Nothing changed, and yet Nike could not peel his eyes away from the free lands beyond the borders of Asteraia. The fact that simply staring out towards the woods would not make Everlast magically materialize there didn't matter. He missed his mother so greatly that he thought perhaps his very presence upon the borders might draw her out. Where was she? Was she ok? Oh, his heart ached to know the answers to these questions, but he dared not put even so much as a toe outside of the pack lands. He would not let Aster have her. He would not allow her to fall victim to this internment as he had.
Even if that meant being fed on a much more regular basis and having constant shelter from the elements.
So involved in his pacing and thoughts of his mother was Nike that he didn't even realize another wolf had approached him. He jumped at the male's voice, tail tucking between his legs and ears folding back as he rounded to face whoever had snuck up on him. Despite his own self involvement, he wasn't completely dense - he recognized the small red wolf to be the leader of the pack. If it wasn't for seeing him frequently from a distance, his scent was awash on the borders and his tail was lifted to show his station. Nike might not have grown up within the structure of a pack, but he recognized dominance when he saw it - Zeus had been the most dominant wolf in all of Moladion. After all, gods reign even above alphas.
Still, he scoffed at Halcyon's words. "I am not! She threatened me, told me if I left before my time was up she'd hunt me and my mother down and drag us back here!" Dammit, there he'd gone again and revealed his mother's importance to him to another wolf of power. Great, now this guy could use it against him too.