Assessing, his eyes flicked over her expression. It gave him a grand total of nothing to work with - Derek was faced with the suspicion that it would always be that way, unless she wanted otherwise. That was the sort of control he aimed for, the composure he sought, but it felt like a losing battle. When he had to, he could put on a face, but it was ever a struggle to maintain anything that wasn't raw and impulsive, hot with emotion. He had to admire it in her, even if it only made him more suspicious. Cold had never been his territory, perhaps because he could always smell charred wood in every breath.

It was curious to him that she needed to ask - if she knew the deal was in place, it seemed amiss that she wouldn't know the details. But he reminded himself that he had scant idea on how the fae operated together, how they worked as a whole. It was not a reassuring thought, throwing into sharp relief just how tenuous his alliances were. But he had made the bed. He supposed that, in this much, it was better to be upfront.

"It's a non-aggression agreement," he began, just as Heiji had, and it was clear that the words were a little alien to him, the mantle of command still new and perhaps ill-fitting. "You don't try to move on our territory, and we give you the same. My pack have free passes for any turf you claim, and you'll have the same in the east end, so long as you're not treating my wolves like playthings."