego's keen eyes caught the subtle change in posture. The boy did not fall completely, did not grovel or submit, but the alpha had not expected anything of the sort from such a proud beast. If he could not expect himself to fall before another alpha out of choice, he could not expect it from this stranger passing through. The simple shift in his challenging pose to a slightly more neutral state was enough. It was workable.

"They would have killed you," Mondego stated simply in his cool, kingly drawl. His tone did not suggest warning or scolding, just simple fact and truth.

Though their numbers were not so large as to pose a threat to another pack, the Tavorian wolves would make quick work of a single intruder no matter the size... and it was exactly what they were instructed to do. The forest pack could not afford much leniency as they approached spring, the season of the young. Any threat, such as a large, cocky male pushing through their territory intent on taking what belonged to the pack, was a threat to destroy. It would soon be known that Tavoria was not a free land any longer. If another wished to tread paw in this forest, it would be with permission from the Tavorians or not at all.

A faint hint of a cold smirk pulled at the alpha's lips and he gestured with a jerk of his head for the stranger to follow upwind, toward the smell of fresh blood. He may have been a stern ruler, but hunger was something Mondego had known before. The clench of an empty stomach was cruel. It drove a wolf to extremes and actions that may not be normal. A dispersed young male, especially one of his size, could often times find it quite difficult to eat on a regular basis. Hunting was a difficult sport for one of such size without a second set of paws and jaws.

Mondego took off at a brisk jog, not one to waste any more time than necessary, with an ear turned back on the stranger. He had not asked for a name, nor given one himself. Again, this was a choice for the young stranger to make for himself. An alpha had no need to exchanged names with a drifter and a drifter had no need to lend his name to a pack-bound stranger... unless he wished to stay. That was his choice to make, to ask. Mondego would neither plant the seed nor foster its growth. It had to come from the heart, or else his heart would never belong to the pack.

For this reason, Tavorians were not known to ask questions from outsiders. It could be said that they were disconnected, even cold, wolves, and the pack did little to disprove such claims. That was the opinion of one who did not know better. They did not know the tightly bound heart of the small forest pack or the finely tuned workings of its hierarchy. Few paid enough attention to learn of the Tavorian wolves and their way of life. Those few that had... this stranger was about to meet.