Like Toy Soldiers

Spring had come again and with it the ability to relax a little in the role of hunter. It was easy to find young animals too stupid to properly avoid hunters, and as soon as he could gather a group the pack would be able to cull some of the calves and fawns of the larger mammals, who had been largely left alone since there were too few who answered the call for hunts for him to have taken many. It made the larger prey complacent though, so he would take advantage of that.

It was carrying a pair of young buck leverets in his mouth that kept him from announcing himself as he approached the entrance to the den that one of the pack elders and his family lived in. His mate and child were both handicapped in their own way, and with the advance of age and the toll the raid had taken it would fall to the pack to ensure that all three were properly cared for, as was the purpose of a pack. And as a hunter for the pack, that made them his responsibility, one he took very seriously.

The young hares were not much of a meal for three wolves, but they were merely the product of his first hunt of the day. Once he left them, he planned to return to the hunt, though he planned to try his luck at finding gamebirds to give them some variety. There were others among the pack who would likely appreciate a quick meal dropped their way, the healers among them as they went about their own spring time industry. Regulus and his cats provided for his mate and child, but he would bring by something for the pups to play with anyway just out of politeness. He had found some moose sheds last season that had been just sitting around his den. They might like worrying at those.

Because of his distraction and his failure to announce himself, he was as unprepared for the sudden appearance of Castiel as the elder was of him, and the smaller male had only enough time to brace himself before the pair collided. Mask was set back on his heels with a wince, but he immediately dropped the hares to lend support to the other wolf if he needed it. "Begging your pardon," he apologized sincerely. "You are not being injured, signore?"