The normally cheerful and passionate woman had seen much in the past few days - the murder of Shawchert's son had been gruesome and had changed her in some ways. She would never be the same again. She looked out from steely, hard eyes as Shawchert told the pack what was happening and what was going to be done about it. She wasn't surprised that he knew the scent; he had told her, and had informed her of how muddled and confused the scent was. The murderer was good - very good. Skye couldn't recognize the scent either - the murderer was someone who didn't show his face often, and certainly wasn't in the crowd of people before them there. She would search the ends of the earth to find him, however - she would travel a million miles to destroy the evil that had destroyed her friends.
She stared coldly, calculatingly, at Mars as he spoke in an outrage against Shawchert. He spoke of him knowing the scent and not searching for him - even went, even dared to bring up the sensitive topic of Shawchert's own son to him. Before Shawchert could say anything, Skye emerged out from behind him. Her belly was bulging from the pups, but only slightly - one with a perceptive eye could see that she was pregnant, but barely, barely. The fact had only made her more determined to protect her pack from the evil that lurked in the shadows.
Under normal circumstances, she would have been furious - outraged. She would have spit fire, screamed at the man - but not today. Anger, rather than rousing her, had settled coldly and hardly in her stomach, had given her an icy and fearful calm. Behind her cold gaze, however, lie a fire that burned when the Russo man spoke. She stepped forward slowly, deliberately, until she was face to face with the man. She had always been the mild leader - the calm leader, the friendly leader, reserved leader. But now she was facing a member face to face, her tail high and her eyes cold and commanding.
"Do you know how long Shawchert, your leader and your higher ranked, has searched for Orin and his remaining pups?" she asked in a cold and hard voice. It was barely audible, barely perceptible, but she said it loud enough for him to hear. "Do you realize how hard it was to come back and defend his pack, rather than look for them some more? Do you realize, Mars," she hissed, "that the murderer has disappeared? Can be anywhere? Do you realize how dangerous it could be to send someone to leave the pack and potentially get hurt? Do you realize," she said, her voice in the same steely and hard tone, "how hard it is to be leader in a position like this? Shawchert and I are doing everything we possibly can to find the murderer, and it is not your position to question that. Not your position whatsoever, and if you would rather have leaders that don't warn you about what's happening in the pack and aren't doing their absolute best to find the killer, then feel free to join a pack that does." She ended her speech on a low note, one that she didn't enjoy speaking - but it had to be done.
She stepped backwards and turned her gaze from Mars to the entire pack - she took note of Ouija, who also said some words. She looked at the pack, her pack. Cercatori d'Arte. "We founded this pack because of the love of art and creation. Beauty and family." She paused, then continued. "Shawchert and I, as the leaders of the pack, are not magic, nor are we superheroes. But we are the leaders of the pack, and we are doing everything - everything -" she said, fixing her gaze on Mars and Ouija before turning back to the pack - "everything in our power to bring down this monster once and for all. If you do not trust us, if you doubt our love and loyalty to the pack, if you doubt that we, as your leaders, know what we're doing and will continue to do everything in our power to protect you, then feel free to leave now."
She cast her hard eyes on the pack around her - she loved them, she loved every last member of her pack all differently, but when the pack started doubting her and Shaw's control - that was when she drew the line. The pack had to stay together, not fall apart from within. That was the murderer working its evil on the pack, and it made her all the more determined to fight for her family.
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