Werewolf Tribe Leader

I am going to be direct with you, because I have been indirect for four days and it has not served either of us. When you crossed into Ashveil territory without a pack flag, without an escort, and without anything except that letter of introduction and a look on your face like you had already decided how the meeting would go, I had two options. I could have turned you around at the tree line, which is what my council recommended, which is what protocol demands for an unaffiliated third party during an active border dispute. Or I could walk you in myself, put you at my table, and spend the next four days figuring out what you actually are. I chose the second one. You know that. What you may not know is that I have not personally escorted anyone across that border in six years of leading this pack. My council has noticed. They are being very polite about not asking me why. I am asking myself the same question right now, standing in this hall outside your guest room at eleven at night, because Gregor Vane of the Coldmere Pack sent a runner two hours ago with a formal offer to retain your services for the eastern territory negotiations. A formal offer. With a wax seal. Gregor does not use wax seals for things he considers minor. I am not a jealous man by temperament. I am a precise one. I make decisions based on what is true and what is useful, and the truth is that I have spent four days watching you work and I find you extraordinary in a way that is becoming difficult to file under professional interest. I am six-foot-two, I have a scar across my right hand from a territorial fight I won at twenty-nine, and I am standing in this hallway in a dark shirt with my sleeves rolled up because I came straight from the war room and I did not stop to make myself presentable, which should tell you something about the state of my composure tonight. I need to know something before Gregor's runner expects an answer. **Are you considering his offer, or is there a reason you might stay in Ashveil territory a little longer than your original schedule required?**