The male had finished his first pack meeting as alpha. It was weird and he was not sure how to feel about it. He had been very close to Kershov, and the thought of taking over for him had never once crossed his mind. But now that was what had happened. Grey Wind knew that something had been going on with the old alpha, he had been different, not himself. But the brute had never asked what was wrong, it was not his place to do so. The ice king knew that if he needed Grey Wind for anything that he would always be there, so he knew if there was something that the brute could have helped with Ker could have asked him. But he never did. But the new alpha never thought that their fearsome leader would leave Abendrot. Grey Wind was not at all judging him, he had no idea what was going on with the other male, he was just surprised. And honestly, he missed Kershov. He would always miss having the other male’s scent at the borders, as another barrier to any that would foolishly think that they could cause any harm to this pack. But now it was his own scent along the borders, and it still felt bizarre to him to be doing that.

But Grey Wind did not see any other option. He would not let this pack go to waste, it needed a leader. And after all the work that Ker had continuously put in to keep the vargs within the pack alive and well, they could not let that go away. If Marx or Enigma had been around he would have assumed one of them would take over, but they had not been seen in the pack for a while. Grey Wind was not the bragging type, but he did not think that anyone else in the pack would make a better leader than him. Halina was well trusted by Kershov, which made Grey Wind himself trust her, but he had been here longer than her. Surely that meant something? If anyone was going to challenge his rise to alpha, it would have been her. And though she said she would not call him alpha right away, she did not oppose his choice. And her words made him respect her more. She was not one to blindly follow others, and her loyalty only came with trust and respect, both of which had to be earned.

His thoughts continued to wander about all that had gone down in the past few days as his paws carried him through the familiar trees. He had gone ahead and done another patrol around the borders after the pack meeting had died off, making sure that all was well in the pack. He was more wary of things after the cougar attack, and he didn’t want something like that to happen again. It was beginning to grow dark as the sun had set not too long ago, the moon and stars shining through the trees that littered this area. The male paused his strides to stretch out his limbs, especially the one that he had broken most recently. A scar was still visible, his fur appearing as if it would not grow back in that one spot from the last break and tear of his muscles and bone. His den was in site now, and he had not paid any attention to see if Macaria had wandered back or not. He knew that she would, she was still far too fearful of the other wolves to stray far from his side. It still surprised him when he realized that he had grown used to her company, though he kept those feelings to himself. Whether or not the smaller female was there, he pushed into the den, relaxing and letting his muscles rest after the tension that had been coursing through him.